Honorees

We are pleased and honored to be bestowing the following awards during the 2026 Freedom Fund Brunch. Each will be accompanied by a unique and custom-made award from the Rutland Mint.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Beverly Little Thunder wearing beaded jewelry and smiling at the camera

Beverly Little Thunder (Uncí, Lakota for “Grandmother”), being honored posthumously, was a Lakota Two-Spirit elder, activist, ceremonial leader, and visionary whose life reshaped Indigenous ceremonial access and community healing.

A devoted mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and loving wife, Beverly embodied *Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ*—We Are All Related—welcoming chosen, ceremonial, and community kin across Turtle Island. After being excluded from ceremony because of her sexuality, she transformed pain into purpose by founding the first Women’s and Two-Spirit Sundance, creating a groundbreaking ceremonial home rooted in respect, inclusion, and tradition.

As a lifelong activist: she stood with the American Indian Movement (AIM) and supported Indigenous sovereignty movements, helped form the first Gay American Indians group, and bore witness at the gathering where the term “Two Spirit” was formally adopted.

Beverly leaves a legacy of courage, compassion, and transformative vision that continues to guide future generations.

Community Service AWARD

Alexa, Jennifer, and Will of Juniper Creative posing outdoors in white tunics.

Juniper Creative Arts is a family collective dedicated to creative placemaking, education, and community empowerment through public art. Known for bold, visually-layered large-scale murals and collaborative projects, they draw from Hip-Hop culture, cultural lineage, and nature to tell stories of resilience, identity, and belonging. Their work centers historically excluded communities, particularly Black and Brown communities, while inviting broad public participation and meaning-making.

Juniper Creative Arts has made an impact across Vermont by transforming schools, downtown districts, and community spaces into sites of connection and pride. Beyond aesthetics, they run youth workshops, facilitate collaborative mural design with students, and organize large-scale cultural events such as the Sucka Punch Graffiti Jam, which elevates graffiti as an art form and community practice in partnership with the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center and local collaborators.

Co-founded in 2020 by Jennifer Herrera Condry and Will Kasso Condry, Juniper Creative is built on more than forty years of professional experience. Will is a renowned muralist, graffiti artist, and educator with decades of community arts organizing. Jennifer brings a 22-year career in higher education, leading multicultural programs, student leadership development, and community-engaged arts initiatives. Together with their daughter, Alexa, they blend artistic excellence with cultural representation and purposeful community engagement.

Youth in action award

Elias Urang in a school photo, wearing an orange collared shirt and facing the camera

Elias Urang is a 6th grader at Middlebury Union Middle School. In the 2023-2024 school year, as a 9 year old 4th grader, Elias successfully petitioned the Addison Central School District’s school board to allow the Black Lives Matter flag to hang on the flag pole at Mary Hogan Elementary School. His work included speaking to 3rd-5th grade classes about the importance of the flag, gathering signatures of students and teachers for a petition, and speaking at a school board meeting. Following this, Elias also interviewed on VPR’s Morning Edition to talk about his experience.

In his free time Elias is involved in many athletic activities, including baseball, where he recently helped lead his All-Star team to win the state championship, basketball, running
and yoga. He’s also an avid fisherman and earned Vermont Master Angler in 2024. Elias hopes to become a professional baseball player or a lawyer someday.

Executive Leadership Award

Ana Mejía, a Latina woman with long brown hair and glasses, smiling into the camera

Ana Mejía is a member of the NAACP Rutland Area Branch Executive Committee and serves as the Economics Committee Chair. She currently leads the BIPOC Financial Empowerment Program, a joint initiative of the Building Equity Collaborative which consists of the Rutland Area NAACP, the Root Social Justice Center, Cultivemos Alegria (her LLC), and Windham & Windsor Housing Trust.

Ana also works as a Homeownership Specialist with Windham & Windsor Housing Trust, where she enjoys assisting homebuyers reach their homeownership goals. Her work is guided by a commitment to creating spaces where people of the global majority are seen, heard, validated and supported in rooting themselves wherever they so choose.