Debbie Asakawa
TKO Donor & Volunteer
This spring, TKO volunteer and donor Debbie Asakawa went on a hike with her eight-year-old grandson in the Eastern Gorge. “I was expecting a short maybe thirty minutes or something like that…he was out on the trail for five hours with me!” Debbie said. “His enthusiasm and excitement were off the charts. I’ve never seen anything like it. He kept saying, ‘This is perfect, Mimi, take a picture!’ We had to walk to the top of every knoll because he knew the views would be best there and we had to sit next to every creek. Every time we came to a junction, he wanted to take the longest option; he did not want the day to end.”
Watching him run up and down the trails, searching for the best views and the longest trails, Debbie was reminded of why her work with TKO is so important. “He’s now my legacy, and he’s as excited about the outdoors as I am; maybe more so. We live in a place of incredible beauty, and TKO builds and maintains access to all of that beauty. So I’m grateful that I have had an opportunity to support all those efforts.”
Like her grandson, Debbie first got her start in the outdoors from a young age. “My earliest memories were in Phoenix. I think I’d hiked the Grand Canyon three times by the time I was six or seven,” she said. That passion has stayed with her throughout her life. After going to college in California, Debbie headed north to Oregon in the 1980s, and she’s been here ever since.
“Every day I feel grateful that I’m here. I love the forests, the mountains, the lakes, the rivers, the desert, and the stunning oak savannahs of the eastern Gorge. What I can go and do in one day is amazing and every time I look at a landscape, I’m aware of the million little miracles that create that landscape. I’m grateful that TKO is building, restoring and maintaining access to it. TKO is connecting me to all those beautiful places.”
Debbie’s love for Oregon’s natural places inspired her to start a women’s hiking group called Trailmix. “We started twenty years ago. Now we’re mostly in our sixties and seventies, some are in their eighties, but it’s a wonderful group created for community and the natural world, with an understanding that we need to steward what we love.”
The group first got involved with TKO after the Eagle Creek Fire. “I was on the board of Friends of the Columbia Gorge and aware that TKO was really ramping up,” Debbie said. Trailmix came together to raise money for TKO. With their combined efforts, they surpassed their goal of $5,000 and raised closer to $9,000. This started a yearly Trailmix tradition of fundraising for TKO. “The next year I thought maybe we could raise $10,000 and I think we raised $18,000, and then every year it’s gone up and up and up, and so last year we raised $100,000 for TKO. We like to support matching grants, so I think we’ve helped to raise $400,000 over the past four or five years.”
Debbie described her motivation as paying it back as well as paying it forward: stewarding trails and public spaces so they’re around for future generations, while also giving back to the trails they’ve been hiking for so long. “We have had free access to trails for decades and never thought about what went into them…we’ve taken it for granted for too many years. The trails need our help plus giving back also fills my soul with joy.”
Debbie is also thinking about what’s next. “I’m at an age where I’m thinking about legacy, how I can leave the world a better place. We live on a unique planet, and it’s a miracle that we are here to witness and enjoy it, so we have an obligation to be stewards, to save it, and to cherish it.”
Debbie has been involved with TKO for years now, and she says it’s been a rewarding experience. “I love that this organization gives me a chance to give back. I’m grateful for the organization and I’m grateful that I have the time and the resources to support it.”
Our Oregon Hikers Spring Fundraiser runs from May 4th through National Trails Day on June 6th, and this year your support is more important than ever. Can you donate to support trails?
Thank you to our sponsors!
