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Tuesday, November 23, 2021
East Oregonian
Violence:
Village:
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“It’s going to take a while
before people realize this
exists,” said Althea Wolf,
a survivor who spoke at the
event. Wolf, who helped
conduct the survey, works for
the tribes’ First Foods Policy
program.
Wolf said she was glad to
see people speaking about
their personal experiences at
the casino, but noted that the
turnout was small compared
to events about things like
substance abuse. To her, that
shows a continued unwilling-
ness for people to confront
the violence against Native
American women long
plagued tribal land — what
she called a “foundation of
distrust.”
“It feels like we’re stuck as
a community,” Wolf said.
But Wolf said the words
of women coming forward
about their own experiences,
including those in her own
family, empower her. She
nodded to Coyote as an inspi-
ration.
“Their legacies are a
source of strength for me,”
she said.
program, which evolved
during the past eight years
and was modeled loosely
after existing wraparound
programs in other places,
hired its fi rst care coordi-
nator, Doherty, in 2013.
Now there are seven. Join-
ing them are six in-school
mental health counselors,
nurses in each community,
a visiting dental hygienist,
school resource officers,
a self-sufficiency coach,
behavior room teacher,
a STEM teacher, a work-
force coordinator and
early childhood employ-
ees spread around the
communities of Heppner,
Irrigon and Boardman.
Eighteen partners, from
health, law enforcement,
colleges, government, the
InterMountain Education
Service District and the
Port of Morrow, together
spend a little more than $1
for each the district spends.
The counselors, nurses
and care coordinators
focus on helping students
deal with challenges of
the pandemic, poverty or
other situations aff ecting
well-being.
“Without the wrap-
around program, we would
basically be in a panic,”
Dirksen said. “I feel fortu-
nate we had this program
so well established before
COVID — there are a lot
of school districts that
have tried to add all of
these programs but didn’t
have any relationship with
their partners yet. It doesn’t
happen overnight.”
George, the counselor
in Heppner, has noticed
more students with anxi-
ety. Some have expressed
suicidal thoughts. Many
felt out of rhythm after
bouncing back to in-per-
son school from isolation.
“It’s stressful,” she said.
“It’s learning how to navi-
gate again.”
Dave Norton, principal
of Riverside High School
in Boardman, said many
students struggled to stay
engaged with school during
remote learning. Some, he
said, thought about quitting
school to work.
“It took everybody,
it took myself, our care
coordinator, our Commu-
nity Counseling Solu-
tions counselor, our school
resource officer and our
regular school counselor to
reach those kids,” Norton
said. “We did a ton of home
visits between all of our
team and just worked with
those kids to really sell
them on why do they need
to fi nish school.”
All were convinced to
give school another shot.
Ryan Keefauver, princi-
pal of Irrigon High School,
described similar eff orts to
reengage students. When a
family or student seemed
to fall off the radar, a team
that included the assistant
principal, care coordina-
tor and the school resource
‘I need help’
A growing body of
research shows Native Amer-
ican women are dispropor-
tionately victims of violence.
Nearly half of all Native
American women have
suff ered physical or sexual
violence, according to the
U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
But those totals remain
rough estimates. Data about
violence on tribal land went
unreported for decades due
to layers of bureaucratic
and jurisdictional problems,
including disagreements
among local or federal agen-
cies concerning who should
investigate. And what data
is available today remains
limited. Indigenous advo-
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Desireé Coyote, an abuse survivor, advocate and enrolled member of the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, speaks during an event recapping the results of
a year-and-a-half long study into violence on the reservation near Pendleton. Coyote, who
manages the tribe’s Family Violence Services program, spearheaded the project.
WHO TO CALL
If you are a victim of intimate partner violence, intimidation,
sexual violence, rape, elder abuse, teen dating violence or
stalking, you can reach Family Violence Service’s 24-hour
hotline at 541-240-4171.
cates say the actual rates of
violence are likely be much
higher.
Before 2014, when the
Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation
became one of the fi rst tribes
to begin prosecuting non-In-
dians for domestic violence
against Native Americans
on the reservation, many
non-Native perpetrators
could commit acts of violence
on the reservation and walk
free, volunteers and advo-
cates said.
Several Native American
women at the event said they
became involved in domestic
and sexual violence services
because of their own lived
experiences and the experi-
ences of their loved ones.
“I’m grateful,” Eugena
Stacona, a survivor and
former assistant director of
education for the tribes, said
of the event. “Maybe now,
more people will come and
say, ‘I need help’ … Even
though it’s hard.”
Growing up in a housing
project on the reservation,
she remembered when there
was no domestic violence
safe house nearby. She
also worked at the Mission
Market, where she’d see
countless women with bruises
on their faces. Some wore
sunglasses to cover up the
abuse, she said.
“There wasn’t anywhere
for them to go,” said Stacona,
who, at 56, learned on the
morning of the event that she
had earned her doctorate from
Capella University.
Stacona said the region
needs more shelters for
domestic violence victims.
She said workplaces, and
law enforcement in partic-
ular, need increased empa-
Safe place:
Continued from Page A1
rooms, describing the facil-
ity. On the tour, she dispelled
misconceptions people might
have about the place.
When people think of
shelters, she said, they often
think of one room dormi-
tories with bunk beds, all
lined up next to one another.
While such shelters do exist
and meet a need, this is not
Martha’s House. Instead,
Martha’s House more closely
resembles an apartment
building. Families, as she
pointed out, have their own,
private rooms.
There also are communal
rooms, including a business
center, a kitchen and a living
room.
Galan, who has held the
position since September
2020, has been with the orga-
nization for three years. She
said she is often surprised
when she meets people who
do not know about Martha’s
House; even new applicants
are often surprised about the
resource. As the only paid
employee of the house, she
mentors the people she refers
to as “friendship families”
and directs them to other
community resources.
Building stability
Seven families, a total of
13 residents, now reside at
Martha’s House, Galan said.
Many of these people have
relocated to Martha’s House
to “cut old ties,” she said.
They are trying to remove
themselves from the situ-
ations, and sometimes the
people, who were part of old
problems, she said. Often
strangers to the community,
they need to become familiar
with basics such as the loca-
tion of stores and the post
offi ce, while they also fi nd
jobs, save money and fi nd
new residences.
Also, they are looking
for loving support, which
is available through volun-
teers, Galan said. One such
volunteer was Rebecca Lafo-
lette, committee member
and mentor, who said she has
been at Martha’s House for
three years. During this time,
she explained, she has met
with people who have accom-
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
House manager Julia Galan, center, leads a tour of Martha’s
House Saturday, Nov. 20, 2021, in Hermiston.
plished goals that included
obtaining a GED and seeing
a doctor.
“People have their strug-
gles,” Lafolette said, adding
it is helpful for people to have
stable places to live while
making new goals to better
their lives.
Lafolette was speak-
ing the truth, according to
Angela Pursel, president
of Eastern Oregon Mission
and a Martha’s House board
member.
Pursel recalled a woman
arrived at the house with two
children and “a big heart.”
She found her safe place in
Martha’s House, and did all
the right things. She sought
resources, got a job, earned
promotions, Pursel said, and
after six months left Martha’s
House, having focused on her
children and their needs and
having found housing.
Now, the mom and her
children are doing well.
Such exa mples a re
common, she said, and other
people agree with her. In the
two years he has been volun-
teering at Martha’s House,
Daniel Wattenburger also
has seen success stories. As a
committee member oversee-
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ing Martha’s House, he said
he witnessed people transi-
tioning from living in cars or
on other people’s couches to
having their own places.
Wattenburger has face-
to-face experience with such
people, including a single
dad who he mentored. The
man, Wattenburger said, has
four children and just needed
space to be with them and
find the right path in life.
Through Martha’s House, he
was able to fi nd work, build
up savings and fi nd a new
place.
thy training when it comes
to dealing with victims of
domestic and sexual violence.
Extending a hand
The day concluded with
conversations about healing
from trauma, remarks from
tribal leader Leo Stewart
that brought tears to the eyes
of attendees, and a closing
prayer and song.
“It’s our story,” Stew-
art said from the front of the
room.
“We like to sit in a corner
and not share a story that
might help somebody else,”
he said, adding, “What we
can do today is teach our
loved ones ... It’s just extend-
ing a hand.”
Wolf badgered her kids for
weeks to attend the event, so
they would hear the stories
of people like her. She even
contacted their school to ask
if they could miss a day. As
they walked into the room on
Nov. 19, they noticed the writ-
ing posted to the wall.
“That’s our community
talking to us,” Wolf said to
them.
They were silent.
check and drug test which are
performed, Galan said.
“If they are ready to move
forward with their lives, we
are here to give them the
assistance that they need,”
said Cathy Putnam, commit-
tee member and former
interim Martha’s House
director.
She added the house has
provided a home to more
than 200 people since it was
founded in 2013.
Putnam said she under-
stands the reasons for the
vacancies, explaining that
“not everyone is ready for a
hand up” and some people
are not yet willing to change.
People, she said, need to be
ready to change their lives.
They also must be willing to
accept structure, she said.
She recommends volun-
teering to other people, as
does Sharon Waldern, lead
mentor at Martha’s House.
A retired nurse, she started
helping out with the shelter
through her hospital contacts.
As a mentor to the other
mentors, she said she has
seen this work change the
lives of volunteers as well as
the house residents.
It gives people a good feel-
ing, she said, to help others.
A9
offi cer made a home visit
to fi nd out what kind of
roadblocks the student
was having. Many lacked
access to the internet.
“We were able to
provide hot spot internet
service to our students
who didn’t have it at their
home,” Keff hauver said.
“We set up large band hot
spots for a couple of RV
parks where a lot of our
students live so multiple
students could use them at
one time.”
Drury got technical
support at his grandpar-
ents’ home in Boardman,
where he stayed during
remote learning.
“For some reason I had
the most technical prob-
lems of my whole class,”
he said with a laugh. “I’m
like an 87-year-old man in
an 18-year-old’s body as far
as technology.”
Meeting needs
a must
Doher ty smiled as
she listened to the teen.
She is passionate about
this program and how it
impacts students such as
Drury.
“We know that the
social, emotional, physi-
cal health of our students
directly impacts their
academic performance,”
she said. “So when students
don’t know where their
next meal is coming from
or where they’re going to
sleep tomorrow or they
don’t have clean clothes
to wear to school or they
have a toothache and can’t
get to the dentist or don’t
have health insurance, we
know those kind of stress
factors impact their ability
to concentrate, their abil-
ity to be dependable and
be here. Because they’re
worried about surviving,
they’re not worried about
being at school.”
“Education is import-
ant,” George said, “but
taking care of students’
needs, making sure they
have a home, they’re safe,
they’re fed, that’s import-
ant too.”
These days, you’ll
find Drury at school or
on weekends at the Gate-
way Cafe grilling burg-
ers or assembling chicken
Alfredo, teriyaki bowls or
shrimp fried rice. Drury,
who plans on a career in
the culinary arts, credited
the wraparound program
for hoisting him out of his
dire situation and letting
him focus on his future.
“For a while, it was
really the only thing
moving me in a positive
direction along with my
grandparents,” he said.
Those assisting in the
teen’s life marvel at his
tenacity.
“As much as he’s expe-
rienced in his young life,
he keeps moving forward,”
said Drury’s in-school
counselor, Amy George.
“Yes, Peggy and I have
been here to support him,
but there’s a lot that we
haven’t had to do. He takes
it and goes with it.”
VISIT US ON THE WEB AT:
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Home to more than
200 since the start
Not everyone is ready for
this transition, according to
volunteers, which is why,
they said, Martha’s House
often operates at half occu-
pancy. Of the 18 studios,
seven are available. House
manager Galan stressed the
house has rules, including
no drugs and alcohol. Smok-
ing also is forbidden, accord-
ing to a list of tenant policies
on Martha’s House website,
www.marthashousehermis-
ton.org.
Some people don’t agree
with the rules, or background
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