Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 1996)
December 2, 1996 SMOKE SIGNALS 3 Services provided for community By Kim Mueller I belong to a great team of genuinely concerned human beings. The people I'm refer ring to are members of the Ser vice Integration Team (SIT). There are agency representa tives from both Polk and Yam hill Counties Human Ser vice Providers (Mental Health, Alcohol and Drug Prevention, local and state family services), Hospitals, Volunteer Programs, Commission for Children and Families, RAPP (Reduce Ado lescents Pregnancy Program). Also, very involved are rep resentatives from Grand Ronde Elementary School (GRES), Polk County Sheriffs Department, and the Tribe. The Service Integration Team meets twice monthly to share resources and find answers to issues regarding local families and their children. Our goal is for students to be successful in school. We need to be supportive of the fam ily, the school, and the community. Some of our accomplishments: COYOTE CAMP We felt the kids needed something to do and look forward to during the summer, so Coyote Camp was created for the elementary children. COMMUNITY HEALTH FAIR We talked about how difficult it is for some of the children in the Grand Ronde area to get immunized. Out of that conversation, we ended up with a Health Fair that included Life Flight, Fire Truck, and Ambulance demonstrations; 400 finger print identifications; dental screening; drug and alcohol pre sentations; seat belt and water safety; DARE; hands-on dis ability challenges; and 60 immunizations. Our current topics of need are: GRAND RONDE FOOD BANK Yes, it does exist, and has for many years with limited service and limited help. The Service Integration Team has designed a small group to expand services to the growing Grand Ronde com munity. We are looking for volunteers to be a part of this team. If you are interested please call Nancy Holmes at 879-2401 or Ed Larsen at 879-2400. CLOTHES AND SHOES The school helps children in need of clothing. You may do nate warm winter clothes, coats and shoes during school hours at GRES. Please do not leave anything unattended. All items must be clean and in good con dition (with no holes or buttons missing). As part of this service, the Life Skills Class helps orga nize, fold and size the items. BAND INSTRUMENTS GRES is in need of band instru ments for the 4th and 5th grade band program. A lot of kids are interested in band, but they would have to rent instruments from a music store, which can be costly. We are asking for any donations of instru ments to help with this program. The instruments could be placed in a rental program but at such a reasonable price that all students could afford to rent them. The money col lected from rentals would be used to purchase more used instruments. Most needed instruments arc youth sized flutes, clarinets, trombones, coronets, and trumpets please con tact the school at 879-5210. LUNCH BUDDIES This new program links com munity volunteers with elementary school children in need of a positive adult friendship. Volunteers will be asked to spend just one lunch hour a week with a child at the Grand Ronde Elementary School. The time will be spent eating, talking, perhaps reading or shooting baskets, but most im portantly listening to and taking an interest in that one spe cial individual child. We have had a great turnout but we still have children on the list, so if you arc interested we won't turn you away call Nancy Holmes at 879-240 1 . GRANDPARENT SUPPORT GROUP This is a successful group that already exists and meets weekly in Newbcrg. Their focus is to support grandparents who are raising their grandchildren. They meet every Friday from 10 a.m. to noon at the Chchalem Senior Center. You may call Barbara Brown at 538-7433 for transportation, infor mation, and child care needs during the meeting. If enough grandparents from this area are interested it is possible a group could be started in Grand Ronde. Casino donates $4,000 to Willamina VFW Bring in non-perishable canned donations for chance to win cash prizes Spirit Mountain Casino is kicking off a month-long food drive at the Casino with a special donation of $4,000 to the local Willamina Veterans of Foreign Wars 4211 Holiday Food Basket campaign. The Casino also distributed tur keys to disadvantaged families throughout Thanksgiving week. The holiday food drive for non-perishable canned food items will be held from November 25 through De cember 22 at the Casino. As an incentive to bring dona tions, customers will be given a ticket for each can of food they bring to the Casino. The tickets will be entered into drawings for a $ 1 00 cash prize every evening at 9 p. m. All tickets collected throughout the length of the food drive will be entered in the Grand Prize drawing for $ 1 ,000, which will be held at 9 p.m. December 22. Winners for the draw ings need not be present to win. The food items collected during the food drive will be donated to area food banks and food basket campaigns, in cluding the Grand Ronde Tribal Services Department, the Grand Sherimina Food Bank, and the Willamina VFW 42 1 1 Holiday Food Baskets. Parent Committee scheduled to meet The Youth Education Parent Committee (including parents of children in WillaminaSheridan school district and pre-school parents) community meeting will be held December 12at Willamina Middle School and December 13 at Grand Ronde Elementary School. This is your chance to have some input on program goals. Parent Committee members receive training throughout the year and often have the opportunity to participate in parentstudent activities. Please contact Wendi Spener at 879-2280 for more details. Self-help housing for local families Yamhill County Community Development Corporation is looking for families interested in building their own homes in the WillaminaSheridan area this spring. Interested in finding out more information about this program? Two community meetings have been sched uled to discuss the program eligibility requirements and to answer any questions. The first meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, December 10 at 6:30 p.m. in the Willamina High School Library, located at 266 Washington Street. The sec ond meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, December 11 at 6:30 p.m. at Sheridan City Hall, located at 120 S.W. Mill Street. The Self-Help Housing Program provides an unusual op portunity for low income families to realize their dream of owning a home. Ten qualified families will work on their home and other homes in the group until all the homes in the building group are finished. Participants do not need any experience in carpentry or construction. AH work skills will be learned on the job under supervision. There is no down payment required, and no monthly house payments arc due until the family moves in. Eligible families will receive a low interest mortgage loan from the USDA Rural Development and monthly payments arc based on income. To qualify, families must meet the guidelines, have good credit, and be able to work 35 hours per week under the direction of the construction supervisor. The homes will have 3-4 bedrooms, 1-2 baths, and an attached garage. Interested families should contact Bryan Langlcy as soon as possible at the Tribal Housing Authority, 9615 Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, OR 97347, or call (503) 879 2467 or toll-free at 1-800-422-0232, extension 2467. Bryan can provide more program information, review your credit, help with completing an application, and coordinate with Yamhill County Community Development Corporation. Tribal housing notice Tribal Council is currently reviewing amendments to the Tribal Housing Ordinance. The amendments cover among other things landlordtenant responsibilities, fore closures, and evictions. These amendments will enable the Tribe to participate in certain federal home ownership pro grams and will provide guidelines for the Tribal Court in resolving housing related disputes. Draft copies of the amended Tribal Housing Ordinance are available through the Grand Ronde Tribal Housing Authority. Comments may be sent to: Linda Laydcn, Ex ecutive Director, Tribal Housing Authority, 9615 Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, OR 97347. Comments must be received by December 10, 1996. YILUB QV bAY d(Q 0 State Certified 0 USDA Meals Provided 13 Safe, fun environment 0 Monday-Friday, 6:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m. 0$11 dollars per day Call Rhonda Reibach 879-3079
