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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 2004)
Smoke Signals Oregon's First Indian Housing Fair Highlights Collaboration The complex housing industry is made simpler when Tribes and other governments work together. 6 SEPTEMBER 1, 2004 X 3 By Ron Karten Tribal Housing Authority Executive Director Ca rina Kistler-Ginter put in months of planning for Oregon's first Indian Housing Fair. It filled the gym nasium at the Chemawa School at the end of July with more than a dozen vendors. They brought gifts of logo-laden pads, pens, pencils, mints and flash lights that accompany all the big conventions. The traffic was on and off all afternoon but for those who made the trip, the message was simple: housing opportunities are available for Natives; and the folks at Chemawa on July 31 were on hand to help make the kind of connections that cut red tape. Sources were available to help finance, build, in sure, insulate or otherwise improve a house, trailer or double-wide. "I'm a bundler," said Scott Hansen, HIP (Housing Improvement Programs) CoordinatorAV eatherization Hi-- Potential home owners at the Washington Mutual booth. Specialist for the Coos, Lower Umpqua & Siuslaw Indians. He does everything he can to bring together all the necessary elements to make a service avail able to Natives in the housing market place, although that can take the coor dination of as many as a dozen differ ent governmental and private indus try sources. The Federal Trade Commission was there with information about scams to avoid. Hansen had information about installing solar power for a home. Warm Springs, Siletz, Grand Ronde and the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Tribes all were represented, as was HUD's Office of Native Ameri can Programs and Oregon's Depart ment of Housing and Community Ser vices. Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo banks were there. Building companies were on hand including Advanced Native Construction, a 100 Native American-owned com pany. Folks from the Oregon Veterans Home also were there. "We were able to offer our services to veterans we haven't previously had con tact with," said John Coffey, Underwriter for the Oregon Department of Veterans Af fairs. All afternoon, specialists held workshops to teach at tendees about credit counsel ing, predatory lending, home energy efficiency, home safety improvement and other home repairs. Others taught about weatherization rehab ser vices and Indian Health Service water and sewer assistance. "Nobody knows about us," said David Foster, Policy 'U-iLf fx Lyle Rhoan (l)of the Warm Springs Housing Authority Board, Tribal Housing Authority Executive Director Carina Kistler-Ginter, Max Rice (r) of the HUD office of Native American Programs in Seattle Strategist with Oregon's Department of Housing and Community Services. "We do almost everything through local partners." The Indian Health Service's (IHS) Patrick Craney described how his agency was "hugely successful" in the 1950s when they were first installing large com munity water systems. Today, he said, the agency is more involved with upkeep of those systems, and sounding what turned out to be the theme of the day, he added, "We're only as effective as our part ners." "A lot came from out of state and other Tribes," said Nancy Holmes, Homeownership Coordinator for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, "but with all the federal agencies on hand, we can get them help, too." "I'm thrilled at the great cooperation we got from among all the partners of this event," said Kistler-Ginter. Amanda Back For Pow-wow Again This Year Tribal member needing new heart and lungs continues to fight difficult disease. By Ron Karten Nineteen-year-old Tribal member Amanda Jones-Schulte was excited to see the pow-wow again this year. She had been counting on com ing since last year's event, which she watched mostly from a wheelchair. The family had just learned that Amanda would need a heart-lung transplant, and at last year's pow-wow, they started rais ing money to help with extra ex penses for when operation time came, and that's when the rest of us learned about Eisenmanger Syndrome. Amanda was born with a hole in her heart, one result being that she does not make enough oxy gen to feed her body. Another is that the syndrome has given her and her folks, Dean Schulte and Tribal member Tracy Schulte, more heart than almost anybody around. They are out there in territory not many of us will ever get to. This year, courtesy of another "episode," Amanda is on a power ful medication to expand her blood vessels. The stuff, called Flolan, is a life saver but requires Amanda to mix a new batch herself every day. It must be kept on ice all the time, and from a pack she carries with a shoul der strap, it is constantly fed directly into a port in her upper chest. If she mixes it wrong, she's in trouble. If the machine stops working for six minutes, again, trouble. Out of all the potential for problems, the family acts instead on all the likelihood of success. Amanda and mom, Tracy, were here for pow-wow, living large. Last year, Amanda and Tracy set up a booth to raise money for extras that undoubtedly will be needed when it is time for the transplant; IHIIIlMiWI ' .."'" a. Doing Better Despite needing a heart and lung transplant, Tribal member Amanda Schulte traveled all the way from Modesto, California to be at the Grand Ronde Pow-wow. Schulte, pictured here with mother Tracy, is doing better this year and plans on attending college in the fall. lar circumstances, Tracy has said. And there will always be another. On the other hand, the family has a goal of $100,000 for the fund raiser, so Tribal members and others may still contrib ute the remaining $25,000 to: Help Hand Amanda Heart & Lungs Organi zation co Oak Valley Com munity Bank 4120 B Dale Rd Modesto, CA 95356 Acct 007 000847 This year, Amanda and Tracy played a more tradi tional part in pow-wow: they strolled and chatted and felt the powerful beat of host drummers Black Lodge (Washington), Perfect Storm and Black Stone (Canada). They perusec' the many arts and crafts booths, the fry bread stands, and they stand out among the brightest strands in this year's pow wow fabric, a combination of delicacy and raw courage, a testimony to determination that has sustained Indians for and announced, as much to themselves as to Tribal members across the country that their battle against Eisenmanger Syndrome had been engaged. Over the last year, the family has raised more than $75,000 for operation time, and they haven't touched a penny of it. If they never need it, they will pass it along to another in simi- more than 10,000 years. The short story is this: Amanda is stronger this year. She graduated high school and is attend ing college, and though she passed out on the trip up, and almost cancelled the whole thing, her doctors encouraged her to keep going, keep living and that's what pow-wow was about for her this year.
