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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 2006)
Smoke Signals 3 SEPTEMBER 1,2006 Hoiosoinig Autllhioiritey CooDs Ami Elcfleir Oowdd Don Coons travels to Portland and works into the night to get Tribal Elder Gene Hudson an air conditioner. By Ron Karten Tribal Elder Gene Hudson came in to Smoke Signals' office after the heat wave at the beginning of the month and asked us to write a letter for him. He told a story, as these things go, that wound in and out of town, on its way to a cool ending. Now Hudson is hip, even as an Elder, but it was not that kind of cool he was expressing thanks for. "I was hurting," he said. "Boy, I was hurting out there when it was 93, 100, 105. I was in bad shape." He happened to stop by Tribal Elder Nora Kimsey's place in the thick of the heat wave. Things there were nice and cool. She said that the Tribe had purchased her air conditioner. Tribal Elder Gena Hudson So, Hudson, who lives in Salem, came to the Governance Center where his niece, Tribal mem ber Shelly Kent, working on the phones, passed him along to Don Coons, Tribal Housing Improve ment Specialist at the Tribal I lous ing Authority. "Because of the extremely hot weather, we had an unusually large number of requests for air conditioning that can be provided I" through the medical grant pro jj gram that the Tribe offers," said t. Coon. "In this particular case, air conditioners are very difficult I" to find. They've all been sold. I J ended up working through an air conditioning contractor in Bend, thinking the Bend area might have some air conditioners there. He was able to refer me to a wholesale outlet in Portland. They had a few available of just the type and size we needed. The next day I went up and got one for Gene and came down to Salem and installed it that same afternoon. "I put in a little extra effort be cause of Gene's situation," said Coon. "It was extremely warm in his place. I felt like he needed something right away." "He really went all out to get it for me," said Hudson, who also asked us to thank Tribal Council and Shelly Kent for their assistance. So, when he arrived at the Smoke Signals' office that day, he looked cool as a cucumber. And we don't just mean "hip." Housing Co oust inaction Neanring Completion III turn. I I iSS. r. . TTf J AX S Wai&t s u. J r - , if Smooth Members of Seabold Construction Company, Inc. have been working diligently on the construction of the Tribe's new housing development. There are currently, about 40 units scheduled to open sometime in September with total project completion targeted for the middle of October. 7- ri4J',.'i Foster Care Housing Gets Paved wl 7vt'i ;V RTI iff IN' New Look The Tribal Elder Foster Care Housing development recently had sidewalks paved around the property. Foster care housing is currently open and accepting applications from elegible members. Housing Fair Held In Portland Ik -a f 7W Fairness Portland's first Native American Housing-to-IIomeownership Fair was hosted on July 29 by the Native American Youth and Family Center at Portland Community College. The fair aimed to increase economic and housing stability in the American IndianAlaska Native community.
