MARCH 1,2007
Smoke Signals . 5
RESTORATION continued
from page 4
to self-sufficiency for the Tribe. In
fact, the casino gave reason and op
portunity for many Tribal members
to return home to Grand Ronde.
"After the casino opened, my
mom and dad separated and my
mom moved back here to be with
her family. I followed about a year
later. I called human resources
and said I'm a Tribal member and
I really want to move back into
the area. I applied for a job, and
got the job all in the same day. So
the transition was really fast and I
started three days later," said April
Campbell, Chinook and Kalapuya
Tribal member.
"We had orientation at the casi
no, and Kathryn Harrison told her
story about the Trail of Tears and
I cried. You know you're a Tribal
member; your mom tells you you're
Tribal; your grandma tells you
you're a Tribal member, but when
you don't live on the reservation
it's hard to have an understanding
of what that really means... But
when I heard the Trail of Tears,
something clicked and I cried,"
said Campbell.
"When I first came down here I
really wanted to go into business.
I wanted to do international busi
ness, and I wanted to make a lot of
money and be successful monetari
ly. After Kathryn gave her speech,
I started to realize that I was just a
small piece of a bigger picture and
eventually I got involved with the
education division. I got involved
with the Tribal piece versus the
economic piece. So when the job
came open for a higher education
specialist I was so excited; I felt
like it was a good fit for me. The
impact that working for the Tribe
has on somebody is immense and
you can't know that unless you ac
tually come back here and
experience it."
The Tribe values educa
tion and is constantly look
ing for ways to assist Tribal
members with employment
and educational opportuni
ties. "In 2002, the Tribe
established a Mentorship
Program, which was de
signed to train and develop
Tribal members so they
could obtain key positions
within the Tribe and casino.
This program gives Tribal
members an opportunity
to get additional training
and work experience that
they may not be able to
obtain without such a pro
gram, said Denise Harvey,
Umpqua Tribal member.
"In 2003, I realized that
we had a gap in the organi
zation for assisting Tribal members
with internal and external employ
ment. I started assisting them with
job opportunities, resume writing
and interview skills, and before I
knew it I had a lot of Tribal mem
bers coming to me for assistance.
So we created a new program and
called it the Workforce Develop
ment Program. With this new
added responsibility I began over
seeing the Tribal preference pro
tocol on all Tribal and Casino con
struction projects. tThe Workforce
Development Program has assisted
more than 100 jTr'ibal Members,'
Native Americans and people from
the local community with employ
ment," said Harvey.
Today, the casino employs more
than 1,500 people, and is constantly
expanding to meet the needs of
guests. The Tribe employs 339
'
Tribal member Mark Mercier
people and has a membership of
more than 5,000.
The Tribe provides its member
ship with programs such as Elder
housing, adult foster care, family
housing, education financing and
assistance, cultural programs,
disability services, Elder pension,
health and wellness services and
much, much more.
"We are very progressive as far
as Tribal governments go. That's
something that we should be very
proud of. Termination definitely
t took its toll on us, but I think it also
Z made us more business savvy in a
lot of ways. I don't think we have
quite the sense of entitlement that
members of other Tribes might
have. As far as the government
providing assistance, we have self
sufficiency," said Barbra Mercier,
Rogue River and Umpqua Tribal
member. "It wasn't long ago that if
your folks didn't have good health
insurance, you suffered a little bit.
We don't have to suffer anymore.
We give insurance to our member
ship no matter where they live. It
really is a benefit. I think there's
only about five or six other Tribes
in the nation that offer that same
benefit. For most Tribes IHS is the
only health benefit they have. I
think we have a real extra benefit
that we give to our membership."
The Tribe has worked long and
hard to get where it is today, and
the Tribal membership receives
benefits that were just a dream
some 23-years ago. It is because of
the efforts of so many people who
wanted a better life for their fami
lies and for the Grand Ronde people
that there are Tribal members
today who have survived serious
illness due to the medical attention
that the Tribe provided. And it is
because of those same efforts that
there are so many Tribal students
receiving a college degree due to
the support and assistance they
received from the Tribe.
"I think you're lucky if you can get
one to three things done while in of
fice, but I can count 50 things that
we've accomplished; so I think that's
a great achievement," said Kathleen
Tom, Kalapuya and Umpqua Tribal
member. "One of the issues we face,
is we don't always give praise where
praise is needed. I would like to see a
memorial for the founders of restora
tion... something to tell their story.
We need to remember these people
and what they did for the Tribe."
Val Grout Umpqua,
Kalapuya, Chasta, and
Rogue River Tribal member
I was here when we were
terminated. My parents were
DeWalt and Arvella Houck. We.
moved away during the termi
nation era. We moved away; my
dad and my husband, we went
where the work was. We moved
to the southern Oregon coast in
Brookings. But I always came
home twice a year during Me
morial Day and Christmas.
In 1974 we moved to Tilla
mook, Oregon. Then in 1987 I
was elected to Tribal Council
and drove back-and-forth be
tween Grand Ronde and Til
lamook for seven years.
In 1998 we moved back to
Grand Ronde and I bought a
manufactured home in Grand
Meadows. My husband passed
away before I moved in. He was
diabetic and it just ravished
his body. He's across the road
now in the cemetery, so I go out
and give him heck every once
in awhile for leaving me. But
I have my kids; my youngest
son, his wife, and their baby
live with me.
When I started on Council
my biggest goal was to see that
our Tribal members could get
as many benefits as possible.
Back then there wasn't a lot of
money. But that was the main
thing; I wanted to see the
Tribe grow. Education,
health, and endowments,
those were three of the
things I was most inter
ested in.
I think the Tribe ex
panded a little each year.
We set up an Elder pen
sion plan. We couldn't
agree on an appropriate
age for the benefits, so we
took it to the Elders and
asked them what they
wanted. The Elders chose
the age of 55, and that's
how the age for the Elder's
pension got to be.
For me, the pension was
a big achievement. When
we first started we could
only afford about $50. But
it eventually progressed
from $50 to $100 and con
tinued up the line until it
finally reached $1000, and
that's where we decided to
stop it. (That was after the
casino was built.)
I think our .biggest
achievement was setting up en
dowments. The endowments are
funds that were set aside to fund
Tribal programs in the event that
something happened and we lost
our main source of funding. With
the endowments, the Tribe would
still have money to support those
purposes for the Tribal meraber-
4,
1
I n w 'J
Tribal Elder Val Grout
ship. It wouldn't be the kind of
money we're used to now, but it
would be enough to get us by on the
bare essentials.
So we set up endowments for pro
grams such as health, education,
Elder's pensions, funeral funds, etc.
Some of those programs are probably
getting close to being fully funded by
now. Once a program is fully funded,
the interest from that program
can go into other programs.
A good thing about the en
dowment funds is that it takes
a full vote of Tribal Council (all
nine members) to touch that
money for any other purpose
than it was intended for. So we
know that money will be there
if it's ever needed.
When the idea of the casino was
first brought up council decided
not to get involved. Then about
a year later we looked into the
casino some more and learned
what we could do ... well then
council decided to go ahead and
do it. So that was a big achieve
ment for the Tribe too. I know it
does a lot for our Tribe.
I think the endowments and
the casino are the things I'm
most proud of. Actually, I'm
most proud of the endowments;
the casino comes second.
I really enjoyed every year I
sat on Council. I worked with
so many neat people like Ray
McKnight, Henry Petite, Mar
garet Provost, Ed Pearsall,
Eddie Larsen, Mark Mercier,
and Kathryn Harrison.
I worked with a lot of great
Tribal leaders. We made a lot
of accomplishments and we
made a few mistakes along the
way, but I'm just really proud
to have worked with so many
good people.