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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2011)
6 OCTOBER 1,2011 Smoke Signals Community FumcQ neairs $55 million in giving 4 1 organizations receive grants totaling $659,350 on Sept. 14 By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor With the distribution of 41 grants totaling $659,350 on Wednesday, Sept. 14, Spirit Mountain Com munity Fund approached the $55 million mark in giving since it was formed in 1997. The Community Fund, which dis tributes 6 percent of Spirit Moun tain Casino profits to charitable organizations in 11 western Oregon counties, is less than $5,000 away and will surpass the $55 million mark with its next quarterly check distribution in December. At the Sept. 14 quarterly check distribution held in the Tribal gym, the Community Fund continued its tradition of helping a wide variety of worthwhile efforts, from AIDS test ing to encouraging chess programs in schools to supporting healthy meals for senior citizens to funding a stage production of Yiddish stories. And much of this quarter's grant money will have a direct effect on local residents and children. The Grand Ronde Community Resource Center received $25,000 to help the local food bank on Hebo Road and provide supplemental foods and senior meals, teach nutri tion, operate a community garden and teach food preservation tech niques to local residents. The Willamina School District, which educates many Tribal and descendant children, received $50,000 to help pay for the con struction of a new six-classroom complex and multi-purpose build ing at the Oaken Hills campus in Willamina. The new buildings were required after the cash-strapped district closed the middle school building in Grand Ronde and consolidated its high school, middle school and elementary school operations at the Oaken Hills site. District Superintendent Gus Forster and Elementary School Principal Carrie Zimbrick picked 7 CP' - i- 1: Photo by Michelle Alaimo Kluane Baer, right, administrative assistant for Spirit Mountain Community Fund, talks with Don Horn, left, executive director of Triangla Productions, and Ellyn Bye during the fund's quarterly check presentation in the Tribal gymnasium on Wednesday, Sept. 14. Triangle Productions, a theater company, received a $4,000 grant for The Sanctuary Sandy Plaza equipment. up the check for the district. And the Oregon Native Ameri can Business & Entrepreneurship Network received $20,750 to revise and update its Indianpreneurship curriculum, which is designed to help Native Americans succeed in starting a business. "We are proud of what we have accomplished over the 28 years since Restoration," Tribal Council Vice Chair Reyn Leno told organi zation representatives before the check distribution. Leno also sits on the Community Fund's Board of Trustees. Tribal Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy briefly recited the history of the Grand Ronde Tribes, from being herded together at the Table Rocks site near current-day Med ford to signing seven treaties that ceded most of western Oregon to the federal government to the Trail of Tears march to Grand Ronde. "You see the survivors of a great tragedy," Kennedy said. "We wel come you to our homeland. It pulls on the heart strings to see the good work being done. Your work is very much appreciated." Tribal Council member Kathleen Tom gave the invocation for the event and attendees watched the 25th Restoration commemorative video so they could learn more about the history of the Grand Ronde Tribe. After the video, Community Fund Programs Coordinator Louis King read the list of recipients, who then posed with Leno and Com munity Fund Board of Trustee Ron Reibach, a Tribal member who works as Facilities Director at the casino, for a photo taken by Tribal photographer Michelle Alaimo. In addition to the previously men tioned grants, recipients were: African American Health Coali tion, $25,000; Arts Action Alliance Foundation, $20,000; Big Brothers Big Sisters of Met ropolitan Portland, $10,000; Boys and Girls Club of Lebanon, $35,000; Brooklyn Bay, $4,000; Campbell Institute, $40,000; Cascade Aids Project, $15,000; Center Against Rape and Domes tic Violence, $30,000; Center for Diversity & the Envi ronment, $25,000; Chess for Success, $25,000; Children's Course, $10,000; Colton Helping Hands, $12,100; Compassion in Dying Federation, $4,000; Educate Ya, $4,000; Elders in Action, $5,000; Friends of Polk County Casa, $5,000; Friends of the Children Portland, $10,000; Friends of NCRD, $4,000; Hacienda Community Develop ment Corp., $30,000; Japanese Garden Society of Or egon, $10,000; Jewish Theatre Collaborative, $2,000; Linn County Child Victim Assess ment Center, $12,500; Meals for Seniors, $4,000; Microenterprise Resources Initia tives & Training, $15,000; Mid-Willamette Valley Commu nity Action Agency, $15,000; Neighbors for Kids, $14,000; Oregon Coast Aquarium, $10,000; Oregon Mentors, $30,000; Oregon Museum of Science & Industry, $25,000; Oregon Tradeswomen, $20,000; Pendulum Aerial Arts, $4,000; Portland Taiko, $10,000; Store to Door, $10,000; Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, $15,000; Trauma Healing Project, $25,000; Triangle Productions, $4,000; Understanding Racism Founda tion, $5,000; and Western States Center, $20,000. B Two Tribal members nominated for Native American Music Awards By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor Perennial Native American Music Award nominee and Trib al member Jan Michael Looking Wolf Reibach has company this year. At the Oct. 7 Native American Music Awards ceremony to be held at the Seneca Niagara Ho tel & Casino in Niagara Falls, N.Y., Tribal member Steve Hud son, performing under the name Hudson Dean, also will be a nominee for Best Country Re cording for "The Old Road." Reibach picked up three nomina tions for his "Live As One" project Best Compilation, Best Male Artist and Best Music Video. The video for Reibach's "Live As One" can be viewed at www.youtube.com watch?vNmUqRksIB8U. A track from "The Old Road" can be heard at www.nativeam-ericanmusicawards.comcoun-try.cfm. B Elder's bingo changes days Bingo at the Elders' Activity Center is held the second and fourth Friday of the month. A potluck dinner starts at 6 p.m. and bingo begins at 6:30 p.m. For more information, contact Elder Activity Assistant Daniel Ham at 503-879-2233. B ADbuquerque bound Li p",jeipaa"it' r Photo by Michelle Alaimo Tribal Staff Attorney Lisa Bluelake, holding her 1-year-old daughter Shandiin, looks at a basket that Tribal member Sam Henny, left, gifted to her during her farewell party in the Tribal Courtroom on Tuesday, Sept. 27. After almost 1 1 years of working for the Tribe, Bluelake is leaving to be the chair of the Tribal Gaming Commission for the Sandia Pueblo in Albuquerque, N.M.
