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
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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.