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S moke S ignals
july 1, 2014
Community Fund surpasses $2 million in giving
More than $548,000 in
grants awarded on June 18
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
Spirit Mountain Community
Fund, the philanthropic arm of
the Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde, awarded 25 grants worth
$548,650 at its quarterly check
presentation held on Wednesday,
June 18, in the Tribal Governance
Center.
The Community Fund has now
donated $62,127,046 through 2,063
grants since its inception in 1997.
The Community Fund receives 6
percent of Spirit Mountain Casino
profits and uses the money to award
grants to nonprofit organizations in
11 western Oregon counties and to
the nine federally recognized Tribes
across Oregon.
Grants are awarded in the catego-
ries of arts and culture, education,
health, historic preservation, public
safety, environmental preservation
and problem gaming.
Second quarter gifts included
four to arts and culture nonprof-
its for a total of $28,000. Seven
grants totaling 137,500 went to
educational projects. Two grants
totaling $60,000 went to environ-
mental preservation projects. Ten
grants for a total of $322,150 went
to health projects. One $1,000 grant
went to historic preservation.
Spirit Mountain Community
Fund Executive Director Kathleen
George welcomed grant recipients
and said, “It is a great day for us
when we can share our Tribe’s val-
ues just as our ancestors did.”
The Community Fund continues
the Native tradition of potlatch,
she added.
Tribal members Brian Krehbiel,
Bobby Mercier and Tina Lara wel-
comed the nonprofit representa-
tives with drum and song.
Tribal Council Chairman Reyn
Leno and Tribal Council members
Denise Harvey, June Sherer and Ed
Pearsall attended. Leno also serves
on the Board of Trustees of Spirit
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Tribal Council member Denise Harvey poses for a picture with Darrell Yuen,
director of development for Open Meadow Alternative School, during the Spirit
Mountain Community Fund summer grant presentation held in Tribal Council
Chambers on Wednesday, June 1. The nonprofit received a $30,000 grant.
Mountain Community Fund.
Leno welcomed grant recipients
to Grand Ronde and said he was on
Tribal Council when the fund was
formed 17 years ago.
“We like to have you come to the
Governance Center where we can
share the idea of taking care of
people. The community took care
of us for 30 years,” Leno said about
the years between 1954’s Termina-
tion and 1983’s Restoration. He also
invited guests to visit the Tribe’s
Chachalu Museum & Cultural
Center and to attend the Veter-
ans Summit and Powwow being
held July 10-13 at Uyxat Powwow
Grounds.
Community Fund Program Co-
ordinator Louis King announced
the grant recipients and Harvey
distributed the checks.
Among recipients, PlayWrite is a
Portland program that offers one-
on-one coaching to teach a group
– from puberty to 25 years of age
– to write a play. The 10-year-old
program works with each of some
70 to 75 annual participants over
three-week sessions.
Each participant writes a play
that afterward is performed by
professional actors in front of a live
audience, said founder and Execu-
tive Director Bruce Livingstone.
Most participants have a history
of trauma or neglect, he said, but the
results are astounding. The Univer-
sity of Oregon and Oregon Health
& Science University conducted a
study of four workshops with the
same approach and found that 90
percent of participants completed
the course and showed a marked
improvement in hyperactivity, mood
and emotional symptoms. Partici-
pants learned to manage anger and
impulse responses.
The Community Fund also held
a drawing for gifts that went to the
Boys & Girls Club of Albany, Tilla-
mook County Quilt Coalition and I
Have a Dream Foundation.
Grant recipients during the June
18 presentation were:
• Advantage Smiles for Kids for its
orthodontic treatment program
for at-risk children: $50,000;
• Boys & Girls Club of Albany for
its free children’s dental clinic:
$30,000;
• Center for Diversity & the Envi-
ronment for its environment 2042
leadership program: $40,000;
• Children Center of Clackamas
County for a program aimed at
breaking the cycle of child abuse
related to domestic violence:
$40,000;
• Children’s Advocacy Center of
Lincoln County for its commu-
nity-focused child abuse preven-
tion program: $10,000;
• Children’s Institute for a program
called early works: transforming
education together: $40,000;
• Educate Ya Inc. for its HIV/
AIDS health educator program:
$5,000;
• Forests Forever to help with the
restoration of the Clatskanie
Mountain fire lookout tower:
$1,000;
• Friends of Tyron Creek Park to
help friends and neighbors for en-
vironmental diversity: $20,000;
• I Have a Dream Foundation -
Oregon for the Dreamer School
Project Out of School Time Initia-
tive: $30,000;
• Kukatonon for Restoring Our
Connections to African Culture:
$3,000;
• Liberty House for Providing
Services to Children in Crisis:
Funding a Specially-Trained Pe-
diatrician: $25,000;
• Living Yoga for program expan-
sion: $5,000;
• Northwest Kidney Kids Inc. for
Kidney Camp 2014: $5,000;
• Open Meadow Alternative Schools
for its program Step Up to Col-
lege: $30,000;
• Oregon Food Bank for its school
pantry expansion: $30,000;
• Planned Parenthood of the Co-
lumbia Willamette Inc. for wom-
en’s health equity: $12,150;
• PlayWrite to help with programs
as it starts its second decade:
$3,000;
• Shadow Project to help the non-
profit’s efforts to collaborate to
improve educational outcomes
for special education students:
$20,000;
• The Northwest Catholic Counsel-
ing Center for essential mental
health services for older, lower-
income women: $25,000;
• Tillamook County Quilt Coali-
tion for the Tillamook County
public mural program, phase II:
$2,000;
• Tryon Life Community Farm for
its Hands on Sustainability pro-
gram: $2,500;
• Youth Music Project for its Rock
‘n’ Roll, Ready to Learn program
serving at-risk students with the
3 Rs: $20,000;
• Oregon Health & Science Univer-
sity Foundation for the Knight
Cancer Challenge: $100,000. n
Visit the Oregon Humane
Society with YED
• July 7 th 8am-4:30pm
•
Ad created by George Valdez
We will be taking a tour
of the facility,
volunteering with the
animals and learning
about the services they
provide!
• Enjoy lunch at an authentic
Hawaiian restaurant!
• Be sure to wear long
pants and tennis shoes!
Questions? Please contact Justine Colton at (503)879-1921 or justinecolton@grandronde.org