8
S moke S ignals
AUGUST 1, 2017
Let your light shine
Community Fund celebrates 20th anniversary of giving
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
PORTLAND – As invited guests
entered Oregon Health & Science
University’s pavilion overlooking
the picturesque Tilikum Crossing
spanning the Willamette River for
the 20th anniversary celebration of
Spirit Mountain Community Fund,
they couldn’t help but notice an
oversized $74 million check resting
on an easel next to the registration
table.
If they did manage not to see it,
Tribal Council Chairman Reyn
Leno ensured that the more than
300 people at the event pondered
that impressive total donated to
Oregon nonprofit organizations in
11 northwestern Oregon counties
since the Community Fund was
founded in 1997.
The $74,146,358, to be exact, rep-
resents 6 percent of Spirit Mountain
Casino proceeds that the Grand
Ronde Tribe has given back to the
community after the community
took care of Grand Ronde people
during 29 years of Termination
from 1954 to 1983.
“You can’t imagine, when you re-
ally think about it over 20 years and
$75 million or whatever, how many
people that has really reached out
and helped,” Leno, who also sits
on the Community Fund’s Board
of Trustees, said about the almost
2,500 grants awarded. “It’s been a
success story.”
The “Let Your Light Shine” cel-
ebration started at 4:30 p.m. with
a VIP Reception on OHSU’s patio
overlooking the river.
Community Fund Board of Trust-
ees Chairman Sho Dozono told
reception attendees that they were
standing in the ceded lands of the
Grand Ronde peoples and it was the
Grand Ronde Tribe that submitted
the winning name for the 2 year-old
pedestrian-public transit bridge
crossing the Willamette River.
Community Fund Director My-
chal Cherry honored many of the
original members of the Commu-
Photos by Michelle Alaimo
Tribal Council members and Spirit Mountain Community Fund Board of Trustees members Denise Harvey, left, and Jack
Giffen Jr., right, present Tribal Elder, former Tribal Council Chairwoman and an original Community Fund Board of Trustees
member Kathryn Harrison with a Tribal Pendleton blanket during the VIP Reception at the fund’s 20th anniversary
celebration “Let Your Light Shine” held at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland on Saturday, July 29.
nity Fund’s Board of Trustees
with Pendleton blankets, including
former Polk County Commissioner
Ron Dodge, Tribal Elder and former
Tribal Council member Leon Tom,
former Spirit Mountain Casino
Marketing Director Chuck Galford,
Tribal Elder and former Tribal
Council Chairwoman Kathryn Har-
rison, and Dozono, who has been
on the Board of Trustees since its
inception. Those honored but not in
attendance included former Tribal
Council member Ed Pearsall, Ore-
gon Gov. Kate Brown and former
Oregon U.S. Attorney Kris Olson.
The celebration drew an array of
current and former Tribal Council
members, as well as many Tribal
Elders and Tribal staff. A sampling
of those in attendance included
Tribal Council members Jack Giff-
en Jr. and Denise Harvey, who
both sit on the Community Fund’s
Board of Trustees, as well as Tonya
Gleason-Shepek and Chris Mercier;
former Tribal Council members
Kathleen Tom, Steve Bobb Sr.,
June Sell-Sherer, Candy Robert-
son and Ed Larsen; Tribal Elders
Laura Gleason and Jenny VanAt-
ta; and Tribal employees Stan
Dillon, general manager at Spirit
Mountain Casino, Tribal Attorney
Rob Greene, Tribal lobbyist Justin
Martin, Human Resources Depart-
ment Manager Patrick Dempsey
and Tribal Council Administrative
See CELEBRATION
continued on page 9
Spirit Mountain Community Fund
Board of Trustees Chairman Sho
Dozono, left, gifts Donna Maxey,
founder/director of Race Talks, a
$5,000 check during Spirit Mountain
Community Fund’s 20th anniversary
celebration held at Oregon Health
& Science University in Portland on
Saturday, July 29. Dozono chose the
nonprofit to grant during the event.