Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current, September 01, 2023, Page 19, Image 19

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    sNok signflz
SEPTEMBER 1, 2023
11
Youth learn philanthropy lessons
By Michelle Alaimo
Photojournalist
Three Tribal youth spent the
summer being philanthropists.
Laney DeLoe, 17, Ben Powley, 18,
and Taytum West, 16, were interns
for the Spirit Mountain Community
Fund, the philanthropic arm of the
Tribe. The Youth Grantmakers
Program was conceived by Tribal
Council member Michael Cherry
while serving as the fund’s execu-
tive director.
Working together with now-Exec-
utive Director Angie Sears, then a
program coordinator, the two devel-
oped the program. It was proposed
it to SMCF Board of Trustees and
approved in July 2019.
The program is in its second year,
as it took longer than expected to
implement due to the COVID-19
pandemic.
The program was developed
for Grand Ronde Tribal youth
to engage Native students with
philanthropy, grantmaking and
community service. It is designed
to introduce the youth to nonprofit
organizations, allowing them to
better understand the need for as-
sistance in local communities and
learn how they can help make a
difference, while also earning high
school credit through volunteerism.
The youth grantmakers are hired
through the Tribe’s Summer Youth
Internship Program.
Due to the short timeline the
youth grantmakers have, they fol-
low a condensed process that the
fund staff uses to distribute the 6
percent proceeds they receive from
Spirit Mountain Casino annually
for the nonprofits who are chosen
quarterly as grantees.
The youth selected five nonprofit
organizations within the fund’s
11-county service area to apply for
$5,000 in special funding. This year
Hearts with a Mission of Newport,
CASA-Voices for Children of Ben-
ton & Lincoln Counties, A Family
for Every Child of Eugene, Center
Against Rape and Domestic Vio-
Photos by Michelle Alaimo
From left, Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence Resource & Funding Manager Cassie Cruze, Spirit Mountain
Community Fund Youth Grantmaker Laney DeLoe, 17, and SMCF Program Coordinator Angela Schlappie paint rocks
during a site visit to the center in Corvallis on Wednesday, July 26.
Spirit Mountain Community Fund
Youth Grantmakers, from left,
Laney DeLoe, 17, Ben Powley, 18,
and Taytum West, 16, listen to
Tribal Council and SMCF Board of
Trustee member Michael Cherry as
she speaks during the 2023 Youth
Grantmaking check presentation
at Spirit Mountain Casino on
Monday, Aug. 14.
SEE MORE OF THIS STORY
@SmokeSignalsCTGR
lence of Corvallis and Willamette
Riverkeeper of Oregon City were
selected to apply.
After the applications are sub-
mitted, youth grantmakers worked
with SMCF staff to review the ap-
plications, conduct site visits and
volunteer with each organization.
They also presented their funding
recommendations to the board for
approval.
In selecting the organizations,
Sears said the youth showed a lot
of thought, effort, character and
heart, and it was great to see the
program come to fruition.
On Wednesday, July 26, Sears,
Program Coordinator Angela
Schlappie and DeLoe did a site
visit at CARDV and painted rocks
with their staff.
“It was really nice,” DeLoe said.
“You can read an application and
they can say, ‘Oh, we do this, this
and this,’ but you can’t fully get that
experience until you go meet them
and talk with them, because usu-
ally they are a lot more passionate
and they give you so much heart
with their work.”
On Thursday, Aug. 10, Sears,
Grants Coordinator Jesse Knight,
DeLoe and Powley met Willamette
Riverkeeper Executive Director
Travis Williams and River Recre-
ation & Stewardship Coor-
dinator Annette Pearson at
Michael’s Landing in Cor-
vallis, where they ferried ca-
noes across the Willamette
River to look for and learn
about freshwater mussels.
All of their work con-
cluded with a lunch and
check presentation for the
nonprofits at the casino
on Monday, Aug. 14. The
Community Fund has now
awarded $94,448,158 to
nonprofits during the past
26 years.
From left, Spirit Mountain
Community Fund Youth
Grantmaker Laney DeLoe,
17, and fellow Youth
Grantmaker Ben Powley,
18, use aqua scopes to
look for western pearlshell
mussels in the Willamette
River in Corvallis while on
a site visit with Willamette
Riverkeeper on Thursday,
Aug. 10.