Posted By admin on January 3, 2012
The NSAIE has had an eventful year. Below is a copy of our 2011 Report that outlines our projects, programs, VISTA volunteer efforts, and much more. Many thanks to all of our supporters for helping us to make 2011 a great success.
Posted By admin on September 26, 2011
The end of summer marked the end of the AmeriCorps VISTA Tribal Summer Associates program for 2011. The NSAIE had an enormous participation rate that has surpassed previous years. In addition, we partnered with Boys & Girls Club and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. to provide more sites with Summer Associates. These sites then took part in the Let’s Move in Indian Country initiative, striving to help kids be more active and healthy.
This year, the volunteers spent 8 weeks in tribal communities across America, performing direct-service projects in three areas: Service Programs, Traditional Programs, and Development Support Programs. The projects have included everything from elder chores and yard work to hosting cultural craft days and office automation. The hands-on work has been both difficult and rewarding, offering participants the chance to make a difference in their local area.
The following are highlights from the 2011 Tribal Summer Associate program:
Pueblo of Acoma spent eight weeks creating a walking path to the Elderly Center. Adobe bricks made by traditional methods paved the path which is lined with canopies overhead. It is wide enough for two wheelchairs to pass and gives the elders a shaded space to exercise. The bricks were made from a mixture of sand, clay, water and straw, using a time tested ratio – 20 shovels of sand to every 10 shovels of clay.
Blackfeet Nation beautified their community through cleanups and elder chores. They cleared debris from the fairgrounds for the annual North American Indian Days in which over 4000 visitors celebrated, danced, shopped, played games and enjoyed entertainment. They also mowed lawns, weed whacked, painted houses and fences, and chopped fire wood. They revived gardens by weeding and Rototilling the land in preparation for planting, as well as participated in Blackfeet Manpower’s Youth Day by playing games with the kids.
Choctaw Nation cleaned and helped elders both outside and inside, cleared trash and large debris from community land, assisted with lawn care and gardening, helped to prime and paint a home in need of restoration, helped prepare and serve senior luncheons as well as clean up before hosting senior BINGO games. They participated in the Let’s Move campaign and worked to add more active projects to their summer. One Associate noticed, saying, “I think we are losing calories the way we’re sweating, but it’s a very good thing.”
Guam Associates worked with Pa`a Taotao Tano` to aid cultural and service programs. The Associates helped host and coordinate dance festivals, like Dinana Minagof (a Chomorro Dance Competition), that share Native traditions with the community. Participation included assisting dance instructors, rounding up teams, manning information booths, handing out refreshments, and performing dances. In addition, Associates gardened, weeded, planted, harvested, painted, and cleaned.
Oglala Sioux Nation aided their community by participating in a cleanup that cleared trash and debris in elders’ yards as well as mowing and weed whacking. They also helped to prepare for, set up, and participate in the Kicking Bear Wachipi Pow-wow.
Older Persons Action Group in Alaska planned, developed and raised funds for a Multicultural Folk Festival. They participated in staff meetings to brainstorm and facilitate logistics, then created a list with information on past and potential donors to identify and recruit sponsorship. Car washes and bake sales raised over $1100. Office work included: filing reports, printing and distributing flyers, mailing brochures, and answering telephones; as well as aiding elders in the community with computer technology and attending networking events.
Penobscot Nation participated in a community chore service, a food pantry and an elder garden. Associates helped with lawn mowing, weeding, clearing debris, maintenance, window washing, vacuuming, as well as helping with Community Days. In the Food Pantry, they kept track of transactions and donations and helped to keep the pantry stocked. Garden tasks included planting, weeding, and watering on a regular basis in preparation for harvesting vegetables.
Sault Ste. Marie hosted an event involving a life-size colon to showed the degenerative effects of poor health, diabetes, and cancer. Participating helps community members to understand health and to make lifestyle changes. Associates aided offices, gardened, and even rejuvenated their museum’s visitor information brochure and children’s activities. These tools allow adults to interact with museum exhibits and kids to play educational games.
Standing Rock learned valuable lessons from the elders in their community. One such lesson was how to identify, harvest and use timpsula, a prarie turnip that has slowly become harder to find. Other activities for the Associates were community cleanups, Meals on Wheels preparation and delivery, lawn care and elder chore service, hosting and participating in a Family Fun Day, and gardening.
Tohono O`odham worked with 11 congregate meal sites in the Nation’s 11 districts which are a place for elders to eat a full meal and escape the heat of southern Arizona. They helped prepare and deliver meals, clean afterwards, and play games like BINGO to engage elders. They hosted an elder arts and crafts and helped with elder chore services, such as grocery shopping, yard work and cleaning. Associates participated in training seminars aimed at career development.
United Keetoowah participated in several elder service activities including chores, nursing home visits, game days, craft days, and meal delivery. Associates beautified the Keetoowah Celebration Grounds for powwows and celebrations; cleared debris, mowed, and landscaped; and planted, weeded, watered and harvested community gardens. They fundraised for youth scholarships, served food at different community events, and went hunting for Crawdads – a traditional (and delicious) food source.
Winnebago cleared debris and renovated common areas as part of a Storm Cleanup. They cleaned and repaired both the inside and outside of storage trailers, creating a workspace for future elder services. They sent elder surveys to discover what activities are of interest to elders in the community. They hosted a bake sale and manned booths at a powwow, hosted elder craft days and taught elders their Native Language, prepared and served meals on wheels, and attended career development training.
White Mountain Apache Tribe participated in health programs, fairs, and youth camps, conducted research, prepared posters, gave presentations, and aided the prevention of several initiatives ranging from: Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Fit Testing, Healthy Heart, Diabetes, AmeriCorps Programming, Public Health Nursing, and Healthy Living. Activities included placing flea collars on reservation dogs, hosting booths to hand out information, gardening, playing games with youth, cleaning community common areas, grocery shopping and hosting a book club.
Next year, the NSAIE hopes to see participant numbers and projects grow so that each team of 5 Tribal Summer Associates will be able to accomplish even more in their short period of service. For their efforts, Summer Associates are given a stipend during their weeks of service as well as an end of service award. If you are interested in becoming a Tribal Summer Associate for the 2012 year, please visit www.AmeriCorps.gov for more information. Associates must be between the ages of 18 and 24 during their term of service.
Posted By admin on August 12, 2011
The National Society for American Indian Elderly is privileged to announce that the Corporation for National and Community Service has deemed our September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance 10th Anniversary Challenge project eligible for a $50,000 challenge grant.
The Corporation for National and Community Service is supporting those affected by the tragedy of 9/11 who have joined together to rebuild their lives and establish a tribute to honor family and friends who have sacrificed and served. The 10th Anniversary Challenge seeks to inspire the same spirit of unity, compassion and sense of community that was seen in the days following 9/11. The goal of the challenge is to plan and execute a service project that will benefit members of the community, encourage reflection, honor the heroes who served as a result of the attacks, and offer those most affected by the tragedy of 9/11 an opportunity to heal. Grants for the highest level of volunteer participation will be given in individual competitive pools and will be used to engage more volunteers over the next three years in honor of the September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance.
The NSAIE has designed a 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance – Memorial Gardens in Tribal Communities project that will expand elder gardens in 10 Tribal communities that currently engage community members and provide food for elder service programs. These expansions will create a space that commemorates those who have answered their Nations’ call and made the ultimate sacrifice. The NSAIE will engage its AmeriCorps VISTA members who have been placed in Tribal Communities across the United States and Guam to create the memorial gardens.
Creating memorial gardens will require volunteers from the community to perform several days’ worth of mowing, clearing, weeding, painting, and building to make their gardens not just functional but a place of peace and reflection. Each location will be able to add to the garden in ways that are most meaningful to the community.
Posted By admin on January 18, 2011
It is with our deepest gratitude for his life and work and our sincere condolences to the family of Sargent Shriver that we mark his passing. Mr. Shriver exemplified public service and with an abiding faith in the strength of people and communities, he developed programs and services that addressed social inequities. Public Service, is both a profession and an ideal, it is accomplished through the belief that through service we can improve our communities, our country and the world. There are people who meet that challenge in many different ways, quietly going about necessary and important work. Most people, who have dedicated their lives to public service, are anonymous, but through their work, our lives are improved. Many people have never heard of (Robert) Sargent Shriver, but he dedicated his life to making a difference. Mr. Shriver created the Peace Corps and was the Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity in the mid 1960’s; he developed the programs that comprised the War on Poverty: Head Start, Job Corps, VISTA, the Community Action Program, Upward Bound, Foster Grandparents, and the National Center on Poverty Law Legal Services. Almost 50 years later these programs have made a profound difference and continue his strong held belief about equity and access. The programs he developed all share a sense of social justice and the underlying attitude, is simply, that the people we work with and for, deserve our respect and that through the power and strength already contained in communities combined with access to the right tools what can be created will have positive, lasting and meaningful results. His work exemplified and defined public service, through dedication and perseverance he made a difference, he changed the world. We see that sense of public service exemplified by the dedication and quiet hope of our AmeriCorps VISTA members, who are willing to spend a year of their lives working for the greater good, believing that through their efforts they can improve the world. Mr. Shriver was ill for a very long time, and it is with sadness that the National Society for American Indian Elderly marks his passing. In a celebration of his life and work, AmeriCorps VISTA members work to build stronger communities every day, which is an amazing tribute to his life and work. With our heartfelt condolences,-The National Society for American Indian Elderly
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