15-PASSENGER VAN GIFTED TO GROVE VETERANS RITUAL TEAM
Last year, the Tribe retired a 15-passenger van from use. Rather than placing the vehicle up for sale, the Business Council found a worthy beneficiary in the Grove Veterans Ritual Team.
The Grove Veterans Ritual Team’s eleven members, including the Shawnee Tribe’s own Herb Adams (US Army, 1st Infantry Division), travel extensively throughout the area surrounding Grove, OK to give final rites at the burials of fallen veterans. Team members perform a 21-gun salute and flag folding, play taps, and collect & provide the shells from the salute to each veteran’s family. The group performs their duties rain, sleet or shine, often going to two funerals in a single day and up to four in a given week. Recently, the Ritual Team began fundraising to purchase a new transport van, as they were outgrowing their vehicle and needed a replacement.
In December, the Shawnee Tribe Business Council was asked by the Ritual Team to consider supporting their fundraising efforts with a modest contribution. Hearing that the Team needed a van that met the exact specifications of the vehicle sitting in the Tribe’s garage, Business Council members were swift and unanimous in a decision to gift the van to the Ritual Team.
The van will have a seat removed and a storage box added to store rifles, bugles and flags. Tribal staff quickly turned the van around for maintenance, and the Officers of the Tribe met with the ritual team earlier this month to officially turn over the keys.
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