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.
The Shawnee Tribe’s 2024 General Council & Election Weekend included a hawikeepicika kiskotaawe (“ribbon-cutting”) and open house for the new Emma “Mock” Donaldson saawanwaatoweewika (“language house”), a community dinner and stomp dance, as well as the annual meeting of the Shawnee Tribal Council and Business Council election. Citizens had the opportunity to meet tribal service programs & administrative […]
The Shawnee Tribe’s Behavioral & Mental Health Department is hosting Community Support Groups twice a month. Meetings will go through mid-December. For more information, please contact Linda Rothe, MS, LPC at 918-542-2441 Ext. 150 or email lrothe@shawnee-tribe.com.
On Monday, September 23, 2024, following the 2024 General Council Weekend, the Shawnee Tribe Cultural Center in Miami, OK, reopened to the public after an extended closure due to COVID-19 precautions and the need to use the center for office space. With the Emma “Mock” Donaldson Saawanwaatoweewika now open as the permanent home of the […]
Update (10/2/24): Special Livestream Event On Tuesday, October 8, join the Sid Meier’s Civilization team at 10:00 AM PDT / 1:00 PM EDT for a Tecumseh livestream featuring special guests from the Shawnee Tribe. The Shawnee Tribe is set to be featured in the upcoming release of Sid Meier’s Civilization VII, a popular video game series that enables […]
We’ve moved things around a bit on the Shawnee Tribal Courts webpage now that Shawnee Tribe District Court case information is available in the On Demand Court Records database at ODCR.com. To search the open records, click the ‘Search Case Records’ button on the Courts page. In the search query at ODCR, select ‘Shawnee Tribe District Court’ from the list of options […]
Welcome to ta’saawanwaatoweeyakwe, the new blog series dedicated to the Shawnee Language Immersion Program’s happenings and language preservation work. Now that we are most of the way through the first year of our Master-Apprentice program, we wanted to share some of our work. Each week we focus on a new concept, and we had a lot […]
Messages from the Chiefs: Summer 2024 — Chief Barnes discusses highlights from tribal programs, including Higher Education Awards and the Indian Child Welfare Office. Chief Baldridge emphasizes the importance of diplomacy and inter-governmental work.
Contributors: Coral Avery, Princella RedCorn One of the most important crops grown in Shawnee villages before removal westward was lokhaana taami (flour corn). This corn variety, rich in vitamins and minerals, was used to make flour, which was instrumental in providing food for saawanooki (Shawnee people) through the winter months. It was also significant in […]