ZOOM W.I.N. Meeting 9/28/21 Minutes
On-line: Bonnie Reed, Tim Horn, Kimberly Ulery, Brianna Ketzler, Kat McElroy, David Poppe and Suzanne Hill
Mission statement read by Suzanne Hill
Spiritual moment sung with a healing prayer (quite beautifully) by Tim Horn and Bonnie Reed. Ms. Reed has a lot of gratitude for the people of this land, the custodial Toghotthele people. There’s very much to be grateful for.
Ms. McElroy asked about the RMHA pantry. She is willing to donate food and willing to drive to Fairbanks to pick up boxes for people under 60 years old. Nenana has a homeless population that would benefit from food boxes. Ms. Hill will get more information about the Fairbanks Food Bank and food box possibilities. Fresh fruits and vegetables are not included in food boxes. The Parish Hall has been donated for most things in the community and could be used for Sunday Soup for the Soul.
Mr. Poppe talked about local people buying meat from them. It’s fairly expensive to have it processed.
(Animals to milk vs. animals to eat) People are willing to buy meat if they don’t get a moose. Lack of salmon is affecting people also. 95% of our food is coming from outside our community.
Ms. Horn recently started following First Alaska Institutes and they are having a Coffee House for Healing this Thursday, September 30th. This will be a live stream from their Facebook page from 10 a.m. to Noon. Ms. Reed does a weekly devotional every Wednesday at 7 p.m., through a phone conference call. They use the FreeConferenceCall.com number (1-425-436-6384) and enter passcode 4211863# at the prompt. Any questions, please call her at 907-832-1047. Nenana Peace Making Circle is
ongoing and handling cases. They are reaching out to find people to be a part of the circle and have been told the best training is to participate. Ms. Horn recommends Braidinq Sweetqrass: Indiqenous Wisdom. Scientific Knowledqe and the
Teachings of Plants
by Robin Wall Kimmerer.
Updates/announcements
Ms. Ulery is currently quarantining with her children and will be for some time. She is very grateful for being able to have ZOOM meetings for everyone to stay connected
Ms. Ketzler is also quarantining with her family. Next week she has a guest speaker from the
literacy council scheduled for the W.I.N. meeting.
Ms. McElroy talked about the situation of churches and residential schools in Canada and how they treated the children. They have found, and still are finding, mass graves of thousands of children. It needs to be talked about and acknowledged, but not ignored or forgotten. This issue brings up very emotional responses and feelings, but we can’t pretend it didn’t happen. She is also looking forward to a good winter and if anyone needs anything, please call her.
Ms. Spencer is grateful that we can recognize having hard conversations about issues like the residential schools. “Only in 1924 were Native American recognized as citizens of the United States of America” — Progress and Reform: 1900-1930. Native Americans were not considered US citizens when the city was incorporated in 1917. She also would like to acknowledge Ms. Ketzler and Ms. Ulery for a fantastic job with their first Recovery ZOOM event; everyone she
has talked to has raved about it. She would like to see this happen monthly.
Ms. Hill is still coming into work every day. She is doing Fee Agent and offce stuff. Any questions, or need anything, please call her at 907-832-5557 and leave a message if no answer.
Mr. Poppe has been very busy this summer. He has been making hay and outsourcing to local farms for more hay to get through the winter. He does not want to reduce the herd, as this is local food. He has decided not to raise chickens this winter. He has been pretty stressed with a lot of things in his personal life. We all are sending virtual hugs and best wishes for his upcoming winter to be better.
Ms. Reed and Ms. Hom will not be able to join next week’s meeting as they have other obligations. I will make sure Ms. Reed gets these minutes before Thursday so updates can be included in her newsletter.
Adjoumment: 1:22 p.m.
Meeting minutes by Suzanne Hill