The True Meaning of Community Helping Community

In Keetoowah history, communities cametogether to help one another in time of need. Afamily's home burned down or loss of a familymember, people in the communities would cometogether and provide food, clothing, shelter or cutand gather wood for the family. This tradition wascalled s-ga-du-gi (community helping community).In the true meaning of the word the UnitedKeetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians inOklahoma still practice this tradition today. It is atradition that has been practiced from generationto generation by the Keetoowah Cherokee people.

Carrying on this tradition the UnitedKeetoowah Band has organized a coalition, the"Warmth of Love" committee, committed to providingaide to the Keetoowah elders and tribalmembers in the communities within the nine districts.

Many Keetoowah Cherokee elders live aloneand many others provide care for their grandchildrenand do not have the resources to repair orwinterize their homes. With this in mind, a committeewas formed to recruit volunteers to go outinto the communities and provide help to theKeetoowah Cherokee families who are in need.The volunteers provide their time to go to homesto assist in home repairs, winterization andcleanup. The "Warmth of Love" committeerequests and receives monetary contributions,donations of household items and aide from individualsand organizations to help with the cost ofrepairs and cleanup. Tribal members even volunteerto prepare meals for the workers.

"We hope that others will be motivated tohelp. You don't have to be a professional to be outhere, if you can push a broom, use a rake, pick uptrash, you can be a valuable volunteer," said SueGaytan, Tribal Victims Assistance ProgramAdvocate. "The need doesn't stop here withrepairs and cleanup, we are asking people todonate any furniture that is usable, that is still ingood condition and they have no need for it, ifthey can give us a phone number we can contactthem, and we will come by and pick up the furniture.We know a lot of people who have theirhomes burned out and need furniture, dishes, anythingto restart their lives."

The motivation for this committee is not forpraise or recognition, but for the love of theirKeetoowah people. No political ties, no pats onthe back, just people who want to make a differencein helping people. This is the KeetoowahCherokee tradition. This project will be ongoingwith a family within the nine districts of theUnited Keetoowah Band hopefully being assistedevery month.

Members of the "Warmth of Love" committeeare Rod Fourkiller, General Manager, KeetoowahCherokee Casino; Sue Gaytan, Tribal VictimsAssistance Program Advocate; Sonya Cochran,Director of Tribal Victims Assistance Programand Indian Child Welfare; Brenda Locust,Specialist Events Coordinator; HominyLittledave, Community Service Coordinator; andJim Teehee; Security Officer, KeetoowahCherokee Casino.

"We want to thank Chief George Wickliffe;Assistant Chief Charles Locust; and Tim GoodVoice, Administrative Officer; for their support inthis project. They were very instrumental in helpingwith all of this. If it wasn't for their understandingand compassion, this would have neverhappened, we are very grateful for this," StatedGaytan.

To volunteer for this project or for more informationplease contact, Sonya Cochran or SueGaytan at 918-456-9200 or you can call toll free1-800-794-6514.