Tribal Government & News

Celebrating $100 million in giving to nonprofits, Tribes

12.12.2024 Danielle Harrison Spirit Mountain Community Fund
Tribal Council member and Spirit Mountain Community Fund Board of Trustees Secretary/Treasurer Denise Harvey, left, and Tribal Council member and SMCF Board of Trustees Chair Brenda Tuomi, right, hug former SMCF executive director Michael Cherry after presenting her with a Pendleton saddle blanket during the Community Fund’s $100 Million in Giving celebration held at Spirit Mountain Casino’s Event Center on Friday, Dec. 6. (Photo by Michelle Alaimo)

By Danielle Harrison

Smoke Signals editor

The Spirit Mountain Community Fund marked a significant milestone when it celebrated $100 million in grants given to area nonprofits.

The occasion was feted with a lunch at the Spirit Mountain Casino Event Center on Friday, Dec. 6, with more than 200 people in attendance to celebrate that as well as the fourth-quarter check presentation to nonprofits.

“It really fills my heart to see everyone with us here today,” Community Fund Executive Director Angie Sears said. “We’re honored and blessed for the partnerships that we’ve created together and we’re so thankful for you all. We’re especially thankful for our nonprofit partners who work tirelessly to provide much-needed support and services for our most vulnerable communities. You are the reason our Tribal leaders created the Community Fund 27 years ago.”

The Community Fund receives 6 percent of proceeds from Spirit Mountain Casino and awards that money to nonprofits in 11 northwest Oregon counties to fund efforts in the areas of arts and culture, environmental preservation, education, health, historic preservation and public safety, and to the nine federally recognized Tribes in Oregon under the fund’s Tribal Grants program.

As of the fourth quarter of 2024, the Grand Ronde Tribe’s philanthropic giving has surpassed $100 million with 3,394 grants awarded since 1997.

The Community Fund was created as part of the Tribe’s gaming compact with the state of Oregon. It is supervised by an eight-member Board of Trustees that includes Tribal Council members Denise Harvey and Brenda Tuomi, who serves as board chair.

The event began with an invocation by Tribal Council Secretary Jon A. George and a welcome song by the Grand Ronde Canoe Family.

Sears then introduced Tribal Council members, Board of Trustees members and the Community Fund employees.

Tribal Council members in attendance included Jon A. George, Kathleen George, Matthew Haller, Tuomi and Harvey.

Community Fund staff are Program Coordinator Angela Schlappie, Grants Coordinator Jesse Knight and Administrative Assistant Pamala Warren-Chase, who also acted as event emcee.

Following the introductions, attendees were shown a video that had been created for the event, featuring six past grant recipients.

Kathleen George, a past Community Fund Executive Director and current Tribal Council member, gave the keynote address. She talked about the long road of the Tribe being terminated to celebrating where it is today, and all the work that went into that effort.

“We’re here today to celebrate $100 million of potlach (giving),” she said. “This is a time of coming together and giving thanks…We are blessed to come from Elders who had the vision, the courage and the determination to right a terrible wrong, to do this long, hard work, step-by-step of restoring our Tribe...And in time, we were able to open a successful business that we’re all sitting in today. Our Elders thought this was good and wanted to share the blessing with others. That blessing is to share that in potlatch with our neighbors and our friends. It became a way to empower that same spirit of perseverance that led and inspired our ancestors to see that same spirit in our neighbors…to create communities that lifted one another up, that shared the blessing and that is in the work that our nonprofit partners and our local government partners do.”

Then, she gave the blessing for the meal. While everyone ate their lunch, Tribal Elder and musician Jan Michael Looking Wolf and Robin Gentle Wolf performed Native American flute music.

After lunch concluded, Sears gifted a Pendleton saddle blanket designed by Tribal member and Multimedia Specialist Matthew Williams for the celebration to former Community Fund Executive Director and past Tribal Council member Michael Cherry.

“I just want to say it’s been an honor and a privilege to work with Michael over the past 7 years,” Sears said. “She has such passion and heart for this work and it’s always been one of her favorite things to do. Thank you for your service and dedication to our Tribe, the Community Fund and our nonprofit partners.”

Cherry said it was an “incredible surprise,” to be honored with the blanket.

“Thank you to everyone that is in this room,” she said. “My mom, Candy Robertson, was on the first Tribal Council and she was not able to join us today because she’s been sick and she extends all of her gratitude…As I was driving out here and thinking about our previous visionaries, we would not be here without them…My mom was the one to pass the resolution to have a casino here for an economic development venture and just to think about where we are at right now: Celebrating $100 million of giving is just astonishing and also to the non-profits who share that collective vision…we couldn’t do this work without you. My hands are raised to you.”

Spirit Mountain Casino Chief Executive Officer Camille Mercier told attendees about her journey from being a young mom working at the casino to becoming its leader. She also shared that she is the granddaughter of key Restoration leader Margaret Provost, whose likeness is encapsulated in a life-sized bronze sculpture in front of the Tribal Governance Center.

“Despite all of the challenges and those expensive diaper and daycare years, I really did remain undeterred and thought of it as an investment in my future and my career,” she said. “Being a part of the casino from its early days has been such a meaningful experience for me and one that certainly surpassed anything that I could have ever imagined 30 years ago…The casino was an idea that was brought to the membership and it was really about a vision of creating a sustainable future for our Tribe. That vision extended beyond our community and it was aimed to provide resources that would benefit not only the Tribe but also our surrounding communities.”

During the check distribution portion, the Community Fund awarded 10 small grants worth $62,805, 13 large grants worth $555,000, and eight Tribal grants worth $800,000. Additionally, the six organizations featured in the celebration video – Adelante Mujeres, Bridgeworks Oregon, Elakha Alliance, KBOO Foundation, Liberty House and Oregon Justice Resource Center –  each received $5,000 grants.  

Store to Door Executive Director Mark Fulop shakes hands with Spirit Mountain Community Fund Executive Director Angie Sears as he receives a check during the Community Fund’s $100 Million in Giving celebration held at Spirit Mountain Casino’s Event Center on Friday, Dec. 6. The nonprofit was awarded $5,000 by SMCF. (Photo by Michelle Alaimo)

Knight announced the small grant recipients and Schlappie announced the large grant and Tribal grant recipients. All grant recipients were given a commemorative Pendleton saddle blanket. 

Small grant recipients were:

  • City of Independence, $7,500, for its youth coding league;
  • Confluence of Polk County, $7,500, for its Voice of the River story gathering of Grand Ronde Tribal members;
  • Mary’s River Gleaners Association of Benton County, $3,000, for its gleaners site safety and food security program;
  • On-the-Move Community Integration of Multnomah County, $7,000, for community integration for adults with developmental disabilities;
  • Radical Rest of Multnomah County, $7,491, for its Good Grief Project;
  • Siletz Fire District Volunteer Firefighters Association of Lincoln County, $7,314, for its extrication innovation and training program;
  • Social Venture Partners Portland, $7,500, for helping underserved children access quality early childhood education;
  • Store to Door of Multnomah County, $5,000, for expanding resource referrals for low-income, homebound seniors;
  • We Belong PDX of Multnomah County, $7,500, for nurturing connections for children;
  • Western Oregon Center for Pediatric Therapeutic Lifestyle Change of Yamhill County, $3,000, for nutrition education for kids.

Large grant recipients were:

  • ABC House Inc. of Linn County, $50,000, for vital care for children impacted by trauma and abuse;
  • Arbor House Portland of Multnomah County, $50,000, for empowering women in recovery;
  • CASA of Clackamas County, $20,000, for its family treatment court;
  • CASA Voice for Children of Lincoln County, $50,000, for its Overcoming ACEs: Empowering youth who have experienced abuse and neglect;
  • Daisy C.H.A.I.N. of Lane County, $50,000, for equitable health programs for pregnant and parenting individuals;
  • HomePlate Youth Services of Washington County, $30,000, for unhoused youth accessing education to break the cycle of homelessness;
  • Peace in Schools of Multnomah County, $50,000, for its mental health in high school program;
  • Pink Lemonade Project of Multnomah County, $50,000, for community health worker cancer education project;
  • Responder Life of Clackamas County, $50,000, for improving the mental health of first responders through peer support;
  • Salem Free Clinics, $50,000, for improving community mental and behavioral health by increasing access;
  • Shadow Project of Multnomah County, $35,000, for reading mentors;
  • Sheridan Rural Fire Protection District, $20,000, for personal protective equipment for cancer prevention;
  • SMART Reading of Multnomah County, $50,000, for building excited, confident and skilled pre-k readers.

Tribal grant recipients:

  • Burns-Paiute Tribe, $100,000, for general operating support;
  • Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw; $100,000, for native language revitalization;
  • Confederated Tribes of Siletz, $100,000, for Tribal arts and heritage operational costs;
  • Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, $100,000, for its Chachalu Tribal Museum & Cultural Center arbor project;
  • Confederated Tribes of Umatilla, $100,000, for thriving wealth creation ecosystem;
  • Coquille Tribe, $100,000, for cultural, education and language services;
  • Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, $100,000 operations support for The Museum at Warm Springs;
  • Klamath Tribes, $100,000, for Tribal Council water preservation.

“Thanks for the wonderful work you are doing in your communities,” Sears said. “We are all grateful to be a part of this.”