General Council hears update from Grand Ronde Food Bank

By Danielle Harrison

Smoke Signals editor

Grand Ronde Food Bank Coordinator Francene Ambrose briefed Tribal members on the various services it has provided to the community during a Sunday, May 4, General Council hybrid meeting held via Zoom and in Tribal Council Chambers.

“I’m very happy to be here today to see all of you and I wanted to say, ‘May the fourth be with you,’ because I’m a huge Star Wars fan as well,” she said. “We just had our 10^th anniversary at the Food Bank and the time seems to have flown by.”

The Food Bank – iskam mek mek haws – is a partnership between the Tribe and Marion-Polk Food Share. It has been in its current location at 9675 Grand Ronde Road since 2015. The Tribe built the 3,300-square-foot structure with federal grants and Marion-Polk Food Share hired Ambrose to oversee the pantry.

Recipients of SNAP, TANF, SSI or LIHEAP assistance automatically qualify for help, but Ambrose noted that no one in need of a food box will be turned away.

The Food Bank holds onsite distributions from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fridays. In addition, there is a light food box (mostly bread and produce) distribution from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays.

Clients must check in 15 minutes before closing to receive a food box on both days. There are also outreach distributions coordinated at Willamina High School, the Portland Area Office on Barbur Boulevard and the Elder Activity Center as needed. Additionally, the Food Bank conducts mobile food distributions at Kurleyville, Water’s Edge, Wandering Spirits RV Park and with the Tribal Police homeless liaison as needed.

“We also do a holiday food box distribution for Thanksgiving and Christmas,” Ambrose said. “Those are always the Saturday prior to the holiday to help with traffic on campus. We do approximately 250 food boxes on those days…The last two years, we had generous support from the Tribe and the Spirit Mountain Community Fund to provide those.”

She and two part-time staff, Pantry Assistant Kim Godsey and a warehouse assistant (currently hiring), coordinate the distributions with other community partners such as the Willamina Food Pantry and Grand Sheramina in Sheridan.

“Families can come to every single distribution,” Ambrose said. “We share food, resources and make sure families have access.”

The Food Bank has partnerships with Spirit Mountain Casino, the Elder Activity Center, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife ( provides deer, bear and elk meat), Bonneville Fish Hatchery, Safeway, WinCo, Dollar General, American Military Encouragement Network, Dave’s Killer Break and the Dundee Women’s Club.

Volunteers are currently needed for food donation pickups at retail locations.

“Even if you can’t drive, we could also use someone to assist with the pickups because we try to send two people to help with lifting,” Ambrose said. “We would greatly appreciate it.” 

The Food Bank works with the Oregon State University Extension Office to offer various cooking classes and is partnering with the Native American Youth and Family Center in Portland to offer traditional food preservation classes. Additionally, the food bank partners with the Marion-Polk Food Share Youth Farm, Meals on Wheels and with the Grand Ronde Health & Wellness Center to offer the “food as medicine” Farm Share RX program.

The Food Bank also sponsors mek mek mania, an annual food resource fair event. It will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 10, at Chachalu Tribal Museum & Cultural Center. It includes cooking demonstrations, food tasting, a silent auction, raffle prizes and free lunch.

“If we have access to the best food possible, the most nutritious, we can be the healthiest and best we can be,” Ambrose said. “We’ve learned some of that information from our ancestors.”

Lastly, Ambrose thanked all of the Food Bank partners, funders and supporters.

“The food pantry wouldn’t be what it is today,” she said. “I want to say thank you because working here has been phenomenal to me. We’re such a generous and giving community, and I’m thankful every day for the opportunities that I have.”

After the presentation concluded, several Tribal Council members thanked Ambrose.

“When I get the time to go on Fridays, people are always very, very grateful,” Vice Chair Chris Mercier said. “I don’t know of another Tribe that has something equivalent to this, it’s a real boon to our community and Francene is the fuel that gets it going.”

Secretary Jon A. George said it was “inspiring” to listen to Ambrose’s report.

“I love all of the ideas you bring forward and that are there, and what can be given even more to helping people,” he said. “Congratulations on being here for 10 years.”

Before Ambrose spoke, Tribal Emergency Services Department Resilience Officer Kaylene Barry told General Council members about her new position within the department and how she’s focused on helping Tribal members prepare for emergencies of various kinds – ice storms, heat waves, wildfires, earthquakes and so on.

“If you’re within our response area, which is the Grand Ronde, Willamina and some parts of Sheridan, we can come to your property and basically give you an assessment that tells you if your property would hold up well is there was a wildfire in our area,” she said. “Just being prepared can go a long way, especially if you’re an Elder. We have services we can provide to people who don’t have the physical or financial capability to take care of some of the things that we might point out on our assessments.”

Additionally, she is working with Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Brandy Bishop to design a new program; creating a Tribal Community Response Team to train and prepare for responding to emergencies of all sorts within the Grand Ronde area.

The first meeting was held in April and the group is open to all community members. The purpose is to train a group of volunteers in emergency response skills that would help during a major emergency event, such as an earthquake or wildfire. The next meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 28 at the Grand Ronde Fire Station. 

For more information or to RSVP for the Community Response Team meeting, email Barry at Kaylene.barry@grandronde.org.

In other action, Tribal Council Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy announced that the next special General Council meeting will be at 11 a.m. Sunday, June 29, for the purpose of Tribal Council nominations. All nominations are required to be done in-person.

Ambrose, Jodie Howard, Orin John Allen, Faye Smith and Tynan George won the $50 door prizes.

Antoine Auger, Leroy Good and Shayla Myrick-Meyer won the $100 door prizes.

The meeting can be viewed by visiting the Tribal government’s website at www.grandronde.org and clicking on the “Videos” tab.