Greetings,
This is the time of year when everyone is on their best behavior, right? I know I am! I stay busy with my work as Treasurer and as Grandpa. My grandchildren and great-grandchildren span from babies to young adults. I certainly enjoy my time with my family during the holidays and hope everyone else does, too. If I haven’t seen you in person, or only in passing – I’m sending you a winter greeting and look forward to catching up next year.
By now, everyone should have received their distribution of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, which were appropriated by Council at the December Council Meeting. The funds are intended to supplement costs associated with safety measures necessary to assist in safeguarding against COVID infection, to supplement funds spent to purchase masks, cleaning supplies and disinfectants or to replenish other resources. COVID-19 has not only been a difficult and insidious health and social dilemma; but it has been costly for our communities. I can’t stress enough how fortunate we have been in comparison to some of our neighbors when it comes to the amount of social and health support the Nation provides to our community members. Most of those folks have simply had to fend for themselves to find supplies and resources during this pandemic. The municipalities surrounding our territories have governmental entities which operate similar to ours, but those governments don’t have the resources we do. The Nation has provided our members with masks, hand sanitizer, disinfectant, COVID testing and free vaccinations; as well as financial supplemental support. In addition, the Nation has re-engineered most all of our annual in-person events to incorporate COVID restrictions and still manages to produce drive-thru events and distributions, which impact our members from infants to elders.
The past two years have been difficult on all of us. We are still operating under emergency COVID-19 protocols which were put in place in the spring of 2020. I’m sure we’ll all tell our grandchildren and great-grandchildren about this time in our history and of the losses our families all suffered. I encourage everyone to stay strong, stay united and keep moving forward on a daily basis. We will get on the other side together. Especially as winter weather kicks in, please remember to check in on our elders and see if they need anything dropped off or would like a socially distant visitor. If you haven’t received your vaccinations (or your booster), please call your respective clinic and make an appointment.
Respectfully,
Rickey L. Armstrong, Sr.
