JC Seneca Foundation sponsors free onsite testing

Irving, NY – November 2021 – J.C. Seneca, President of the JC Seneca Foundation, announced the formation of a partnership with Community Testing Services (CTS) to provide free COVID testing four days a week at his Tallchief Territory/Native Pride Travel Plaza, located at 11359 Southwestern Boulevard in Irving. The testing is for people of all ages, including children who need to be tested to remain in school. According to Seneca, it will be available to anyone from the Seneca Nation Territories and surrounding WNY communities, as well as to those patronizing his business.

“With COVID rates rising again, the demand for testing is increasing,” Seneca stated. “To answer that demand, the JC Seneca Foundation is offering free COVID testing four days a week in a separate facility outside the Tallchief Diner. I am pleased to partner with CTS in providing this public service and encourage people to take advantage of the testing to ensure the wellbeing of themselves, their families, their communities, and our nation.”

The JC Seneca Foundation COVID Testing is available at the Native Pride Travel Plaza on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 9am-5pm and Sunday 9am-1pm. Appointments are not required but can be made online at ctestingservices.org. For those with health insurance, identification cards are requested. Tim Courtney, CTS Co-founder, notes the importance of establishing satellite locations such as this one.

“The collective mission of CTS is to make it convenient for people to receive important health services in areas where they may otherwise not be available. That’s why partnerships like this, with the JC Seneca Foundation, are key to expanding our reach in providing no cost Covid testing and contributing to the overall health initiatives in this rural region.”

More information and updates on the JC Seneca Foundation free COVID testing will be available on the foundation website: http://www.jcsenecafoundation.org/ and on the Native Pride website: https://www.nativepride.com/

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Cheryl Elaine Whipple
Born September 20th, 2021
7lb, 12oz – born at 3:08pm

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Help Cousin Brownie and Zed Griswold do some Christmas shopping for kids and families in need this season!

Last year Cousin Brownie, organized by Frankie Brown and Jillian Jimerson, along with their family and friends, wanted to sponsor a couple of families on each territory that were working with Child and Family Services to make sure they were provided with food and gifts for the holidays. What started as four families soon turned into several. Frankie partnered with his lacrosse team, the Buffalo Bandits and other lacrosse players and used social media platforms to reach out to the community to donate to “Cousin Brownie Holiday Give Back”. He offered chances to win a variety of donated items, from lacrosse sticks, helmets and apparel, etc, signed by pro players. Many donations were received which included toys, bedding, household items, hats and gloves, boots, cash and gift cards. Everything donated went to families in need on the Cattaraugus and Allegany territories.

The donations last year allowed us to help Seneca Nation Child and Family Services provide for over 100 families! We also adopted families and shopped their Christmas lists, provided gift cards to grocery stores for holiday dinners, and gift cards so parents could do their own shopping. We were also able to purchase hats, gloves, winter coats and winter boots. With your help, we made the holidays brighter, and we’re hoping you’ll help us do it again, said Frankie.

They kicked off their fundraising efforts earlier this month. If you weren’t able to make it and are interested in helping, you can donate via:

• Venmo (@CousinBrownie)
• PayPal (CousinBrownie83@gmail.com),
• Purchase from the Amazon List https://amzn.to/2VPFgyj
• Checks made out to Cousin Brownie Inc., and mailed to

Cousin Brownie
PO Box 299
Lawtons, NY 14091

Donations for this holiday season will be accepted through December 8, 2021. All donations go directly to the community and every little bit helps — no donation is too small.

Just like last year – for every $10 cash donation, you will be entered into a raffle that includes gear and jerseys from pro players – more donations mean more chances to win! Raffle will be held on December 10, 2021.

As the great Clark Griswold said, “this isn’t charity, it’s family.” In Seneca we say o’tgënönyö:’, which loosely translates to, “I give you my thanks and respect”.

If you have any questions you can reach out via email to: CousinBrownie83@gmail.com.

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By Flip White

A.C.E. is a developing program for Indigenous males which was launched earlier this year in the Salamanca City School District. The acronym A.C.E. stands for; A = being an Asset to the community, C = contributing to the sustainability of the community, and E = Exemplifying one’s best self. Lead by Karina Flagg, Mentor Coordinator, and Don “Flip” White, Mentor Consultant, this program is organized through the My Brother’s Keeper Native American Program grant offered by New York State’s Department of Education. The goals of the grant are to provide culturally centered interactions and role modeling in an effort to increase academic achievement and college/career readiness for Indigenous male youth.

Organized in collaboration with the Seneca Nation, A.C.E. is providing positive community role models for native male youth grades 6 through 12. According to Flagg, “This is a new program designed to match native students with a community member who can identify and prioritize their best interests.” She continues, “We have great community members and we want and need them to become these amazing students’ mentors.”

“We have a growing group of people who have been oriented through the A.C.E. Mentoring program and have become a friend, coach, and guide,” added White while noting, “The key investment is the mentor’s time…, time and caring.” White stressed that a culturally centered program had advantages, as it enables youth to participate in group activities like learning how to drum and sing with the Old Bridge Singers; in other words, to do those things most of us take a deep interest in. “These group activities are important for our young people to realize and meet these ‘A.C.E.’ community members,” continued Flagg, “for most of the youth, they were initially hesitant but after a while they were excited to join in the songs.”

The program allows the mentors and mentees to meet one hour each week. Each mentor and mentee relationship is unique, the program offers a wide variety of opportunities to build a positive, lasting relationship and trust.

Upcoming group events include Indigenous Carving Techniques with Hayden Haynes, Indigenous Themed Board Games with Dallas Hoag, Native Leatherworking with Cliff Redeye, Indigenous Fashion and Bead working with Breann “Breezy” Crouse, Gawasa’ with Kory Dowdy, and Cooke’n with Culture hosted by Andrea Cooke. This is just the beginning.

For more details about the A.C.E. program, please contact Karina Flagg at 716-801-2525.

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Pictured above: L to R: Bruce Abrams, Michael C. Hall (who plays Dexter), Caleb Abrams at the series premiere.

Everyone knows that Dexter is back on SHOWTIME for a limited series run. But did you know that the Seneca Nation’s own Caleb Abrams served as a consultant on the new season?

“I took every opportunity to incorporate Seneca material culture, artwork, language and music in the show – from all of our communities and beyond. I assisted with casting, wardrobe, props, set decoration, and had a small hand in the scripting of particular scenes and helped supply extras. Lots of cool inclusions for folks to spot throughout the series” said Abrams.

During the year long collaboration, one of the pieces Abrams brought on to the show was a necklace hand carved by Seneca artist Hayden Haynes. The necklace is carved from antlers with a technological theme on pit-fired style pots. The necklace is worn by the Seneca leader Abraham Brown who is played by actor Gregory Cruz.

Abrams is shown wearing the same necklace, along with actor and executive producer, Michael C Hall (who plays Dexter), and Caleb’s father, Bruce Abrams at the series premiere in New York City on Monday, November 1.

Viewers can see examples of work by numerous other Seneca and Haudenosaunee artists throughout the series including Sam Jacobs, Nettie Hepner, Reesa Abrams, Peter B. Jones, G. Peter Jemison, and Jodi Lynn Maracle as well as works provided by the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum and Tuscarora Woodworks.

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Credit: GCS FB

Gowanda Central School District graduate Jared W. White, Class of 2011, is a descendant of the White family, proud members of the Seneca and Onondaga nations, hailing from the Indian Hill region of the Cattaraugus territory.

After commencement over a decade ago, Mr. White decided to pursue the art and trade of barbering. He now is a leader in the barbering industry and the visionary behind Il Mulino Barber Academy in Buffalo, N.Y.

Mr. White says, as a business owner, he is dedicated to building up others’ futures. The company recently announced a new clothing line named Heritage (HeritageTerritory.com), which pays homage to their cultural roots. To learn more, visit http://www.ilmulinoclub.com/

Ja:goh, Jared!

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Student activist and photographer Madison Brown shared photos to her social media accounts of her and her peers dressed in their best “Rez Wear.” Many students wore ribbon skirts, ribbon shirts, moccasins, and beadwork with pride while exuding the feeling of comradery among classmates. “It was nice to see a good group of people in their ribbon skirts and shirts. The orange and red out were the best part- to see all our non-Indigenous peers participating,” shares Brown.

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Below you’ll find:

• NAU (Northern Arizona University) Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals 2022 Student Summer Internship. Deadline: February 1, 2022. Apply now for this paid 8-week summer internship here: http://www7.nau.edu/itep/main/eeop/Internships/ssi_internship
• National Tribal Water Council & NAU Membership Recruitment. Application deadline is December 31, 2021. For more information visit: http://www7.nau.edu/itep/main/ntwc/docs/NTWC_Membership_App_Sept_2021.pdf
• Native Youth Climate Adaptation Leadership Congress (NYCALC). Join students from across the country to discuss community adaptation and related environmental issues impacting Native peoples. 2022 Registration Opens on December 1, 2021. Fore more information, visit their website: https://www.nycalc.org/

See flyers below:

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Photo: Lafayette Williams, right, poses for a picture with Grace Perez de la Garza, who was in attendance for his talk. Photo credit: OBSERVER

SILVER CREEK — Lafayette Williams asked for a moment of silence Tuesday night while speaking to a gathering of some 30 people in the Anderson-Lee Library. As a member of the Seneca Nation of Indians, his heart was heavy when discussing a dark past that both the United States and Canada are struggling to deal with and accept.

Williams began referring to a gruesome May discovery. The remains of 215 Indigenous children were found– some as young as 3 — in Kamloops, British Columbia, at a residential school that attempted to force assimilation of these individuals. It was a disturbing and cruel reminder for far too many Native Americans of what has happened over nearly 300 years.

“This is a cultural awareness thing,” he said. “We have to remember … to grow and learn and heal from this. I don’t know if this is ever going to happen.”

In the United States, between 1869 and the 1960s, hundreds of thousands of Native American children were removed from their homes and families, then placed in boarding schools operated by the federal government and churches, the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition notes on its website.

One of those boarding schools, the Thomas Indian School, was open until 1957 and located on the Cattaraugus Reservation in Irving.

Locally, school districts in Silver Creek and Gowanda took part on Sept. 30 in orange shirt day, which acknowledges the trauma that occurred decades ago in those complexes. “The U.S. native children who were voluntarily or forcibly removed from their homes, families, and communities during this time were taken to schools far away where they were punished for speaking their native language, banned from acting in any way that might be seen to represent traditional or cultural practices, stripped of traditional clothing, hair and personal belongings and behaviors reflective of their native culture,” the coalition website said.

For two significant nations that champion freedom, it is an embarrassing and tragic history that must never be forgotten. For Williams and other natives to attempt to come to terms with something as heinous as deaths of youths in Canada in boarding schools that were also maintained throughout the United States, it is an extraordinary sentiment to look ahead.

Williams’ comments came as part of the series at the library that spotlights November as Native American Heritage Month. Christine Huff of the library said in introducing the speaker the facility has a mission that “promotes cross-culture dialogue, research opportunities and stronger appreciation for Native American leadership and innovation.”

As part of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Senecas — who are known as Keepers of the Western Door — are an important part of our regional economy. Their territories surround Chautauqua County to the north in Erie County and east in Cattaraugus County.

While noting some other fairly recent Western New York history, Williams touched on these items:

• In 1924, Native Americans were given the right to vote and their lands were made sovereign. “(We) have no political relationship with U.S. government … but we do try to cooperate with them,” he said.

• The Kinzua Dam on the Allegheny River near Salamanca was built in 1965 displacing about 600 Seneca members and submerging 1,000 acres — one-third of Seneca Nation territory.
• In 2015, there were three major happenings. Lancaster changed the name of its school mascot from the Redskins to the Legends. Squaw Island was renamed Unity Island in Buffalo under Mayor Byron Brown’s leadership and Columbus Day was renamed Indigenous People Day.

Williams also mentioned a special role he had as an actor in the documentary “The War That Made America,” which tells the story of the French and Indian War and how it impacted the American Revolution. It was filmed near Latrobe, Pa., and broadcast on the PBS network in 2006.

“When I was younger, I was always fascinated with the film industry … I always wanted to be on the big screen,” he said. “I just kind of followed that passion.”

Today, Williams is employed by New York Connects and assists those on the nation with long-term services and support.

All presentations/talks can be viewed on the library’s Facebook page.

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Submitted by Mary Jacobs

• To benefit Catt. Rez Beaders • Drawing will be held December 4, 2021 • Ticket Cost: $10

Catt. Rez Beaders have tickets and will be selling them at local events. OR you can drop by the Sully on Mondays or Tuesdays between 6-8:30pm to view the tree and purchase tickets.

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