Railbelt Mental Health & Addictions

Nenana Wellness CoalitionMIINUTES

October 20, 2009

The Nenana Wellness Coalition is an alliance of representatives from various organizations, government agencies, community groups and individuals that meets weekly to discuss, evaluate, coordinate, consolidate, celebrate and help implement plans for improving the wellness and quality of life in Nenana Alaska.

We had 11 in attendance today, including: Walter & Andrea Tommy, Rebecca Troxel, Kat McElroy, Terry & Art Thompson, Merrily & Merry Verhagen, Miles Martin, and (the late, alive, but late) David Poppe.

WELCOME followed by the READING OF MISSION STATEMENT: By this week’s chairperson, Rebecca Troxel.

PRAYER: Was lead by Terry Thompson, followed by PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE.

PRESENTATION OF AGENDA AND CALL FOR MODIFICATIONS: There were no modifications.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes were posted at the WIN link at www.railbelt.com and emailed to members of the WIN e-list.

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: There were no guests today.

SPEAKERS/TOPICS

Sober Housing—Kat McElroy reported that the Native Council delivered eight loads of gravel to the building site this weekend. Milt Haken brought the Cat over and spread the gravel, to make it level. David Poppe needs to dialogue with Joe Verhagen about the building plan which calls for a 12 by 20 foot structure with a 4 foot overhang porch. It will be a dry cabin and use a small wood stove as a heat source. Next on the agenda is to develop the supply list. We are really pushing the season for construction, due to multiple delays over the summer and in to the autumn, so it is good to see this small progress. People continue to approach us to volunteer time and money for the project. We estimate 3 to 4 thousand dollars for building supplies.

Hallowe’en —Merrily Verhagen showed us a flyer they have made to advertise the Family Hallowe’en Party they are having at their place (the space next to Kristi’s Cuisine) October 31^st, 6-8 P.M. There will be trick-or-treating around the hotel rooms. Snacks will be provided. Costumes are encouraged, not required; nothing too gruesome, scary or otherwise inappropriate, please. There will be games for adults and teens. Volunteers would be appreciated, especially to pass out goodies from behind the hotel doors; you may call Ester Smith to volunteer at 832-5215. They are inviting people to bring carved pumpkins to show off.

WELLNESS THOUGHT

UPDATES/ANNOUNCEMENTS

Walter: He got an e-mail from Robert Charlie, an overview of what they envision for Four Mile camp. Our youth today have lost their sense of identity; Walter wants to bring back cultural ways. The Cultural/Heritage camp at Old Mito has been successful; Four Mile would be year ‘round and more accessible.

Miles reported that the library board has made a positive report regarding Darcia’s efforts to work with youth. There is an opening on the library board.

Maryellen: The phone number for tobacco cessation assistance has changed. It is now 1-800-QUITNOW (1-800-784-8669). Maryellen will need numbers of new people joining the wellness coalition for her quarterly reports. Also, she is inviting us to brainstorm with her how to get from informal to formal policies around tobacco use in our community. An example she uses is the recent move at the Senior Center to move the smoking area from in front of the building to over by the side so people entering and exiting the building do not have to walk through the smoking area. She also mentioned an online site for cessation smokeless tobacco users. She will email the URL for Kat to include in the minutes.

Rebecca: Is pleased to announce she and her family are happily receiving DSL through Alaska Communication Services.

OPEN FLOOR FOR COMMENTS/QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION: None

ADJOURNMENT: 1:45 P.M.

Nenana Wellness CoalitionMINUTES

December 30, 2008

The Nenana Wellness Coalition is an alliance of representatives from various organizations, government agencies, community groups and individuals that meets weekly to discuss, evaluate, coordinate, consolidate and help implement plans for improving the wellness and quality of life in Nenana Alaska. 

There were seven in attendance today, including: Mike Anderson, Bonnie Reed, Tim Horn, Walter & Andrea Tommy, Kat McElroy and David Poppe. We had tamale pie, bean and ham hock soup, oatmeal raisin cookies and dried fruit and nuts for lunch.

WELCOME followed by the READING OF MISSION STATEMENT: By this week’s chairperson, David Poppe.

PRAYER: Was lead by Kat McElroy, followed by the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE.

PRESENTATION OF AGENDA AND CALL FOR MODIFICATIONS: There were three modifications to the agenda as presented.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Kat submitted the minutes electronically last Tuesday and they have been posted on the WIN web site linked at www.railbelt.com . David Poppe has reconfigured Kat’s word processing program to default to an earlier version of Word so the problems with other people being unable to open the minutes in the updated Word program on their computers should no longer be an issue.

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: There were no guests today.

SPEAKERS/TOPICS

Weight machine: Kris Capps has supplied us with an email image of a weight machine similar to the one that Denali School District is willing to give to WIN. We have discussed various possible localities for the machine. Our common desire is to have it in a location where it might be most accessible and used by the widest range of people. Mike took the specs and will ask John Grimes about locating the weight machine in the Nenana Student Living Center.

 Free-cycle: This is scheduled for January 17^th, 5 P.M. the venue is still unknown. Kat will contact Rebecca Troxel to see if she is making flyers for this event and to see if the Troxel’s have talked to Sherrie about using the Civic Center. In addition to the chili cook-off, we had discussed having Eric Gebhart do a short presentation using the dream catcher activity to talk about ways we can support our local youth. Tim will email to see when he gets back from winter holiday. 

Envisioning Wellness: We have no speakers yet scheduled for January, February or March. Possible presenters per suggestions during this meeting are: city mayor Jason Mayrand, our local state trooper Malik, the new magistrate Mr. Fisher, Mara the worm lady from Cooperative Extension and Carol Gallo. Tim will ask Mara; Kat will ask Jason and Malik; Andrea will ask Carol. Tentative dates discussed were, the last two Tuesdays of those months, 1-20, 1-27, 2-17, 2-20, and 3-24, 3-31.

 Public Assistance Vendor Fair: Tim will be attending the Vendor Fair in Fairbanks which is scheduled for next week Tuesday, January 6^th, from 10 A.M.-2 P.M. It is being held at the David Salmon Tribal Hall. Anyone wishing to attend with her is more than welcome, although she also has a doctor’s appointment in town that morning . She will bring back information for WIN as we have been discussing holding something similar here in Nenana. We thought it would be more accurate to term it a “Resource Fair.” 

Sober Housing: Nothing to report on this issue. However, Andrea has begun an apprenticeship with Carol Gallo. She will be doing some drafting. She has previous experience with AutoCAD and doing blueprints. This will allow her to expand and hone her skills.

 Health Fair: The WIN Health Fair will be held in the school this year, in March, and will be focusing on youth health issues. Susan Kaufman and Kathy Gebhart have “a thousand ideas” for the fair. Tim suggested that we put the Health Fair onto the agenda as a weekly item. Tim suggested asking Kathy to be our site coordinator this year. Kat will contact Crowley to see about corporate funding, per their suggestion last year. Tim suggested we also ask Barnes & Noble as last year they said that they focused on funding for youth projects, which this will be. Kat will also locate our begging letter and update it.

WELLNESS THOUGHT:  

Success is getting up more times than you get knocked down. Anonymous

UPDATES/ANNOUNCEMENTS

Kat: Railbelt has been unusually busy over the Christmas holiday. Quarterly reports are due and we’ll be working on those all next week, after the New Year.

David: There are icicles coming out of our faucet at minus 40 degrees F.

Walter: Bought a “new” diesel truck, nice engine, but are having problems with the fuel pump. Not fun to have to mess around with at 40 below.

Andrea: Someone stole my two parrots down in South Carolina. They are like my children, hand-raised since they were hatchlings. There is an ongoing police investigation.

Bonnie: There will be a lunch tomorrow (Wednesday, 12-31-08) at the Senior Center at Noon, followed by a meal at the Meda Lord Senior Housing at 2 P.M.  January 14^th will be Bennie Albert’s 105 birthday party celebration at his house (Grandma Edna’s new house), at 6 P.M. A meal will be served. Everyone is invited. He enjoys getting small gifts, gum or snuff have been suggested.

Tim: New Year’s Eve celebration tomorrow night at the Tribal Hall. Pot Luck dinner at 8 P.M. followed by a large fireworks display at midnight. Also, the Bahai’i study group just concluded “Reflections on the Life of The Spirit.” They will be celebrating with a gathering to discuss “Reflections on Life after Death” Wednesday, January 7^th, at 7 P.M. at Bonnie Reed’s house.

OPEN FLOOR FOR COMMENTS/QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION: None

ADJOURNMENT: 2:10 P.M.

Nenana Wellness CoalitionMINUTES

December 16, 2008

The Nenana Wellness Coalition is an alliance of representatives from various organizations, government agencies, community groups and individuals that meets weekly to discuss, evaluate, coordinate, consolidate and help implement plans for improving the wellness and quality of life in Nenana Alaska. 

There were 18 in attendance today including: Bill & Rebecca Troxel, Walter & Andréa Tommy, Bonnie Reed, Kris Capps, Tim Horn, Miles Martin, Kat McElroy, Maryellen Robinson, Diana Grum, Franceilia McDonald and the six McDonald children. We had beef stew, green salad, sliced apples and chocolate chip cookies for lunch.

WELCOME and READING OF MISSION STATEMENT: By this week’s chairperson, Tim Horn.

PRAYER: Lad by Andrea Tommy, followed by the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE.

PRESENTATION OF AGENDA AND CALL FOR MODIFICATIONS: By chairperson, Tim Horn; no call for modifications.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes have been posted at the WIN web site linked to www.railbelt.com and submitted electronically to the WIN e-list.

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: Tim introduced Kris Capps who was at a previous WIN meeting two years ago. She was welcomed back by the WIN group.

SPEAKERS/TOPICS

Community/Business Partnerships: The Secret To Making Things Happen: Kris explained that she works for the Denali school district. She said that she feels that teachers should be free to focus on teaching and so she sees her job as helping the teachers in Anderson, Healy and Cantwell by finding funding and doing the community organizing for school-based and community-based events. She is not primarily a grant-writer although finding and obtaining funding is a large part of what she does.  She sees her role as helping teachers make things happen. She emphasized that you need teacher buy-in, student buy-in and parent buy-in. One of the things she talked about was getting the soda pop and power drinks out of the Tri-valley schools.

Kris explained a little about the Denali area and how the geographic setting of Healy makes it a very attractive place to visit. She has used that as a hook to get people to come to the area for her various arts and sports projects. “Connections are very important. Getting to know people and making sure they get to know you,” is the secret to her success, along with, “Being pleasantly persistent.” Another quote, “It is amazing what people will do for you, if you just ask.” She implied that she has to take “No,” for an answer frequently, but that she continues to ask. She showed us a hand-quilted banner made by the Denali Quilters Guild which was made for the Nenana River Wildwater Festival she organized. She has had the image made into greeting cards which she uses for a fund-raiser.

She mentioned that Wellness is “the hot thing right now.” She said that even Coca-Cola has a person in Fairbanks tasked with providing funds for wellness activities, perhaps because of negative PR regarding soda pop. She had great success getting water safety programs funded through a wide spectrum of funding sources. Coordinating with the office of boating safety, and utilizing the talents and energy of high school students, she is doing a series of public service ads about using life jackets. She described her process for getting various prominent people to agree to be part of the TV ad campaign. She has been able to get the Alaska state troopers to do snow-machine safety training for the youth in Healy.

Kris talked about how arts and music programs are always the first place that school districts look to when they have to make funding cuts. She described bringing in eight thousand dollars from community fund-raising when their school district was talking about cutting the music program.  Her Kids In Motion dance program is 15 years old and has allowed many local youth to learn about dance as well as to participate in various stage productions, the most recent being A Very Sourdough Nutcracker Suite. She said one of the lead male dancers in that production, a Senior now at Tri-Valley, only began dancing four years ago; “He would never have known about that passion if it were not for our having Kids In Motion.

Kris mentioned they have done a strategic planning process for the Denali Borough. It was important that music, fine arts, drama, in-school and after-school programs and community workshops be valued and consequently funded. When she approaches Fairbanks area entities for donations or funding for Denali area activities, she is often told that they “have to take care of our people first.” To counter this argument, Kris has organized a high school government class to do a borough-wide economic survey to determine precisely how much money the people of Healy, Usibelli Mine, Clear Air Base, etc. actually do spend in Fairbanks so she will have good statistics to provide.  The Tri-Valley Student Council  have just begun a recycling program, partnering with Lausen’s who do waste disposal. Currently they are recycling glass and plastic. Kris cited this as an example of a successful community/business partnership.

WELLNESS THOUGHT: Courage is the power to let go of the familiar. Raymond Linquist (former pastor of Hollywood Presbyterian Church, Hollywood, California)

UPDATES/ANNOUNCEMENTS

(We actually did updates and announcements earlier, while we ate, before Kris gave her talk, to maximize time.)

Bill Troxel: Operation Ho Ho Ho, Thursday, 18^th December, starting around Noon at the Tribal Hall. Railbelt will be providing pizza for volunteers.

The Verhegans are hosting a Nativity and Christmas recipe exchange, December 20^th, 6-8 P.M. at Kristi’s Diner.

Caroling will begin at 6 P.M. on the 21^st at Bonnie Reed’s House. They will be caroling around, ending at the Meda Lord Senior Housing.

Christmas Eve Open House at the Troxel’s starting at 4 P.M.

Rebecca Troxel: Pit Performance tonight, 6:30 P.M. This is the Christmas Concert for grades K-4.

Walter Tommy: Glad to be back. It was 60 above in South Carolina and gas was $1.30 a gallon but it is always good to be home.

Andrea Tommy: We are working with Wes and Mary Alexander to get internet connections wired into all the apartments at Senior Housing.

Bonnie Reed: The Senior’s Christmas lunch will be Noon on Monday, December 22. The Senior’s bus will be leaving for Fairbanks at 9 A.M. December 23.

Kris Capps: Tuesday, December 23, in Healy, they are having their annual Holiday On Ice, starting at 3 P.M. with a clown, followed by a sing-along, and caroling, and ending with a community skating. Come on down and see Santa Claus on a Zamboni.

Maryellen Robinson: The Adult Game Night in Anderson went well. She has a Senior Lunch scheduled for the 18^th at Noon at the Anderson city building.

Tim Horn: Christmas Gift Exchange at the Tribal Hall on December 22 at 6:30. Everyone is welcome, even if you are not participating in the gift exchange.

Nenana community toy giveaway will be on the 23^rd at 6:30 P.M. at the Civic Center. Santa and Mrs. Claus will be there to give away the presents and for photo ops.

New Year’s Eve Pot luck will be at the Tribal Hall 8 P.M. with fireworks at midnight.

Kat: Holidays in Sobriety at the Alano Club in Fairbanks, four speakers from the AA fellowship, starting at 1:30 P.M. This is a non-smoking event and food will be provided. Contact Kat at 832-1078 for further details.

OPEN FLOOR FOR COMMENTS/QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION: None

ADJOURNMENT: 2:15 P.M.

Nenana Wellness Coalition
MINUTES
December 2, 2008
There were five in attendance today, including Bill & Rebecca Troxel, Bonnie Reed, Mike Anderson, Kat McElroy.

The Nenana Wellness Coalition is an alliance of representatives from various organizations, government agencies, community groups and individuals that meets weekly to discuss, evaluate, coordinate, consolidate and help implement plans for improving the wellness and quality of life in Nenana Alaska.

WELCOME and READING OF MISSION STATEMENT: By this week’s chairperson, Rebecca Troxel

PRAYER: Was lead by Bill Troxel, followed by the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE.

PRESENTATION OF AGENDA AND CALL FOR MODIFICATIONS: One addition to the agenda.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Kat has not completed the minutes but will post and send to the WIN e-list when they are completed.

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: No guests today.

SPEAKERS/TOPICS

Foster Parent Recruitment—Kat McElroy has had a series of phone calls from Ivory McDaniel regarding the need for foster parents in Nenana for possible placement of the Leahy children. The oldest will be returning from Anchorage and staying with the Brown family. Ivory knows that when the rest of the children become aware of this, they will want to be able to also return to Nenana. Kat has taken foster care application packets to the two people she knows would be willing to be considered for foster placement for the Leahy children. She encourages anyone else who is interested and willing tocontact Ivory in Fairbanks at 451-2650.

Envisioning Wellness: WIN at large. Tim is in communication with Kris Capps in Healy who is willing to be our December EW presenter. Kris will provide Tim with a photo and verbiage for the flyer.

Meeting Place Over Christmas Holidays: Various suggestions to date are: Nenana City Offices, Nenana Library, the Meda Lord Center. Discussion ensued regarding each. There are pros and cons for each. Mike mentioned that he will be available to keep the NSLC available for our use over the holiday if we would like.

WELLNESS THOUGHT: Everywhere you go, there you are. Anonymous

UPDATES/ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Rebecca stated that she has begun walking every night at the school around 6 P.M., contingent upon scheduling for other activities. Tae Kwan Doh is held M-W-F at 6 P.M. but the custodian, Skook, is willing to allow walkers. In return, Rebecca has promised to keep youth from wandering down the hallways.
There will be caroling the evening of December 21st: location unknown at this time.
There will be an Open House at the Troxel’s Christmas Eve beginning 4 P.M.

Bonnie: The Senior Bus will be leaving for the weekly trip for Fairbanks, Thurs., Dec. 4th, around 9 A.M.

Kat: Railbelt is gearing up for Operation Ho, Ho, Ho. Laura is compiling the recipient’s list and coordinating with Santa’s Clearing House in Fairbanks. It is our understanding that there will be an Angel Tree at the school, per usual. Railbelt is also preparing for their annual audit which is always a bit hectic.

Mike: Tuesday, December 9th will be the monthly community dinner at NSLC, 5 P.M. Thursday, Dec. 11th, Nenana School will host the annual Christmas lunch and Holiday Bazaar, beginning about 11 A.M. December 19-January 12th, NSLC will be closed.

Bill Troxel: Awana is averaging about 24 youth each week. They have an average of more adults per child than the school could ever hope to have. They have divided the kids into groups and each group has specific assigned adults to oversee activities.
Youth Group is & P.M., Fridays, at the Schubert’s.
Their church is authorizing purchase of a movie projector for movie nights.

OPEN FLOOR FOR COMMENTS/QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION: None

ADJOURNMENT: 2 PM

Nenana Wellness CoalitionMINUTES

November 25, 2008

The Nenana Wellness Coalition is an alliance of representatives from various organizations, government agencies, community groups and individuals that meets weekly to discuss, evaluate, coordinate, consolidate and help implement plans for improving the wellness and quality of life in Nenana Alaska. 

There were eight in attendance today, including: Karen Lord, Bill & Rebecca Troxel, Miles Martin, Tim Horn, Bonnie Reed, and Dana Hills.

WELCOME: By this week’s chairperson, Tim Horn. The MISSION STATEMENT was recited from memory by the group, an real exercise in perseverance.

PRAYER: Was lead by Kat McElroy, followed by the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE.

PRESENTATION OF AGENDA AND CALL FOR MODIFICATIONS: There was no call for modifications.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Posted on the WIN web site at www.railbelt.com and sent to the WIN e-list.

SPEAKERS/TOPICS

Nenana Native Council, Programs and Plans: Karen Lord informed us that NNC is preparing for their tribal elections. She has been tasked with reformatting the seats and terms of service so that the council members will serve three year terms instead of two year terms. This will help as the members rotate out, the council will have more “seasoned” members at any given time. Karen mentioned that the Nenana Native Council constitution was originated in 1962. On the ballot this year will be some changes to the constitution. Also on the ballot will be First Chief and four council members. Elections will be held 10 A.M. through 8 P.M., December 13^th. She explained the nomination protocol for tribal council elections and the election process.

Karen said that the Santa Gift Exchange will be held at the Tribal Hall December 22^nd, starting at 6:30 P.M. There will be a community Christmas celebration with gifts for all the children at the Civic Center December 23,also at 6:30 P.M. Nenana Native Council will celebrate New Year’s Eve  the evening of December 31^st at the Tribal Hall starting with a pot luck at 8 P.M.

Karen gave us an over-view of the various programs the NNC administers. A great deal of their funding comes from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. There have been funding cuts proposed for BIA and NNC is currently waiting for Congress to release monies for BIA. Tanana Chief’s Conference administers BIA funding for this area. BIA/TCC funded programs administered by the Nenana Native Council include those of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), Child Protection, Social Services, Job Training & Placement, General Assistance (GA), and ASAP/ATAP which is temporary assistance to families in need. NNC also facilitates training for their tribal court judges as well as the quarterly Village Pride/Community Safety meetings. She noted that Nita Marks is the ICWA and child protection worker. Robin Campbell is the go-to person for social services and jobs training and placement. There is a lifetime cap to the funding available for job training.  GA recipients are required to perform 30 hours per week of community service and have to fit specific criteria to be eligible for the $340.00 per month. ASAP/ATAP recipients are required to perform 35 hours per week community service for the $800.00 they receive.

Karen explained that the NNC Clinic is funded through Indian Health Services monies. The PA-C there is Matt who works with his clerk, Melissa, Mondays and Fridays. The Health Aide, Jackie Suckling and trainee Johanna Kukes are there Monday through Friday. It is proposed that beginning in mid-January, there will be a dentist coming from TCC a couple times a week. Clinic services are open to anyone in the community.

Separate funds have been available for road improvement projects. That is BIA money. The tribe will be working with the city to pave streets around Nenana.

Continuing minutes from WIN Meeting of 11/25/08 (from when Kat McElroy had to leave)

Karen Lord’s presentation, continued:

v     Ag Money:  A question was asked as to what the Council’s Agricultural money is used for and what priority it is given.  Karen replied that the ag money (which is not a huge grant) mostly goes to fund the community garden.  She added that there is a move to create an extension of the community garden out near the Toghotthele office (for those who want larger gardens, more space to plant potatoes, etc.).  The land has been cleared. 

            Some discussion was also held on people’s worm bins (which were started as a             result of the Cooperative Extension planting session sponsored by the Tribe last   spring).

 UPDATES 

The following were shared as updates/announcements by those attending:

v     Walking in the school:  We had been informed that people could walk for exercise in the school during open gym times (Tues, & Thurs., 7:30-9 p.m., with tonight being the first night for this).  Rebecca Troxel reported that she was able to walk around the school yesterday during Tae Kwon Do (she had gotten permission from one of the custodial staff on duty).

v     CVL License has arrived:  Bill Troxel reported that the Community Church’s CVL license (which gives permission for the church to show movies for free without violating copyright laws) has arrived and they’re looking forward to showing movies.

v     Made in Alaska:  Miles reported that the Made in Alaska training will be in March.  It will probably be held at the Civic Center – the Made in Alaska organization has said it will pay for the clean-up.  It was suggested that the Tribal Hall may be a better venue for those attending, but it was pointed out that it can be difficult to advertise an event that can then be pre-empted by a funeral or funeral preparations.

v     Where to meet over Christmas break:  It was pointed out that WIN will need to find a place to meet over the Christmas break, so this should be placed on our next agenda.

v     City Council meeting:  The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Thursday, December 11^th, 5:30 p.m.  Bonnie Reed commented that the meetings are interesting.

v     Rec Center Beading Class:  Karen Lord reported that her daughter, Theresa, is giving beading classes at the Rec Center.  She doesn’t know the times, but advised people to call the Rec Center (832-5513, Wed-Sat, 3-9 p.m.) or Robin Campbell (cell phone: 378-8048) for details.

v     First home basketball game: Tuesday, December 16^th, starting at 3:30 p.m.

v     December Envisioning Wellness: Tuesday, December 16^th, with the presentation being given by Kris Capps of Healy.

v     Christmas Events in Nenana:

                  *Dec. 5-6 (Friday & Sat.): Senior Bazaar at the Civic Center, 4-9 p.m.                                            on Friday (12/5); 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday (12/6)

                  *Dec. 9 (Tuesday): Christmas Concert (5^th-12^th grades) at the School.

                  *Dec. 11 (Thurs.): School Community Christmas lunch and bazaar

                  *Dec. 15 (Tues.): Christmas program in Healy (junior high and high                                          school students from Nenana will be participating), 6:30 p.m.

                  *Dec. 16 (Tuesday): Kindergarten-5^th grade Christmas program in the

                              Pit, 6:30 p.m.

                  *Dec. 19 (Friday): Early release from school (12:55 p.m.)

                  *Dec. 21 (Sunday): Caroling (details will be forthcoming; people can                                                 call Rebecca Troxel or Tim Horn for further information as it is                                      available)

                  *Dec. 22 (Monday): Tribal Christmas Party at the Tribal Hall, 6:30                                                 p.m. (snacks will be served)

                  *Dec. 23 (Tuesday): Christmas Toy Give-Away at the Civic Center,                                               6:30 p.m.

                  *Dec. 24 (Wed.): Nenana Community Church Christmas Eve Open                                       House, 4 p.m. at the Troxels’

                  *Dec. 24 (Wed.): Episcopal Christmas Eve Service followed by a                                      potluck, 7 p.m. at St. Mark’s

                  *Dec. 24 (Wed.): Christmas Vigil sponsored by St. Theresa’s Catholic                                  Church, 7 p.m. at St. Theresa’s

v     Freecycle & Chili Cook-Off: Still hoping to hold this on Saturday, January 17^th, 5 p.m. at the Tribal Hall. It was past 2 p.m. when we closed, but it was agreed that much useful and interesting information had been shared! 

Nenana Wellness Coalition

Minutes for November 18^th 2008

Minutes taken by Miles

Chaired by Bonnie Reed

Meeting started at 12:20

Present were Miles, Rebecca and Bill, Mary Ellen, Bonnie, Tim Horn, Big Mike

Mission statement was not read

Prayer by Bill

The Pledge was recited

Reports

Tim spoke on the subject of envisioning wellness speakers. Kriss Capps will be speaking the 16^th of December. Karen Lord is speaking this month November 24^th A color poster needs to be printed and put up. Mary Ellen said she can do this.

            The health fair is not on the agenda because not everyone is present who is involved.

We are all concerned by recent deaths of locals involving a house with few facilities where the water has been cut off.  We discussed what can be done, with no solution, but will keep this issue and concern for these people in the house in our thoughts.

The Christmas bazaar the seniors put on is December 5^th and 6^th at the senior center.

Bill and Rebecca give a recycle report.  We conclude after discussion that Jan will be the next best time to try to have one at the civic center. We need door prizes, and need to talk to the Ice Classic. The CVLI license the permit needed to show public movies in arriving soon. Maybe combine free cycle with movies. Undecided it might be to much going on, but also maybe doable.

Big Mike tells us there is now permission to walk the school on open gym nights Tuesdays and Thursdays 7-9 pm. This is in response to a need for a physical fitness program involving a place to walk.

Should we have organized caroling at Christmas time? The week of Christmas. Tuesday ? Tim was in charge last year and there were 12 singers . We need to do this after 6pm. We need to end up at Senior housing. No real final decisions made beyond this.

Operation Ho Ho Ho is still on, doing  the gift food boxes for the needy in the community.

Mary Ellen says there is game night in Anderson December 5^th . Anderson doing white elephant prizes. December 19^th is gift exchange here in Nenana at George Hall. On the 23^rd is the give away toys for the kids on Tuesday at 6:30.

Frank Gallo’s memorial potluck  might have to be rethought because of the Burke funeral on the same day. Saturday Nov 22^nd  No one is sure how this is going to work out

The kids get out of school on the 19^th for thanksgiving.

Meeting ends at 1:30.

Nenana Wellness Coalition Minutes

November 11, 2008

                                                     Veteran’s Day

 The Nenana Wellness Coalition is an alliance of representatives from various organizations, government agencies, community groups and individuals that meets weekly to discuss, evaluate, coordinate, consolidate and help implement plans for improving the wellness and quality of life in Nenana Alaska.

There were ten in attendance today, including: Walter & Andrea Tommy, Bonnie Reed, Tim Horn, Miles Martin, Bill & Rebecca Troxel, Kat McElroy, Mike Anderson, and Dana Hills. We had beef stew and cornbread and raisins & pecans for lunch.

WELCOME: By this week’s chairperson, Bill Troxel, followed by the READING OF MISSION STATEMENT.

PRAYER: Was lead by Rebecca Troxel, followed by the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE.

PRESENTATION OF AGENDA AND CALL FOR MODIFICATIONS: There were three items added to the agenda.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes were submitted electronically to the WIN e-list and posted on the web site with no noted suggestions for changes.

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: None

SPEAKERS/TOPICS

Free-cycle: Bill & Rebecca Troxel will be making soup for the Recycle meal which will start at 5P.M. at George Tribal Hall on Saturday, November 15^th. Miles will get firewood and start the fires in the heat stoves at George Hall Saturday morning. Rebecca will talk to John Grimes to see if NSLC students can attend. Mike Anderson says this would work out better than an early afternoon event as he will not have to make another evening meal for the students. Walter and Andrea Tommy will bring home-made bread. Rebecca will get flyers out this week.

Adult Education/Community Development: WIN at large. We have yet to connect with Tim Barker regarding this concept he has forwarded. However, we have several identified projects that fall under this heading.

We discussed starting a Biggest Loser-type contest open to everyone in the community. Mike said he would talk to Joe Kraus to see if we could get permission to use the school for walking in the evenings. Eight times around inside the school is one mile. We all agreed it is more fun to do this kind of activity as a group. Kat noted that people doing the TCC Fitness Program were encouraged to use graphs to “map” their progress; some were walking the “Iditarod Trail” charting each day’s progress mile by mile. Rebecca would like to see some nutritional information offered as well as organized exercise activities, perhaps with monthly segments on healthy meal preparation and food combinations for ideal nutrition. She said, “Small Steps are the way to go, with small goals and one week commitments so you don’t feel overwhelmed by too large a goal. Dana Hills mentioned that she had attended an eight week course in Willow offered for free by the American Cancer Society on cooking and eating healthily. She said that by following their guidelines she has lost 70 pounds in the past year. She is willing to contact the ACS to see if they would be willing to do this in Nenana. The classes are each 1.5 to 2 hours long including the cooking demonstration. Miles Martin suggested contacting Sarah McDonnell at UAF to see if she would be willing to do a “refresher course” on the 2-day diabetes prevention nutrition class she taught here last year. Mike suggested that the kitchen at the Meda Lord Senior Housing would be ideal for this. Bill said that a good start is simply keeping a food log every day, “If it goes into the mouth, write it down.”

Another project discussed is the ongoing desire to have an Athabascan drum and dance group again in Nenana.  Tim Horn said how nice it was to see the NSLC Fry Bread Shakers on live TV feed from the Alaska Federation of Native Quyanna Celebration, but it only makes her want all the more to see Athabascan drumming and singing. She has brought this up a couple of times at community dinners. It seems that no one wants to take on so daunting a project single-handedly. “It doesn’t seem to be a priority,” she said, and yet people continue saying they would like to see this happen. She asked Walter if he would be willing to help by drumming and singing. Walter said that he remembers Paul George tried to get a drum group going years ago but it needed more support. No one person can make this happen. “You need more people. You need people who know the songs. You need people who know how to organize. You need people who know how to network.” Tim agreed, this was one of the problems when we had the grants for teaching the youth drum group, there were not enough adults for the number of children. It became overwhelming. Rebecca suggested that we bring drums to the next Free-cycle and “Just do it.” Andrea said that Walter has some traditional Athabascan songs on cassette tape and suggested it would be nice to have them playing. Tim mentioned that there are youth who will remember the songs from the youth drum group. We could name Leon McElroy, William Horn, James Olin, and Caroline & Sammy Ketzler. 

Lastly, Bill said that the church had approved an expenditure of $190.00 to purchase a one year CVLI license which allows them to publicly show movies for groups up to 500 people. They want to have family nights, with movies and pop corn, on a regular basis. Venues were discussed including the big room at Meda Lord, the Pit at the school, George Hall and the YERC. Railbelt has a large pop corn machine that could be used.

Envisoning Wellness: Tim Horn has scheduled Karen Lord, Tribal Administrator for NNC, to speak to us on November 25^th.  Kris Capps from Healy is confirmed for December 16^th. Tim suggested Kat and Walter might want to do a presentation about addiction for January, a sort of Alcoholism 101. Andrea suggested we might want to invite some of our friends from the party house to the discussion to address the issues they currently face.

Sober Housing: Kat is very excited about the workshop she will be presenting this weekend in Miami at the National Harm Reduction Conference. She noticed going through the program agenda that there are many workshops offered about housing. She will attend as many as she can and bring back any information or hand-outs she can find.

  WELLNESS THOUGHT:  Never underestimate the kindness of your fellow man.       

UPDATES/ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Thanksgiving meal at the school will be Monday, November 24^th.They usually start serving the meal, which is open to the whole community, about11:30 A.M.

There will be a Memorial Pot Luck for Frank Gallo November 22 at the Senior Center.

Kat handed out the Pink Resource Information Sheets sent to us, per her promise, by Kathy Halverson.

OPEN FLOOR FOR COMMENTS/QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION: None

ADJOURNMENT: 2:20 P.M.

Nenana Wellness CoalitionAGENDA

November 4, 2008

ELECTION DAY. Polls are open until 8P.M.

 The Nenana Wellness Coalition is an alliance of representatives from various organizations, government agencies, community groups and individuals that meets weekly to discuss, evaluate, coordinate, consolidate and help implement plans for improving the wellness and quality of life in Nenana Alaska. 

We had 14 in attendance today, including: Bonnie Reed, Walt & Andrea Tommy, Bill & Rebecca Troxel, Miles Martin, Kat McElroy, Laura Vance, Christopher Robinson, Tim Horn, Dana Hills, Maryellen Kanyurak and David Poppe. We had tamale pie, carrot/raisin salad, sliced apples and pecans for lunch.

WELCOME followed by the READING OF MISSION STATEMENT: By this week’s chairperson, Laura Vance

PRAYER: Was lead by Bill Troxel, followed by the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE.

PRESENTATION OF AGENDA AND CALL FOR MODIFICATIONS: there was no call for changes in the agenda

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes were generated last week by Kat, posted to the WIN e-mail list and posted onto the WIN web site   

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: Christopher Robinson & Dana Hills were introduced for those who were not in attendance at previous meetings and had not yet met them.

SPEAKERS/TOPICS

Free-cycle: Bill; & Rebecca Troxel suggest that we may need to reschedule the Free-cycle from 11-08-08 due to conflict in scheduling with the Nenana Ice Cream Classic basketball tournament. Date suggested was the following Saturday, November 15. Kat called Robin Campbell at Nenana Native Council and there is nothing scheduled at the tribal hall that day. Tim noted that the rummage sale at the YERC this weekend netted around five hundred dollars but also some items had been left behind in the YERC for the Free-cycle. Tim will haul them away and store them for the Free-cycle.

Adult Education/Community Development: Laura brought people up to speed on this ongoing discussion that sprang from suggestions Tim Barker had made at a previous WIN meeting. The vision is to identify our own local resources and people as has happened previously (for example the Junkyard Wars snow-machine competition and dog mushing activities) for education and community development. She cited the presence of the welding shop at the school and computer lab at the YERC as underutilized resources. Perhaps minimal user fees could help create and sustain such future efforts. Miles suggested that it isn’t just skills but, as has been mentioned previously, also good work effort and integrity that we can teach. Andrea spoke of the “Helping Hands Bank” program she has read about wherein volunteers can do work and “bank” the hours they put forth, logging their time which they could then either allocate to another or use themselves for some future work or service they need. Miles suggested that accurate logs could be used as “matching funds” for future grant seeking efforts. He also suggested we could start simply by creating a chart or graph depicting the people and resources we have available currently. Tim discussed an article she brought in to the meeting from the October 17^th edition of the Fairbanks Daily New-miner which depicted the efforts of the village of Igiugig (an Eskimo and Aleut village on the western shore of Lake Iliamna) to foster recycling, including greenhouses and keeping chickens fed from household food scraps. This is an example of what can happen when people work together.

Parent Education: WIN at large. Per our previous discussions, we agree to organize some manner of monthly parenting support activity. It was suggested that we could start at the next Free-cycle; in addition to having a chili cook-off, maybe we could have an activity that focuses on the value of positive parenting. Tim asked if we might get Eric Gephart to do the Dream Catcher activity that he used at his Envisioning Wellness presentation which so aptly demonstrates how people can take care of our youth. This could be a springboard to monthly positive parenting activities.

Sober Housing: Walter & Andrea Tommy will be going to South Carolina to take care of some family business. They anticipate being gone for maybe two weeks. Upon their return, they would like to schedule another meeting for people who are interested in the sober house project.

Envisioning Wellness: Tim Horn has rescheduled Karen Lord from the Nenana Native Council for November 25^th, which is the only Tuesday in November that Karen will be available to present. It was suggested that we see if we can get Kris Capps from Healy to present Envisioning Wellness in December. Either Tuesdays, 12/09 or 12/16 would be best for our purposes as school lets out 12/19. Tim will contact Kris to ask. Miles said that he has been contacted by the Made In Alaska people in Fairbanks who want to do a fee workshop here in Nenana. They support hand-crafts and cottage industry and one of the things they could teach people is how to use digital cameras to market your crafts items. He wonders if we might get them to do an Envisioning Wellness presentation in March and then a full workshop in April. He has contacted them with that request.

Vendor Fair: WIN at large. Tim is in continuing communication with Kathy Halverson who is the foster parent recruiter who spoke to us last night. They are discussing the “Vendor Fair” that Shirley Holmberg organized to get information to public assistance recipients in the Fairbanks area. The next one will be held in January. We are interested in attending to see if something like this would be good for Nenana.

Indoor Air Policies: Maryellen Kanayurak, Tobacco Prevention Coordinator, did a five minutes power-point presentation about her recent efforts to change indoor air policies in our nearby communities. She told us about the survey they conducted this summer in Denali Park that indicated well over 80% of her respondents preferred a smoke-free environment. She discussed efforts to get good information about the benefits of clean indoor air out to people served by Railbelt Mental Health & Addictions and plans for future efforts.

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WELLNESS THOUGHT

While struggling with any condition causing mental and physical DIS-ease, it is important to remember the exceptional healing power of the mind. Unfortunately, we often tend to concentrate more on the gripping power of the illness or addiction than on the possibility of recovery, thus permitting the problem to become both a mental and a physical habit. Yet each and every thought, be it of depression or happiness, irritation or calmness, anger or serenity, does actually cut subtle grooves in the brain cells and strengthen the tendencies either towards illness or well-being. This subconscious idea-habit of disease or health exerts a strong influence on our entire being. Stubborn mental or physical diseases always have a deep root in the subconscious. That is why developing the habit of strong positive thoughts consciously and repeatedly can react on the mind and the body through the medium of the subconscious, and lead to better health.

 Brenda Thomas, psychotherapist and the president and co-founder of Viva Consulting Family, Montreal, Quebec, Canada 

UPDATES/ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Kat: will be in Miami Nov 12-19^th, presenting at the National Harm Reduction conference.

Dana: Students at NSLC need community service hours to satisfy the requirement to advance to the next level. Requests should be coordinated through John Grimes. Also, they are beginning Family Nights on Mondays and Wednesdays from 7:30 – 10:00 P.M. starting November 17^th. Computers will be turned off and the community is invited to come in and participate in activities.  Lastly, they have begun an Elder’s Lap Robe project and want to complete a crocheted lap robe for each elder in our community.

Bonnie: There will be a Senior bus trip to Fairbanks Thursday, 9 A.M. Also, they did 46 haircuts last week Thursday, Good Show!

Tim: Fall Concert Wednesday, 6:30 PM in the gym. Thursday are Parent Conferences, no school. Friday and Saturday will be the Ice Cream Classic. Baha’i  Holy Days celebration Tuesday at the Purple House, 7 P.M.

OPEN FLOOR FOR COMMENTS/QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION: None

ADJOURNMENT: 2:20 P.M.

Nenana Wellness CoalitionMINUTES

October 21, 2008

 The Nenana Wellness Coalition is an alliance of representatives from various organizations, government agencies, community groups and individuals that meets weekly to discuss, evaluate, coordinate, consolidate and help implement plans for improving the wellness and quality of life in Nenana Alaska.

There were eight in attendance this date including: Laura Vance, Bill & Rebecca Troxel, Tim Horn, Bonnie Reed, Lily O’Brien, Kat McElroy and Mike Anderson. We had chili and beans, corn bread, green salad and cheese and crackers for lunch.

WELCOME followed by the READING OF MISSION STATEMENT: By this week’s chairperson, Tim Horn

PRAYER: Was lead by Lily O’Brien, followed by the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE.

PRESENTATION OF AGENDA AND CALL FOR MODIFICATIONS: There was no call for modification.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Miles posted minutes from last week to Kat who will email them to the WIN e-list and post them on the WIN web site.

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: This is Lily O’Brien’s first meeting; she was warmly welcomed by all and Tim explained to her a little about the five year history of our wellness coalition.

SPEAKERS/TOPICS

Envisioning Wellness—Due to unforeseen circumstances, NNC Tribal Administrator Karen Lord was unavailable to present to us on the Nenana Native Council’s Plans & Priorities.

 WELLNESS THOUGHT: We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately. Benjamin Franklin 

UPDATES/ANNOUNCEMENTS

Laura gave us an update on last week’s WIN discussion on how we can utilize our own local resources towards community development around wellness issues. She mentioned Tim Barker’s desire to see adult education and vocational education furthered. We have the facility and the people needed to begin this. It was suggested that Annette Freiburger with Interior Aleutians Campus could assist in that endeavor.

Tim said that it does not look as if the Leahy children want to be in Nenana for the Hallowe’en Carnival, per the guardian ad litum’s report. Kat and Tim have agreed to transport if needed and the decision will be left up to the children. Other opportunities for visits shall be explored.

Bonnie: Bud Krause has passed away; there will be a Shriners’ service in the Spring, Jack Coghill has said. Frank Gallo’s funeral service has not been scheduled as of yet. Tanana Valley Cosmetology volunteers did haircuts, perms, mani- and pedi-cures last Thursday for the Seniors and are willing to come back again to serve the community at large. Contact Vicky at Senior’s Center to schedule an appointment. These services are free except there is a supplies charge for perms. Mary and Wes Alexander are the new managers of the Senior Housing and by all reports it is working out well. There will be a 55 Alive driving safety course offered thru the Seniors; successful completion of this could reduce your insurance costs. Interested parties should contact the Senior Center.

Lily O’Brien is interested in the Strong Women exercise course offered through the Cooperative Extension. Discussion ensued regarding previous attempts to organize group exercise activities in the past. Lily said they are interested in finding a person from our community who would be willing to go to Fairbanks and receive training to be a Strong Women exercise group leader and that they would be willing to come to Nenana for the initial sessions. Tim suggested Lily may want to be trained. She asked Lily to bring further information to WIN. Lily mentioned that Catherine Marks has been diagnosed with breast cancer; Zelma Axford wants to do a fund-raising event to help.

Beverley brought a book about Community Reinforcement Approach to treatment which was used as a training manual for counselors at Old Minto Family Recovery Camp. She has asked Victor Joseph from Tanana Chief’s Conference to present this model of intervention to WIN Kat volunteered to call Victor to advance this request as a potential presenter for our Envisioning Wellness, possibly for November? She also would like to start a monthly music night at the YERC, perhaps on Tuesday evenings. Lastly, she mentioned that the first of November is All Soul’s Day, or All Saints Day, and that traditionally in the Episcopalian church, people bring photos of their beloved deceased ones to lay upon the altar for memorial services, which will be conducted at St. Mark’s here in Nenana.  

Kat announced that RMHA is in the middle of revamping their offices. They have finished their quarterly reports. Laura will begin her RHS training in November along with our newest RHS candidate from Healy, Liz Reeves.

Laura announced that front work has begun for Operation Ho, Ho, Ho. She needs names and contact information for any individuals or families that might need or want a Christmas food and gift box this year. She will also be coordinating the Angel Tree project with the school.

Bill says the Freecycle for Nov. 8^th is a go. Kat has gotten permission from Robin Campbell to use the Tribal Hall. There will be a dinner at the Tribal Hall November 9^th honoring our local veterans. Their church has applied for a CV61 license so that they may do a family movie night.

Rebecca says they are again experiencing problems with snow-machine speeding by on the streets near their house. She says she will not let her children walk to the school for Tae Kwan Doh at night for fear of an accident. She wonders who can we address this issue as a community, get safety information out into the community in a meaningful manner. Tim suggests that we email Eric Gebhart and suggest the school do an ATV safety training.

Tim said there are parent/teacher conferences Thursday and Friday, so no school on those days. Also the annual Nenana Ice Cream Classic basketball tournament will be November 7^th so there will be no classes on that day, either.

A memorial service for Josh Mayrand will be held at 6 PM, Friday, October 24, at the Civic Center. Marilyn Duggar and Bill Troxel will be officiating. Per family request, dress is casual and there will be no open mike sharing during the service. The YERC will be open Friday evening with food and activities for our youth.

OPEN FLOOR FOR COMMENTS/QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION: None

ADJOURNMENT: 2:00 P.M.

Nenana Wellness CoalitionAGENDA

October 7, 2008

 The Nenana Wellness Coalition is an alliance of representatives from various organizations, government agencies, community groups and individuals that meets weekly to discuss, evaluate, coordinate, consolidate and help implement plans for improving the wellness and quality of life in Nenana Alaska. 

We had ten people attend meeting today, including: Bill & Rebecca Troxel, Bonnie Reed, Kat McElroy, Mike Anderson, Cathie Gephart (and Jasper), Dana Hills, Tim Horn, and Miles Martin. We enjoyed green salad, chicken barley soup, home-made fudge and sliced apples & pecans for lunch.

WELCOME and READING OF MISSION STATEMENT: By this week’s chairperson, Dana Hills.

PRAYER: Was lead by Miles Marin, followed by the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE.

PRESENTATION OF AGENDA AND CALL FOR MODIFICATIONS: There were 3 items added to the agenda.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Were posted by Rebecca to Kat; Kat will forward to the WIN e-list.

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: Dana and Cathie were introduced.

SPEAKERS/TOPICS

Foster Parent Recruitments—Tim Horn was contacted by Kathy Halverson who works for TCC in Fairbanks. She has been tasked with recruiting Foster Parents in our area and is interested in coming to a WIN meeting as part of that task. She has tentatively committed to October 28^th, but is waiting for an okay on that from her supervisor. She mentioned a woman whose passion is working with families that have experienced sexual abuse. Tim thinks we may be able to ask this woman to help with our WIN goal of holding parenting skills-building workshops here in Nenana. She will accompany Ms. Halverson when she comes to speak to us.

 Envisioning Wellness—WIN at Large. Mike confirmed that Karen Lord will be presenting 21^st October as Mitch Demientieff and Edna Hancock will both be in Anchorage attending AFN at that time. Karen will be able to provide us with an overview of what the tribe is currently doing and hopefully also give us an idea of what their future plans are at this time. Per Mike, Vickie at the Senior’s does not seem to be interested in doing an Envisioning Wellness presentation. Mike says he will ask Ken Eggleston and Paul Verhagen to do a presentation on the Nenana Valley Sports Association. A date of November 18^th was proposed.  

Community Garden—Tim got the results of the soil sample analysis tests Cooperative Extension did of various plots at the community garden including one of hers, Rebecca’s and one from the green-house. The results varied wildly. Discussion ensued regarding ways to improve the soil and strategies to get a wider participation in the project. Dana mentioned there are grants available from 4-H, the Boy’s and Girl’s Clubs of America as well as Home Depot for community gardens. She mentioned a 25 thousand dollar grant received by Ft. Richardson to build a green-house. Tim mentioned she feels there is a lack of basic information and skills for gardening. Dana mentioned fruit trees grafted to Russian root stock which have been successful. She asked if a monthly or quarterly newsletter might be helpful.  Tim said that they were planning a get-together to make carrot and green onion seed tapes in December. Miles volunteered to ask Jason about the situation with the berries planted at TCCC now that Brent Mitchel is no longer in residence there. Tim asked that we keep the garden on the agenda as a regular item so we can continue to revisit these various issues.

 Freecycle—is scheduled for Saturday, November 8^th, from 5 till 8 P.M. Kat will contact Robin at the NNC to see about using the tribal hall for this event, also to see if she has GA workers available to do clean-up. The Troxel’s will make a big pot of stew and home-made bread. Kat will bring some manner of dessert. Cathie said a rummage sale is being planned for Nov. 1^st to raise funds for student leadership training. Items to be donated are being dropped of at NSLC. Items not sold will be donated to the Freecycle. A Chili cook-off Freestyle is tentatively scheduled for Jan 17^th, 2009.  WELLNESS THOUGHT: “Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself.”
                                                                                      Kahlil Gibran   

UPDATES/ANNOUNCEMENTS

TODAY IS ELECTION DAY.

Mike: Pumpkins will be painted and carved by NSLC students and the community are invited to come judge the winners in both categories Tuesday, Oct. 28^th, followed by dinner at 5 P.M.

Tim: The book fair at the library at NCPS will run the week of Oct. 13 – 17^th with the big family night Bingo for Books on Thursday the 16^th from 5:30-7:00 P.M. There will be a Safari theme and photo ops. Tuesday the 14^th from 10-11:30 A.M. will be a Muffins for Mom event at the library, an opportunity for adults to review and purchase books without their children.

Next Friday, October 17^th is the next Village Pride/Community Safety meeting at the tribal hall, at 6:30 P.M.

School board meeting tonight in the Pit at NCPS.

Hallowe’en Carnival will be October 31^st at NCPS, in the gym.

The Literacy Council is hosting a Pajama Reading Party at the school Thursday, November 20^th, 6-8 P.M. with readers and story-tellers in five classrooms.

Bonnie: Senior’s Christmas Bazaar will be at the Civic Center the first weekend of December, Friday and Saturday. Tables are ten dollars per day. Vickie is the contact person for interested vendors.

Rebecca: October 29^th there will be a Pit Performance for K-2^nd grades at NCPS, 10 A.M.  November 5^th  is tentatively scheduled for grades 5-12 to do an evening school concert. Also, their church is starting a Financial Seminar for 13 weeks, Sundays, at 6:30 P.M. Information on the seminar can be found at www.daveramsey.com and interested people should purchase the kit which includes books and computer programs. The class is an audio presentation.

Kat: It should be noted that WIN has been meeting weekly in Nenana for five years.  

OPEN FLOOR FOR COMMENTS/QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION: None

ADJOURNMENT: 2 P.M.