District 6, August 2023

Halito from District 6, “The Heart of the Nation.” Summer has flown by and now it’s back to school time. Our JOM School Supply Giveaway will be held on August 7 at the Community Center.

Applications are now being accepted on the Chahta Achvffa Member Portal for the Student Activity Fund, which provides $100 for clothes and school supplies. Please be sure and attend the JOM event and apply for these student funds so you can get your students their school supplies for a successful start to their new year.

Eastern Oklahoma State College‘s Camp Chahta program will be held on August 17. We look forward to seeing the students at the Community Center, and our seniors will be making Indian tacos for them as part of their cultural activities. This camp is a great way for students to connect with other Choctaw students and get to know the freshmen college counselors. We wish all our students and teacher a successful year.

On August 3, we will have tribal prosecutor Kara Bacon at our center at 2:00 p.m. Kara will be bringing information regarding the recent court rulings of Hooper vs. City of Tulsa and how they affect tribal citizens in Oklahoma. Law enforcement and community leaders are welcome. We encourage you to come and hear the truth about this issue.

In June, we held our Princess Pageant. We have a new Junior Miss Princess, Isabella Muncy. She will join Senior Miss Riley Isabell and Little Miss Hatapushik Ramsey, who retained their crowns for another year. We are confident these three young ladies will do an outstanding job representing District 6. Come support our princesses and watch all the princesses during the Princess Pageant during our Labor Day Festival.

Our seniors enjoyed the Elder Appreciation Day event that was held in Durant on May 10. We want to congratulate the District 6 Choctaw seniors who won first place in the singing contest. We are very proud of them all for their outstanding performance. We have other programs and activities in place for our seniors to enjoy, such as our trips, cultural activities and beading classes. The CHRs are preparing for Fall Fest, which will be held on September 13 at the McAlester Expo Center. Be sure to put that date on your calendar and join us. We also want to remind our seniors and disabled about the available lawn care service. Applications can be picked up at the Community Center. Also, the Food Security program that provides $200 a month to our seniors over 55 is still taking applications. Please contact the staff at the Center if you need help applying; they will be happy to help you.

At our Chahtapreneur Awards Banquet that was held in June in Durant, a District 6 business, “Hey There, Honey,” was awarded as the 2023 District 6 Chahtapreneur of the Year. We are very excited for business owners Melissa Juarez and her two daughters, Kaley Woten and Marra Davis and wish them much success in the future with their business.

Summer camps for our young people were a great success. Many of our youth participated in sports camps as well as culture and wildlife camps. The kids came away from the camps with new knowledge, skills and enthusiasm for our culture and upcoming year of sports activities. Another youth program and camp that is coming up in the near future is Wakaya: Rising Up For Health. Wakaya is a partnership study between the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute (IWRI) at the University of Washington and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma to examine how cultural outdoor activities best improve health for Choctaw youth living within the districts. Wakaya will help youth learn about the land and health, Choctaw games and activities, Fitbit tracking of physical activity, healthy, traditional food and plants and living a healthy life as a Choctaw. Participants must be in high school between the ages of 14-19 and an enrolled Choctaw tribal member living within the CNO tribal region. For more information, please call 833-265-4289.

I had the privilege of meeting Richard Herndon while visiting with another Choctaw veteran, Darren Overbey at his business, Empty Pockets Sewing Machine Repair in Buffalo Valley. Both Richard and Darren are proud tribal members. I enjoyed visiting with both of these men. If there are any veterans in District 6 who have not given us their service information, please do so as soon as possible so that you will be included in our veteran activities and receiving of gifts. We want to be sure that all our veterans are recognized for their service to our Nation. We also want to add a picture of our District 6 veterans to our wall, so please contact us for details. We will be scheduling another Tvshka Coffee Club at our center soon, where veterans can come and have a cup of coffee and enjoy good conversation.

We will have ten new Affordable Rental homes ready for their tenants in Wilburton this fall, and five new LEAP homes are to be built in Red Oak in the spring of 2024. We are still taking applications, so please get your application in as soon as possible.

Our Job For The Day program as well as Summer Youth and Employment Training Services, has been working hard to put people to work. Be sure and contact these programs if you are looking for employment. We are also looking forward to new jobs coming in through the call center that we will be located in our new community center. We are making a lot of progress on remodeling our building and hope to give everyone a date for our grand opening real soon. We have a lot of talented Choctaws, and we enjoy seeing those talents being shared with others. If you are or know of a District 6 Choctaw artist, please contact Mary Williams at 580-924-8280 as we are working on or Choctaw Artist Registry and artwork for our building.

In May, we held our quarterly check presentation for the City of Wilburton and Latimer County. So far in 2023, we have given a total of $66,200, having presented to the County for $14,600 and to the City for $18,500, a total of $33,100 per quarter. Our community children are also enjoying the new splash pad built by the contributions of local businesses and clubs as well as from the Choctaw Nation Economic Development program. The Choctaw Nation Is proud to serve not just District 6 but the whole reservation, giving money quarterly to our communities. We have grown over all the Reservation and are moving forward, serving our people and putting programs and dollars in place.

Labor Day Festival is right around the corner. The seniors will have their food concession trailer set up and ready to serve you their amazing Indian Tacos. Be sure to drop by and support our District 6 seniors. My heart is full of gratitude and thankfulness to God and District 6. It is my privilege to represent and serve our tribal members. My door is always open, and I enjoy visiting with you. See you all at Labor Day 2023!

Chi Pisa La Chike! (I will see you later)