COMMUNITY OUTREACH
First Nations Recovery Receives AED from
SMSC to Help Save Lives
Representatives of the Woodward Center visited Pala to
receive the money and supplies following a fundraising
campaign to help the center continue its animal rescue and
adoption programs.
Fantasy Springs’ Comedy Club Patrons
Laugh to Feed Coachella Valley’s Hungry
L-R: First Nations’Gordon Thayer,Mdewakanton Emergency Services
EMT/Firefighter Lieutenant Gary Olson, First Nations’ Operations
Director Ivy Bunker, First Nations’ Sheila Thayer, and First Nations
Recovery Center Medical Director Dr. Ken McMillan.
Through its Mdewakanton LIFE Program, the Shakopee
Mdewakanton Sioux Community donated one AED
(Automated External Defibrillator) to the First Nations
Recovery Center of Minneapolis, Minnesota. First Nations
Recovery Center is part of Overcomers Outreach Ministry, Inc.
The Mdewakanton LIFE Program has donated more than
660 AEDs since the program began in 2004, recording 13 lives
saved thus far.
Pala Team Members Support Helen
Woodward Animal Center in Rancho
Santa Fe
Nedra Abramson, center, Special Events and Sponsorship Manager
and Laurel Crump, center left, Development Supervisor for the
Woodward Animal Center, accept the check and supplies from
Angela Vevoda, Pala’s team member Events Supervisor. Pala team
members include, L-R: Blanca Saadat, Brandon Mensching, Debbie
Salsbury,Joyce Kaleh,Huong Truong,Erika Velasco,Monica Magante,
and Lamphaen Soukhavong.
The team at Pala Casino Spa & Resort recently donated
$2,179.49 and a truckload of dog and cat food, blankets and
supplies to the Helen Woodward Animal Center in Rancho
Santa Fe, CA.
As the Improv Comedy
Club at Fantasy Springs
Resort Casino draws to a
close for the 2011 season, one
local charity is able to feed
dozens more people because
of a special night at the
comedy club.
The Improv at Fantasy
Springs recently welcomed
KPSP Local 2’s morning
anchor Todd Piro to the stage
as a guest comedian. Piro, KPSP Local 2 (CBS) anchor Todd
Piro takes the stage at the recent
who said he always wanted charity
night at the Improv
to try his hand at comedy, Comedy Club at Fantasy Springs.
was brought up to the Improv
stage by opening comic, Mike Uryga.
Piro told the crowds that their presence at the shows that
night was really doing more than helping them to laugh. He
explained that a portion of the proceeds from the ticket sales
that night was going directly to the FIND Food Bank of the
Coachella Valley. The morning anchor then told the story of
how his comedy career took a big turn when he did not get a
call back audition for a sketch comedy group in college. He said
he then applied for an internship with the Conan O’Brien Show
for which he was also turned down. He finally landed an
internship with Good Morning America, which launched his
news career and put comedy on the back burner. Several years
later, Piro jumped at the chance to host a night at the Improv
at Fantasy Springs, especially since it was for a good cause. The
event raised $500 for the FIND Food Bank, and notably, even
just one dollar in the hands of the food bank can help to feed
a family for weeks.
FIND has provided much needed food assistance,
nutritional education and basic essential items for 27 years to those
in need in Eastern Riverside and Southern San Bernardino. The
organization accomplishes this through procuring food through
its rescue food program, food donations, local farmers initiative
“Farm to Family,” USDA, and corporate food donations. FIND
also purchases items at wholesale prices to fulfill our feeding
programs such as Desert Kids Summer Feeding Program,
Seniors Brown Bag, and Better Eating Better Health Initiative.
This food is then distributed through a network of 90 agencies
which represent food pantries, after school care, summer
children’s programs, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, senior
programs or adult and children’s agencies.
May 2011
Indian Gaming 81
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Cankdeska Cikana Community College
Receives $300,000 Shakopee Mdewakanton
Grant
The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community has awarded
a grant for $300,000 to Cankdeska Cikana Community College
of Fort Totten, North Dakota. Cankdeska Cikana, which translates as “Little Hoop” began holding classes in the fall of 1970.
The Shakopee Mdewakanton funds will be used for a library
enhancement project with technology upgrades, shelving, and
publications/media materials on Dakota culture and language.
“One project of significance for us is the remodeling of our
small, public library toward the enhancement of materials on
Native cultures but specifically on Dakota people. We hope to
become a premier institution that teaches Dakota history,
culture, and language, and include genealogy software programs
to help our families understand their heritage and hopefully
become conversational Dakota speakers,” wrote President
Cynthia Lindquist Mala in the request letter. President Mala
is an enrolled member of the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe.
A small, rural tribal college, Cankdeska emphasizes the
teaching and learning of Dakota culture and language toward
the perpetuation of the Spirit Lake Dakota Nation. The goal
is student independence and self-sufficiency through academic
achievement.
“The generosity of the SMSC really exemplifies the Dakota
value of sharing, of helping those who need a hand. Thank you
(Pidamaya) seems so inadequate but we are most grateful
for the kind hearts of the SMSC and particularly the Tribal
Council members,” she said.
The Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe owns and operates the college.
Spring semester 2011 had an all time high enrollment of 288
students, with an additional eight high school students via a dual
credit program. The 2011 graduating class is expected to have
more than 30 students. Nearly 99% of the student body is
American Indian.
Cankdeska Cikana Community College is accredited through
the North Central Association of College and Schools
Commission on institutions of Higher Education and is a
member of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium
and the North Dakota Association of Tribal Colleges. ♣
Index of Advertisers
13 AGILYSYS
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27 MICRO GAMING TECHNOLOGIES
53 ANDERSON DESIGN CONSULTING
29 MLP SEATING
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35 COST OF WISCONSIN
6 DOUG HYDE STUDIOS
47 GAMING MARKET ADVISORS
5 GLI
33 GREAT PLAINS INDIAN GAMING ASSOC
3 HNEDAK BOBO GROUP
16-17 JCM GLOBAL
9 KONAMI GAMING
82 Indian Gaming
May 2011
23 MULTIMEDIA GAMES
15 NEWAVE
45 NATIONAL INDIAN GAMING ASSOC (NIGA)
37 NORTHWEST INDIAN GAMING EXPO
19 RPM ADVERTISING
49 SLOT TECH SCHOOL
7 THALDEN•BOYD•EMERY ARCHITECTS
51 TRIBALNET
10 WALSH BISHOP
11 WELLS FARGO BANK
2 WMS GAMING
♣ TO ORDER A MEDIA KIT, CALL (425) 922-3890