The Native Culture Council of the Wildwood Correctional Center fashioned a traditional Tlingit potlatch paddle for CIRI in honor of CIRI’s support of their traditional activities.
CIRI’s Shareholder Relations Department donates moose meat, soup bones and roast leftover from our Friendship Potlatches for the Council’s activities. CIRI Shareholder Records Manager, and shareholder, Ann Gibbs donates blueberries that she picks in Whittier to the Council.
Wildwood Correctional Center is located in Kenai. CIRI has also donated to potlatches held at correctional facilities in Eloy, Ariz., where some Alaska Natives and CIRI shareholders are incarcerated. CIRI responds to a variety of requests from local agencies, and where possible tries to donate traditional foods to benefit those who may not have easy access to those foods, including to Elder facilities in Kenai and Anchorage and to Bean’s Cafe.
CIRI plans to have the paddle mounted professionally on the wall in the Shareholder Relations Department.
