Each year, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and its employees work to help make the holiday season a little better for those in need. This year, donations from various CPN events led to gifts for more than 80 children in foster care, door prizes for a party for Tribal elders, 350 families receiving food for holiday meals, and thousands of dollars in donations to different charities.
Angel Tree
For the past 20 years, CPN has hosted an ICW Angel Tree, with angels made up of CPN tribal members who are in foster care around the state of Oklahoma.
In 2024, ICW Director Ashlee May said there were a record-breaking 88 children on the Angel Tree.
Employees at CPN were able to sign up virtually to pick angels from the tree, with some employees signing up individually and others coming together to contribute as a department. Employees from 28 different departments were able to purchase toys and gifts for foster children.
May said ICW also threw a holiday party. The party had a Grinch theme, and the Grinch was present to celebrate and joined by Santa and Mrs. Claus. FireLake Grand Catering provided dinner for the 90 who were able to attend the foster care party.
“I would like to say how incredibly grateful we are to our CPN family for their generous gifts for our children in foster care. The excitement and smiles on their faces were priceless,” May said. “We are also so grateful to CPN employees Junia Climer and Chris Herrod for playing Mrs. Claus and Santa.”
ICW case managers also made sure to deliver presents to children across the state who were not able to attend the party in person.
May also expressed gratitude to the CPN Child Development Center, which helps provide gifts, especially in emergency situations.
Grand employees donate toys, cash
Each year, employees at the Grand Casino Hotel & Resort donate toys and raise money for the community at an annual Christmas party.
This year, upper management at FireLake Entertainment Center and at the Grand Casino Hotel & Resort joined forces for the cause. Several thousand dollars’ worth of toys were donated, as well as a total of $2,356 in cash that will be split among multiple charities.
Holiday baskets help families with Thanksgiving, Christmas meals
CPN Workforce and Social Services hosted food drives for Thanksgiving and Christmas for holiday meal baskets.
For Thanksgiving, CPN employees donated more than 3,000 pounds of food.
This year, 350 families received boxes for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Boxes included items such as turkey pan and roasting bag, stuffing, canned vegetables, cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup, turkey gravy, potatoes, spaghetti sauce and noodles, cranberry sauce, sugar free or regular Jello, sugar, flour, and pancake mix and syrup. For Thanksgiving, boxes included pie crust and fillings, and for Christmas they had cake mixes and icing.
“We also received a massive donation from different departments throughout the Tribe that also made extra bags of food for the households of five people and up,” Stephanie McElfresh, Safe and Stable Families/Homemakers counselor, said.
She added that the turnout was so impressive that almost every household received an extra food bag for Thanksgiving, with enough donations to carry over some items to the Christmas boxes as well.
“Our department loves this time of year, because we all get to give back to the community and to our Tribal members,” McElfresh said.
Elders treated to some holiday cheer
CPN and Title VI helped make Christmas a little merrier for the elders with a party at the Elder Center.
Sheli Ludi, CHR and Title VI coordinator for CPN Health Services, said various departments around the Tribe donated 11 gift baskets and Title VI provided nine door prizes. With those 20 giveaways, a door prize was announced about every four minutes during the party.
The party also included an optional dirty Santa, which 50 elders participated in.
“It made for a long game, but lots of fun was had with many laughs,” Ludi said.
The Title VI staff served 130 meals that day and also had children from CPN’s Child Development Center sing Christmas songs, including some in the Potawatomi language.
“Every year, Title VI and CHR come together to create a Christmas for our program participants in hopes that they all leave feeling thought of and special, as many don’t have Christmas outside of what the Tribe provides in events like this forum,” Ludi said. “We received so many kind words of thanks from our elders. It’s always one of my favorite events.”
Ludi added that Title VI also took about 25 elders for an outing a few days before the party, treating them to dinner at Roma’s Italian Restaurant and a drive through Seminole, Oklahoma, to look at Christmas lights.