Traditional Miwok Pine Needle Medallions made by Mildred Burley, Tribal Elder / Certified Indian Artisan – California Valley Miwok Tribe
The Tribal Council of the California Valley Miwok Tribe would like to give a heartfelt thank you to all the individuals, local officials, family and friends who have opened their hearts to help the Tribe recover from the March 20th, 2015 fire that destroyed the Tribal Headquarters at 10601 N. Escondido Pl. Stockton, California.
The Tribe is now located at 4620 Shippee Ln., Stockton, California 95212, which is approximately two miles south of our former tribal property.
The kindness that has been shown to the Tribe, has given us strength to pick up the pieces and move forward. All the people listed below had stepped up to give their help. We especially want to thank the neighbors up the street from us who graciously gave us a warm blanket and a hug while we stood barefoot in the cold helplessly watching the fire consume the Tribal Headquarters.
Our thank you ranges from the San Joaquin County official who gave us a permit to salvage what we could from the fire ravaged Tribal building on the old property, to family members who brought us Gatorade, water and pizza while we dug through the soot, ash and debris trying to find clothing and irreplaceable items such as pictures and cultural artifacts belonging to the Tribe.
We thank Steve & Fumiko Hinders, Tim & Jennifer Wise, and Craig Luther who helped us with immediate shelter issues. We thank all the firemen who tried their best to save as much of the tribe’s property as possible. It was with their help that the filing cabinets filled with internal Tribal governing documents and survived the blaze.
We personally thank Heather Duschell, MNS Tribal Liaison, FEMA Region IX for coordinating with all the necessary State, Federal and local emergency departments and/or organizations, to assist the Tribe in its critical time of need. We also would like to thank those kind individuals (such as Susanne Abad, Maria Carmen & Antonio L. Abad, Steve and Carol Massaro, Senna Heyatawin, Colleen Pringle, Juanita (“CJ”) Vaughn, and Jeremy Baumann & Family, who stepped forward to help by sending a donation and/or much needed office supplies
We want to thank Tribal Elder Mildred Burley for making and donating the traditional Miwok pine needle medallions to give to those who have reached out to the Tribe to help put things back to normal. Surviving a fire is very intense emotionally, we thank all the people who sent prayers and blessings our way.
And we would like to give a special thanks to the Jackson Band of Mewuk Indians (for the gift cards) the cards helped us replace the food that was lost in the fire. It also helped us to feel a sense of security, to know that someone cared. It helped us to put gas in the tribal vehicle and to move our salvageable tribal stuff to a storage unit until the tribe could relocate it to the new property.
Lastly and most importantly, the Tribe would like to thank Mr. Charles Craig, Regional VAL – DHS Region IX – FEMA, who worked endlessly to coordinate assistance from other organizations to help the tribe replace a priority list of items that were extremely important to the Tribe getting back on its feet. We are so thankful for the members of the community and abroad that helped the Tribe such as the State Farm Foundation and the Community Foundation of San Joaquin.
We also want to thank Mr. Rob Rosette, Attorney at Law (Rosette LLP, Phoenix AZ), Ms. Saba Bazzazieh, Attorney at Law and Mr. John G. Simermeyer, Law Clerk at Rosette LLP, (Washington DC Office) whom the Tribe contacted to get started on the application for federal assistance when the Tribe declared a State of Emergency.
If we inadvertently forgot to mention anyone, please accept our deepest apologies…. There are many who we hold dear to our hearts… The Tribe is slowly recovering from the fire. With each new day, we make progress forward a little more. Therefore, it is with our sincerest “thank you” that we show our appreciation to those who have reached out to the Tribe with kindness.
With loving gratitude and appreciation, we thank the following:
Steven & Fumiko Hinders
UNKS Construction, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Tim Wise, Tim’s Lawn Maintenance, Lodi, CA
Jennifer Wise, Realtor, Century 21 M&M Associates, Lodi, CA, USA
Craig Luther, Luther Construction, Lodi CA
Pete Knight and the Knight Family, Owners of A&W Lodi, CA, USA
Direct Neighbors on La Morada and Escondido Pl. (N. Morada area)
Waterloo-Morada Fire Department and all who assisted
Scott Sangalang, REHS, San Joaquin Co. Environmental Health Dept.
William Burley Jr. III, California Valley Miwok Tribe
Tanya Graham, Sutter Creek, Amador County, CA
Mildred Burley, Tribal Elder / Certified Indian Artisan, California Valley Miwok Tribe
Rose Mose, Calaveras Band of Mi-Wuk Indians, CA, USA
Adam Dalton, Tribal Chairman, Jackson Band of Mewuk Indians
Tribal Council – Tribal Members, Jackson Band of Mewuk Indians
State Farm Foundation, USA
Linda Phillip, CEO/President, Community Foundation of San Joaquin
Melissa Flores, Executive Assistant, Community Foundation of San Joaquin
Jeremy Baumann and Family, Delano, Minnesota, USA
Tracy McBroom, Disaster State Relations Director from the American Red Cross (ARC), Capitol Region Chapter, Stockton, California
The American National Red Cross
Robin Friedman, ARC Regional Disaster Program, Office for the Gold Country Region
John G. Simermeyer, Law Clerk at Rosette LLP
Heather L. Duschell, MNS Tribal Liaison, FEMA Region IX
Charles Craig, Regional VAL – DHS Region IX – FEMA
Denise M. Shemenski, Tribal Coordination, California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CalOES)
Cynthia Gomez, Tribal Advisor to Governor’s Office and the Native American Heritage Commission’s Executive Secretary
The Northern California Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NorCal VOAD)
Susanne Abad, Maria Carmen & Antonio L. Abad, Brentwood, CA
Steve and Carol Massaro, Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, USA
Senna Heyatawin, San Francisco, California, USA
Colleen J. Pringle, Lebanon, Pennsylvania, USA
Janet and Leon Graham, River Pines, California
Juanita (“CJ”) Vaughn, Aberdeen, Washington
Tristian Wallace, Student Ambassador, California Valley Miwok Tribe
Tiger Paulk, Emergency Manager, California Valley Miwok Tribe
Nalin Camur, Dusseldorf, Germany
Richard McDarment, Director at Tule River Food Program
Patricia Salas, Intake Manager at the Tule River Food Program
Jesus Salas, Staffer at the Tule River Food Program
Ron Buckman, Staffer/Truck Driver at the Tule River Food Program
Central California Agency (CCA) – Bureau of Indian Affairs
