The Moon of Geese / April 2024

Ma-ga-O-Ko-da Wi

The Moon of Geese / April 2024

The Wowapi Newsletter is a monthly

publication by the Flandreau Santee

Sioux Tribe.

Cover Story

SUBMISSION GUIDLINES:

 25th of each month

 Must be Typewritten or Computer

Generated Format

 Acceptable Formats: Hard Copy or

Email

Ta-Ton-ka Program

SUBMIT:

Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe

Attn: Francis Wakeman III

P.O. Box 283

Flandreau, SD 57028

(605) 997-3891 ext.1238

francis.wakeman@fsst-nsn.gov

NOTICE OF DISCLAIMER:

In preparation of this newsletter, every

effort has been made to offer the most

current, correct, and clearly expressed

information possible. Nevertheless, inadvertent errors in information may occur

from time to time. A reasonable effort to

correct information will be made in the

next publication.

The information in this newsletter have

been complied from a variety of sources

and are subject to change without notice.

Where discrepancies exist between this

publication and official document(s); the

official document(s) shall prevail.

The FSST makes no warranties or representations whatsoever regarding the

quality, content, completeness, or adequacy of such information or data.

The FSST reserves the right, to refuse

the publication of information where the

subject matter is deemed inaccurate or

inappropriate.

Did you know that we the people own a herd of 120 Tatan-ka and the care needed?

Here are some interesting facts about our relatives: An

adult male can weigh from 1,000 to 2,200 lbs. and an

adult female can weigh from 790 to 1,200 lbs. and can

measure up to 9.3 ft. in length. A 2,000 lb. Ta-Ton-ka

must consume at least 1.6% their body mass in grass per

day and can require up to 30 gallons of water per day, especially when its hotter than Hades.

During the month of April calving

season begins and we are expecting

many new babies this month. The

gestation period is approximately

283 days or just a little longer than

the 9 months needed for a Dakota baby to be born.

Once the calves are born, our staff separates the bulls

from the cows and their calves. Later, during the breeding season, which occurs in July, the herd is brought back

together to accomplish this important renewal of life.

This fall, the annual round up

will occur between August and

October. Members are encouraged to attended, as the roundup may include taking down a

buffalo and having the members

participate in the processing the meat and hide.

Stay tuned for more information regarding the Fall

Roundup as time approaches.

Communications Officer

Hau Mitakodapi:

My name is Francis Wakeman III. I am the son of

Francis (Stub) & Marilyn Wakeman and the grandson

of Francis Wakeman Sr. and Inez G. Hillers Wakeman. I join you as the Communications Officer for our

Tribe and look forward to keeping you up-to-date on the happenings of our community.

I am currently working with our IT department to bring a “Members Only” portal to our website. As a member you can gain access through the portal to our Community Newsletter, Executive Committee Minutes, and online forms, such as Members Credit or Updating your Contact

Information, etc. In addition, our community newsletter will now be distributed on the 1st of

every month to ensure you have the most up-to-date information available for the month ahead.

We will be continuing the Blast from the Past pictures in our next issue, if you have any photographs that you would like to share with our community from the past or present, please let me

know and I can assist you in scanning or copying your photos and/or writing a story to be included in the next newsletter. Also, while visiting the Tribal Office, I encourage you all to take a look

at the old photographs located on the walls around the hallways. It’s truly amazing to see all our

ancestors and photos of the past. If you’d like to add your family photo to our collection, stop

by and see me.

I will also be including a section highlighting our elders living in the community. Documenting

their history with a little advice for our future generations. May 2024 edition will feature none

other than our beautiful Kunsi, Betty Taylor. If you would like to nominate an elder for the next

newsletter in June, please feel free to contact me at the tribal office, my extension is 1238 or

email me at francis.wakeman@fsst-nsn.gov.

Lastly, we will be utilizing our Tribal Facebook page and Text Messaging Service for up-to-date information regarding community events. If

you have not signed up for the Text Messaging service, please contact

Marcie Walker, Member Services.

Best Wishes,

Francis Wakeman III

Communications Officer

francis.wakeman@fsst-nsn.gov

(605) 997-3891 x 1238

First Presbyterian Church

On Sunday April 7th, John Burshiem, Commissioned Ruling Elder will be ordained Minister by

the surrounding Presbyterian Ministers.

John was born on April 9, 1963 in Anchorage,

Alaska to Geno Burshiem of the Sissetonwan

Oyate and Sophie Marlene Labatte Crawford, who was a descendant of

Itanca, Ta-Oyate-Duta. John is a veteran who served 11 years in the military

and is married to Yvette Eagle Burshiem.

John became a member of the church and progressed to and Elder, then a

Ruling Elder, and then a Commissioned Ruling Elder or CRE. The final

step being ordained as a minister. John was limited as what he could perform as

a CRE; however, once ordained John will be able to

officiate weddings, baptisms, funerals and more.

Please join us in celebrating John’s Ordination on

April 7th, followed by fellowship in the newly remodeled

Guild Hall.

Church Services begin 10 a.m. every Sunday!

Dakota Hymnal Singers Needed /

A great way to learn the Dakota Language.

City of Flandreau

ATTENTION:

Parents, Grandparents, Guardians and Care Givers

When: April 18, 2024

Where: Royal River Casino & Hotel—Royal Room

Time:

Noon & 6 p.m.

What:

Informational Meeting

There will be an informational meeting regarding the Boys & Girls

Club expansion with refreshments available. Members and

Tribal employees, who have children in their care are encouraged

to attend; light refreshments will be made available during the

meetings.

Anpetu Tu-we-ka-ga

Founder’s Day 2024

Please join us as we celebrate the history of Wakpa Ipaksan

and the members who founded our community.

Who:

All Members

When:

Wednesday, April 24th

Where:

Royal River Casino & Hotel / Royal Room

Time:

6 p.m.

What:

Celebrating our history and community with a

gathering and dinner.

You are cordially Invited ...

Who:

All FSST Members

Where: Royal Room, Royal River Casino & Hotel

When: April 25, 2024

Time:

6 p.m.

What:

Honoring & Dinner for Justice Marshall

Please join us in honoring Justice Marshall for his years of service

to our community. We will be presenting Justice Marshall with a

Buffalo Robe and hosting a dinner for all members to enjoy.

Please RSVP by April 11th

Francis Wakeman or Brookie Corcoran

at (605) 997-3891

Grace Moore Senior Center

Please join us in wishing your fellow members, near and far, a

very Happy Birthday during the month of April.

04/01 Sophia Anderson, Travis Two

Bulls, Kasandra Wakeman, David

Williams

04/02 David Dudley Nordhausen

04/03 Brandon Armstrong

04/04 Patricia Cook, Nicolas Flute

04/05 Carrie Howell, Roxee Johnson,

Rudolph Lovejoy

04/06 Dale Hansen

04/07 Inkpa Weston

04/08 Jefferey Hansen, Debbie Nicholson

04/09 Mary Hasvold

04/13 Natalya Laroche

04/15 Cody Thomas

04/16 Anthony Flute

04/17 Sally Larson

04/18 Kawhi Eastman, April Herrick

04/19 Sunshine Blair, Paul Corcoran

Jr., Lloyd Flammond, Charles Wasson

04/21 Kary Jensen

04/24 Cecelia Blue, Kionna Eastman

04/25 Stephen Nelson, Lavonna Peterson

04/26 Doreen Bird, Eli Peterson

04/10 Santana Hoss, Leanne Nesje

04/28 Thomas Allen Jr., Leonard

Long, Jason Taylor, Todd Taylor

04/11 Colin Cavender, Kenneth Fleury, Peggy Geffre, Johnny Ghost Dog

04/29 Daisy Lovejoy, Sacred Red

Bear, Marcus Charlie Serrano

04/12 Angelique Jones, Jasmine

Jones, Hazel Simon

04/30 James Ranzfran

Education Department

Friday, April 12th

Breakfast Fundraiser—TBD

Monday, April 15th

Lunch Fundraiser—TBD

Sunday, April 24th

Proclamation Day

Time: 6 pm

Royal Room - Royal River Casino

Monday ~ Friday

9:00 am to 3:00 pm

Contact Sara for

more information!

(605) 573-4917

Saturday, April 27th

Women’s Tipi Building Workshop

Time: 11 am

Every

Tuesday

All Events, Programs and Classes held at

the Wicoicaga Otipi Community Center,

unless otherwise noted.

& Thursday

5:30 pm to 6:30 pm

FSST Housing

April 20, 2024 Spring Clean Up

Food & Prizes for kids and adults.

From the Desk of Leah Fyten:

The Housing Department currently manages 108 rental units and provides down payment assistance to eligible first time home buyers. There is currently a waiting list for rental units, please

periodically check in with the housing office to ensure your application is up-to-date.

We currently have two grants that are available to assist elders with their housing needs.

The Elder’s Rehabilitation Project and the BIA/HIP Emergency Grant. Currently, there are 34

elders who have been approved for this program. Home inspections for the Rehabilitation

Grant are to be completed during the next four weeks. One of our staff members will be contacting the recipients with a date and time of the inspections.

The Emergency Grant is available to elders whose repairs would cause harm to the

homeowner or cause further damage to the home. The Potable Water Grant is to prevent families from having water sources shut off or disconnected due to non-payment or overdue balances. It is a partial payment to prevent shut off. There are no income guidelines for this grant.

The second half of Morning Sun Courts is expected to be completed during the month

of July. Seven units will be designated for the elderly, two will be available for tribal with no income guidelines and one unit will be designated as a NAHASDA unit, which has income guidelines. All three of these grant opportunities are funded by the AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN.

Our annual Spring Clean Up is scheduled for April 20, 2024. There will be food and

prizes available for all participants. For more information please stop by or contact us at (605)

997-2194 or email us at housing@fsst-nsn.gov.

Human Resource Department

Welcome to

HIPPA TRAINING HELD

the Team...

During March, our HR Department hosted Julie Carr to conduct an annual HIPPA training.

Ms. Carr held a 3 Day Training Seminar on

HIPPA. The Tribal Council and staff from our

Long Term Care facility, our Health Clinic and

members of Royal River Management team attended. The training was a great refresher

course for our staff, ensuring their understanding of the law and our ultimate compliance as a

government and an organization. The following is a excerpt of

the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website in

regards to HIPPA.

Francis Wakeman

Phillip Allen

Dana Ellwanger

Careers

Long Term Care:

Administration

Casual Labor:

For a complete and up-todate listing of employment

opportunities and/or to fill

out an application online,

visit

https://fsst-nsn.gov/

employment

“The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS")

issued the Privacy Rule to implement the requirement of the

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of

1996 ("HIPAA"). A major goal of the Privacy Rule is to assure

that individuals' health information is properly protected while

allowing the flow of health information needed to provide and

promote high quality health care and to protect the public's

health and well being. The key elements of the Privacy Rule includes who is covered, what information is protected, and how

protected health information can be used and disclosed.”

Kassandra Wakeman (Maintenance)

Allen Pooler (Police Department)

April Herrick (Tribal Secretary)

Annabelle Hart (LTC)

Hovakah Boisin Sr. (Housing)

Raul Abayon (LTC)

Department of Natural Resources

Earth Day 2024

In honor of Earth Day the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe’s Brownsfield Program

will be giving the community information on the 2024 theme:

PLANET vs. PLASTICS.

Liz Wakeman, FSST Brownsfield Director, holds an annual event educating our local public schools of the importance of Earth Day and gives information about how plastics have become a significant part of our daily lives

and how plastics do not break down but are reduced into micro plastics that can remain in our environment forever. Luckily by making a few small changes in our lives we can do our part to minimize the effect of plastic pollution.

Plastic Pollution affects wildlife across the planet; we can do our part by picking up littetr and

making sure trash is secured. Litter pickup events in our community is a fun way to beautify

our community while protecting wildlife. Picking up one piece of plastic means that one

piece won’t end up in our rivers and oceans. Currently, there is a garbage patch floating in

the ocean the size of Texas. We all can do our part to minimize the affects plastic pollution.

For more information on how you can do your part, please contact Elizabeth Wakeman, FSST Brownsfield Director at )(605) 997-3891 ext. 1271

Did you know…

Recyclables can be dropped off at the City Office

located on the West Side of the Industrial Park.

Styrofoam, Plastic Bags and Glass are not permitted

but all other recyclables can be deposited there as

well as between the Administrative Buildings on the

tribal campus.

Save the dates!

Thursday, May 2, 2024

Community Gathering

We will be honoring our Tribal employees for their years of service

followed by a community cookout featuring Hamburgers, Hot

Dogs, Salads and Chips. Bring the whole family to the event, which

will be held at our Community Center.

Saturday, May 4, 2024

Quarterly General Council Meeting

Breakfast Buffet will be provided. Come hungry and catch up on

the latest news and happening of our community.