CHAIRPERSON MESSAGE: July 2026
ᎣᏏᏲ ᏂᎦᏛ osiyo nigad! (hello, everyone!)
Happy ᎪᎩ gogi (summer)!
We have many exciting events coming up this year, filled with Cherokee fellowship, history, culture, crafts, language, and our wonderful community.
We have some very special events coming up this year and want to see you at them. Here are the next few events you won’t want to miss:
Mark your calendars for our CNCV Annual Campout held July 17-19. You can make your reservations now! We’ll be joined by our friend and Cherokee Nation arts and crafts extraordinaire, Pam Bakke, who will lead us in making mini gourd masks. We’ll have games, activities, language practice, and a tasty bison Indian taco dinner.
Cherokees Going to Water: Paddle Event and BBQ on August 8: Come spend the day on Lake Natoma with your fellow Cherokees! Water has long been special to us as a people. At this event, we will have a group kayak lesson reserved for 25 people. After this lesson, we will be having a group BBQ with main dishes and non-alcoholic drinks provided by the CNCV. You may also choose to rent a kayak and spend more time on the water.
Cherokee Nation History Course on August 29-30: For all Cherokee Nation citizens, this is vital information for us all to know and continue to pass down. Learn about your history with our upcoming not-to-be-missed Cherokee Nation History Course! Register as soon as possible. This will fill to capacity.
Attention Crafters! Want to craft in community? We are planning a craft group that would meet periodically where we can come together in a casual setting, and work on traditional Cherokee crafts, such as beadwork and weaving, as well as contemporary projects, such fiber and textile arts.
Complete this CNCV Craft Group Interest Survey to help us determine the best time, dates, and locations as well as which supplies may be needed. ᏩᏙ Wado.
We reflect on our recent community events. We have had some truly engaging and fulfilling events this Spring already, including:
CNCV Leaders traveled to the reservation to attend the Community and Cultural Outreach (CCO) Conference in June. The Conference was full of informative culture and history, inspiring capacity and leadership building sessions, and connecting with at-large and on-reservation groups. The goal is to bring back information, innovation, and inspiration to our community! Our cup was filled thanks to all these amazing people. At-large leaders also participated in cultural enrichment activities in the following days to bring back more information to our communities.
At the CCO Conference, CNCV received the Hunger Fighters award, reflecting strong dedication to supporting our community with emergency SNAP funding, food sovereignty and heirloom seed work, and serving up tasty and traditional food to our community at events.
We remember and continue to admire Jerry Brackett’s beautiful artwork. At a recent CNCV General meeting in Carmichael, Nina Richmond donated one of Jerry Brackett’s intricate scroll works to our CNCV drawing table. Jerry and Marie were long-time dedicated CNCV members and Jerry regularly donated his art works for our drawings.
Call to Serve: We are holding our annual election in October. Are you feeling called to serve? Do you want to give back more to your community? There are many ways to help out, such as volunteering, serving as an Associate Board Member, and serving as a full Board Member! We need your contributions, ideas, and energy. October is election time for the CNCV. See how to get involved here!
So far, my summer growing season and Cherokee heirloom garden are going strong with Cherokee tan pumpkins and squash (aka, “Georgia Candy Roaster”), Cherokee colored flour corn, Trail of Tears beans, Turkey Gizzard beans, native tobacco, purple coneflower, corn beads (“Job’s tears”), and rattlesnake master. I’ll be starting some New Jersey Tea this month after an extended cold stratification in the refrigerator (one of our seven sacred plants along native tobacco, rattlesnake master, Eastern red cedar, red root, ginseng, and goldenseal). My Cherokee Squash is having a bumper crop year. At last measurement, I have 13 squashes with some at 20" long. Fingers crossed the remainder of the growing season goes well so there will be plenty of seeds to share with you again soon.
Enjoy learning a bit about growing and using the Three Sisters, including this Three Sisters Succotash recipe, featured during our campouts in recent years.
As a reminder, the CNCV has a resource webpage for you with many informative links for citizenship, language, culture, history, health, education, veterans, and more. Let us know if you'd like to see something specifically there.
We’re looking forward to visiting together at these events throughout the year and enjoying community, culture, history, and language with you!
ᏙᏓᏓᎪᎲᎢ dodadagohvi (‘til we meet again),
-- Sabrina McKinney
