OKMULGEE, Okla. – The Okmulgee Indian Community elders are having a taco sale fundraiser for their upcoming trip to Cherokee, North Carolina. The sale takes place Friday, Aug.18 from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the community center at 2900 N Osage Place in Okmulgee.
For ten dollars you get a taco, drink and dessert. Every sale helps the elders get to the American Indian Elders Conference in September. The conference is hosted by the National Indian Council on Aging (NICOA), a nonprofit that focuses on the needs of aging American Indian and Alaska Native elders. This year’s theme is “A Trail of Determination: Our Culture, Our History and Our Future.”
The conference is held every two years and has a focus on services and policies that affect American Indian elders. To register for the conference attendees must be members of NICOA, which carries a fee of $275. Elders from all over the United States come to the conference to learn about things like health issues, financial management, elder abuse, and employment.
Esther Gee, an Okmulgee Indian Community member, has attended four or five of the conferences and says that it’s an enjoyable event where elders make friends and see people again. She also expressed that the conference is a great opportunity to see what is happening all over the United States.
Past conferences have taken place in Albuquerque, N.M., Tacoma, Wash., and Niagara Falls, N.Y. A highlight to Gee is the conference’s culture night where attendees can wear cultural dress and share their cultures.
Thirty-three elders from the Muscogee (Creek) Nation are going, seven of those are from the Okmulgee community. Fundraising for the trip began last June. The sale this Friday will help the group specifically with money for food. Transportation has already been provided with support from the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
If you can not make it to the taco sale, those wanting to help can send donations to the Okmulgee Indian Community designated Elders Food Sale.
