Tri-District Elders/Kawehnoke Recreation Center co-hosts “Elders community Christmas Party”

The Kawehnoke Recreation Center, in conjunction with the Tri-District Elders celebrated Christmas with well over 100 elders and local law enforcement agencies and of course the great Hogansburg-Akwesasne Volunteer Fire Department. They celebrated a Christmas feast on Thursday, December 20, 2007. This is what our community is all about, getting together to show elders how much they are loved and respected. The outpouring of donations was awesome. The room looked so nice and the decorations were beautiful.

The volunteers, both fire and law, were dressed to the tee. Comments were made on how nice they all looked in their uniforms. The elders were greeted and waited on hand and foot by local HAVFD members, St. Regis Mohawk Tribe Police, the RCMP, OPP, US Border Patrol and Akwesasne Mohawk Police officers who met them outside and escorted then into the building, and began serving them coffee inside. The Elders couldn’t get over how nice the ladies and gentlemen with these agencies all looked in uniform.

The elders were then greeted in the foyer by RCMP Constable Cynthia Lord, and AMPS Nicole Miller, Lynn Roundpoint and Patty Francis. Photos were then taken as they entered and registered and received a Christmas stocking full of goodies. Each “Gift Certificate” was donated or purchased from local and surrounding area merchants. They found a beautiful pen donated by the Ontario Provincial Police inside the bag and comments are still being made just on the stockings. There were many nice things donated towards the stockings, which were all made by Lynn Roundpoint and Hilda Lazore. Lynn also did the invitations and program, and she did an excellent job.

Grand Chief Tim “Dooley” Thompson started out around 10:30 with a nice “Welcome to the Elders.” He was then recruited to be, no not Santa, but “Bingo Caller” and he did a great job. After their traditional bingo session, the elders were waited on and served a delicious traditional dinner.

This year’s event was co-sponsored by the Kawehnoke Recreation Center and Gloria Thompson and Sherry Garrow and the girls were all busy these last two nights preparing the food. Jay Perras of Renzi Brothers Foods was on hand in the kitchen helping out all day with the cooking. Renzi Brothers Foods of Watertown, N.Y. can’t be “thanked” enough for their generous donation of the food for the day. Two huge hams were drawn at the end of the event and the winners couldn’t believe how big they were.

The band “Country Rollers”, Bobby Herne and the boys in his band were on hand and provided the music for the day. Sgt Roger Mitchell was on hand and was asked to sing a Christmas song. He finished and the crowd went wild. He got the party started, the elders began to boogie on down. Thank-you Sgt Mitchell. The music was even provided by a generous sponsorship, thank-you to World Wide Entertainment, Edward Roundpoint.

It wouldn’t be Christmas without the arrival of jolly old St. Nick, a.k.a. Santa, Thank-you to RCMP Cooperative education student, Kyle Gagnon and SRMT P.D. Nathan Boots who played Santa. Then the gift giving began when Santa arrived. Due to the large crowd they were all asked to be patient and once everyone received their gifts they opened them one the count of three.

A story wouldn’t be a story without acknowledging the sponsors and volunteers, so we do not mean to intentionally leave anyone out of this story, THANK-YOU to everyone who contributed in any way.

Wednesday evening when that snow started we called for help in ensuring that we’d have ample and clear parking lots, so thank-you to Kennedy Garrow of MCA DTS and Perry Francis of C&B Enterprises, who came through for us with the plowing of the lots. Again, I can’t stress how our community comes together to make sure we do it right for our elders. Chief Wesley Benedict did some shoveling also and decorating, thank-you Wes.

From CCVS, thanks to Chef John for taking care of the turkey and ham for us, Assistant Gen. Mgr Darlene Dilcox and the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino who cooked the turkey early in the morning, thank-you Liz Daughtery and your staff. Our Elves and kitchen helpers for the day: Gloria Thompson, Sherry Garrow, Theresa Benedict, Wendy Adams, Jay Perras, our youngest elf was Jenna Thompson, Margie’s grand-daughter, she was so cute and so helpful, it was great to see a nice young girl out there giving to the elders. Her mom Anna showed up just in time to play clean up crew with the dishes, she had a lot of help from SRMT P. D. Officer Eileen Cook who flipped back her uniform tie, rolled up her sleeves and began washing dishes, good job officer Cook. The local U.S. Border Patrol, Massena, played Tim Horton’s server for the day, along with the other agencies.

CCVS Native student advisor Clarissa Jacobs, who played an elf, dressed in full costume, had three students on hand and they were busy and great: Amber Point, Sophia Thompson and Owen Francis, a big Niawen kowa.

Thank-you to the planning and decorating committee: Julia Roundpoint, Margie Thompson, Chief Cheryl Jacobs, Clarissa Jacobs, Lynn Roundpoint, Patty Francis, Vanessa Cook, Theresa Benedict, Gloria Thompson, Joanne Jocko and Wendy Adams.

Thank-you to our local HAVFD members: Richard Phillips, Tommy Francis, Ben Benedict, Joe Peters and Tracy George. Local law enforcement who participated: RCMP, OPP, SRMT P.D., U.S. Border Patrol, Akwesasne Mohawk Police, thank-you to Deputy Chief Steve Lazore, Roger, Carson, Michelle, Nicole and Pete. SSGT Peter Lynch drove in from Ottawa, Ontario to help out, Inspector Dave Springer with the Ontario Provincial Police and his men were on hand also. Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for everything you did for the day. This event would not have been a success without our community and surrounding area businesses’ support. We received donations in the form of either monetary or gift certificates from: MCA, C & B Enterprises, Kawehnoke Recreation Center, the Tri-District Elders, Akwesasne Petroleum Co-op, Can-Am Vending, CKON Radio Station, Three Vee’s Company of Cornwall, Ontario, the Squire Shop, Jones Construction, Kanienkehaka Fuels, Mohawk Bingo Palace, 37 West Steakhouse, Brass Horse Rest. & Lounge, Purple Ribbon Gift Shop, Bear’s Den Rest. & Fuel, and the Seaway Int’l Bridge. Again, we hope we did not intentionally leave anyone out who showed their support for this event.

For the entire feature of Tri-District Elders/Kawehnoke Recreation Center co-hosts “Elders community Christmas Party”, come to our office for a back issue.