Akwesasne Freedom School Raises Funds at the Powwow

Over the weekend at the Akwesasne Powwow, the Akwesasne Freedom School had a booth set up to raise funds to offset operating costs of the school. At the booth they sold a pulled pork dinner, or sandwich, beverages, fruits, snacks, and desserts. The dinner included a sandwich, two choices of coleslaw, beans, corn, or potatoes. A big draw was the strawberry drink, which unlike some of the other strawberry drinks being sold, was actually made with real strawberries, not Kool-Aid.

The booth was staffed by parent volunteers who are required to do an amount of community service as part of their children’s tuition, but many of the parents support the school so much they are there at every event helping in spite of any requirement to do so. In addition to staffing the booth, Parents also contributed the side dishes, beverages, and desserts. The Akwesasne Freedom School purchased the pig from Country Organics located in Norfolk, who came out and cooked the 200-pound pig all day Friday. So on top of supporting an incredible community asset, you were also supporting socially conscious, organic farming, whether you knew it or not.

The AFS Ohenten iiete, Okiokwinon, wanted to thank everyone who came out and supported the Freedom School. A special thanks to Craig Arquette who donated $150, and to all of the families who donated time, food, and drinks.

Okiokwinon added, “The powwow brought in about $2,500 for us! Which is fantastic, and better than last year’s fundraiser, so we’re excited! I would like to send out a huge Niawenko:wa to Country Organics, who donated their time to cooking our pig for the pulled pork dinners. They are also going to be donating fresh sweet corn to the whole school for lunch soon! They seem really eager to help us out, and it’s awesome how interested they are in us!”

Events such as this are a wonderful example of the community helping keep a community asset alive and strong.