
- Details
- By Press Releases
Press Release
Tribally owned company continues support of Oklahomans in need
Jennifer Loren, director of Cherokee Nation Film Office and Original Content, volunteers at the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma during Tulsa Area United Way’s Annual Day of Caring.
TULSA, Okla. – Cherokee Nation Businesses and its team of dedicated employee volunteers continue to ramp up support for local citizens and charitable organizations. The tribally owned company is partnering again with the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma.
CNB’s Community Impact Team, a companywide initiative dedicated to helping promote volunteerism and community engagement, supports the food bank through volunteer efforts and donations throughout the year.
“Cherokee Nation Businesses began its partnership with the food bank during the 2017 Day of Caring,” said Teressia Kehr, volunteer manager for the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. “Shortly after, the connection deepened with monthly visits, their generous presenting sponsorship of the Feeding Oklahoma Drive in October, and ongoing support of Empty Bowls. Their employees have contributed over 1,224 volunteer hours through a wide variety of tasks.”
The collaboration to help end hunger in Oklahoma isn’t new. Cherokee Nation’s business arm and the food bank have remained community partners for the Tulsa Area United Way’s Annual Day of Caring for three years and counting. In 2019, Cherokee Nation Businesses, which was honored as the nonprofit’s Company of the Year, sponsored multiple fundraising events supporting the food bank, and groups of CNB employees volunteered monthly at the 78,000-square-foot Donald W. Reynolds Distribution Center, located in north Tulsa.
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. volunteers alongside CNB employees at the
food bank's Donald W. Reynolds Distribution Center.
“Their work has helped provide the equivalent of 49,019 meals for people in eastern Oklahoma and saved the food bank $31,126.32 in expenses,” Kehr said. “We can’t thank the organization and individual employees enough for their tireless work on behalf of the hungry.”
The Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma distributes food and other grocery items to 350 partner agencies in eastern Oklahoma, including food pantries, emergency shelters, soup kitchens, senior citizen centers and after-school programs. Last year, the food bank distributed more than 28.9 million pounds of food throughout 24 counties in Oklahoma, including the Cherokee Nation Veterans Center in Tahlequah and several tribally partnered mobile pantries.
CNB employees dedicate thousands of volunteer service hours annually to community outreach projects and numerous charitable efforts, including the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, Iron Gate, the Cherokee Nation Angel Project, Junior Achievement of Oklahoma and the Cherokee Heritage Center. Throughout the year, they also support numerous tribal, community, veteran and senior citizen events, as well as coordinate essential item and school supply drives, blood donation events and annual fundraising campaigns across northeast Oklahoma.
Find out more and help the food bank continue feeding one in six Oklahomans who struggle with food insecurity by visiting https://okfoodbank.org/get-
More Stories Like This
MMIP Red Dress Installation Vandalized in AlaskaNCAI Mid Year Underway on Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Homelands
Native News Weekly (June 3, 2023): D.C. Briefs
House Passes Bipartisan Debt Ceiling Deal; How Native American Members of Congress Voted
History Made as First Navajo Appointed U.S. Federal Judge in California
Native News is free to read.
We hope you enjoyed the story you've just read. For the past dozen years, we’ve covered the most important news stories that are usually overlooked by other media. From the protests at Standing Rock and the rise of the American Indian Movement (AIM), to the ongoing epidemic of Murdered and Missing Indigenous People (MMIP) and the past-due reckoning related to assimilation, cultural genocide and Indian Boarding Schools.
Our news is free for everyone to read, but it is not free to produce. That’s why we’re asking you to make a donation to help support our efforts. Any contribution — big or small — helps. Most readers donate between $10 and $25 to help us cover the costs of salaries, travel and maintaining our digital platforms. If you’re in a position to do so, we ask you to consider making a recurring donation of $12 per month to join the Founder's Circle. All donations help us remain a force for change in Indian Country and tell the stories that are so often ignored, erased or overlooked.
Donate to Native News Online today and support independent Indigenous journalism. Thank you.