Post by blackcrowheart on Oct 22, 2005 11:28:38 GMT -5
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: PUNKIN SHANANAQUET
October 14, 2005 616/292-9971
Three Generations of American Indians West Michigan Women to Present
Breast Cancer Prevention Video
at World Indigenous Peoples Conference in New Zealand
(Hopkins, Michigan) – Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death
among American Indian women. And if Punkin Shananaquet has her wish,
this trend will reverse itself.
In her role as Community Health Representative for the
Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians (Gun Lake Tribe),
Shananaquet helped develop the “Pink Shawl” video to teach American
Indian women the dangers of breast cancer and to regularly have a
mammogram done.
This November, Shananaquet will present her video at the World
Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education (WICPE 2005), at the
University of Wikatao in Hamilton New Zealand. Joining Shananaquet in
her presentation will be her mother, Sydney Martin and daughter Carly
Shananaquet.
“We are so exciting about being able to attend this conference to share
the teachings of the shawl,” said Shananaquet. For Native women, the
shawl is a representation of the role of womanhood – love, warmth,
affection and protection.
In the Pink Shawl project, American Indian women created traditional
Native shawls with the color pink to raise awareness of breast cancer,
and promote mother-daughter education. Through the past summer, the
women have worn their shawls in “pink shawl dances” at powwows
throughout the state. The Pink Shawl Project video recording this
effort was funded by a grant from the Avon Foundation to the
Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan.
The World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education meets every three
years at different locations worldwide in order to bring interesting and
innovative ideas that evoke pride as indigenous peoples. The theme of
this conference is (in Maori): Te Toi Roa or Indigenous Excellence.
The funds that make the trip possible were received from the W.K.
Kellogg Foundation, based in Battle Creek, Michigan. The amount of the
grant award was $15,000.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was established in 1930 “to help people help
themselves through the practical application of knowledge and resources
to improve their quality of life and that of future generations.” Its
programming activities center around the common vision of a world in
which each person has a sense of worth; accepts responsibility for self,
family, community, and societal well-being; and has the capacity to be
productive, and to help create nurturing families, responsive
institutions, and healthy communities.
To achieve the greatest impact, the Foundation targets its grants
towards specific areas. These include: health, food systems and rural
development; youth and education; and philanthropy and volunteerism.
Within these areas, attention is given to exploring learning
opportunities in leadership; information and communication technology;
capitalizing on diversity; and social and economic community
development. Grants are concentrated in the United States, Latin America
and the Caribbean, and the southern African of Botswana, Lesotho,
Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe.
October 14, 2005 616/292-9971
Three Generations of American Indians West Michigan Women to Present
Breast Cancer Prevention Video
at World Indigenous Peoples Conference in New Zealand
(Hopkins, Michigan) – Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death
among American Indian women. And if Punkin Shananaquet has her wish,
this trend will reverse itself.
In her role as Community Health Representative for the
Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians (Gun Lake Tribe),
Shananaquet helped develop the “Pink Shawl” video to teach American
Indian women the dangers of breast cancer and to regularly have a
mammogram done.
This November, Shananaquet will present her video at the World
Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education (WICPE 2005), at the
University of Wikatao in Hamilton New Zealand. Joining Shananaquet in
her presentation will be her mother, Sydney Martin and daughter Carly
Shananaquet.
“We are so exciting about being able to attend this conference to share
the teachings of the shawl,” said Shananaquet. For Native women, the
shawl is a representation of the role of womanhood – love, warmth,
affection and protection.
In the Pink Shawl project, American Indian women created traditional
Native shawls with the color pink to raise awareness of breast cancer,
and promote mother-daughter education. Through the past summer, the
women have worn their shawls in “pink shawl dances” at powwows
throughout the state. The Pink Shawl Project video recording this
effort was funded by a grant from the Avon Foundation to the
Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan.
The World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education meets every three
years at different locations worldwide in order to bring interesting and
innovative ideas that evoke pride as indigenous peoples. The theme of
this conference is (in Maori): Te Toi Roa or Indigenous Excellence.
The funds that make the trip possible were received from the W.K.
Kellogg Foundation, based in Battle Creek, Michigan. The amount of the
grant award was $15,000.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was established in 1930 “to help people help
themselves through the practical application of knowledge and resources
to improve their quality of life and that of future generations.” Its
programming activities center around the common vision of a world in
which each person has a sense of worth; accepts responsibility for self,
family, community, and societal well-being; and has the capacity to be
productive, and to help create nurturing families, responsive
institutions, and healthy communities.
To achieve the greatest impact, the Foundation targets its grants
towards specific areas. These include: health, food systems and rural
development; youth and education; and philanthropy and volunteerism.
Within these areas, attention is given to exploring learning
opportunities in leadership; information and communication technology;
capitalizing on diversity; and social and economic community
development. Grants are concentrated in the United States, Latin America
and the Caribbean, and the southern African of Botswana, Lesotho,
Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe.