Page 24 - May 2005 • Southern California Gaming Guide

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, the Hopi Tribe and the Navajo Nation Donate Funds for ‘’Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’’ Project
E xtreme Makeover: Home Edition’s sta and volunteers built not only a new home in Flagsta for the family of Army Spc. Lori
Piestewa, believed to be the rst female American Indian killed in combat in a foreign war; but also created the new Piestewa Native American Veterans Center in the Hopi veteran’s hometown of Tuba City on the Navajo Nation.
e family of Lori Piestewa became the rst American Indian family selected by Extreme Makeover, the popular ABC reality show, to
receive a new home. Slated for broadcast as the show’s season nale on May 22, the extreme makeover attracted a number of volunteers.
e San Manuel Band of Mission Indians of California joined the Hopi Tribe, the Navajo Nation and thousands of volunteers to make dreams come true for Piestewa’s parents and children.
T17th Annual American Indian Culture Days Honoring Our Elders Powwow
e San Manuel Band donated $180,000 to purchase land for the new Piestewa home. e ve acres, northeast of Flagsta are beneath the sacred San Francisco Peaks. e Piestewas lived in a trailer home in Tuba City and chose Flagsta for their new home.
Builders Shea Homes and Cavco Industries Inc. provided the home and building for the Piestewa
Native American Veterans Center in Tuba City.
e Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, Arizona Public Service, Navajo Housing Authority and others joined in. Extreme Makeover team leader Ty Pennington and his cast, with the help of more than 300 Shea Homes
employees and 1,000 trade partners, built the new home in Flagsta .
Bert Selva, president and CEO of Shea Homes, which donated materials and labor for the new Piestewa home, saluted Lori Piestewa and her parents.
“People have di erent ways of responding to tragedy, and Lori Piestewa’s parents should be held as an example of the right thing to do. ey are raising their grandchildren and doing the best they can to
give them a good life.”
“Lori has personi ed the loss we all feel during
wartime and from one family to another, we really
wanted to help them gain a fresh start in a home that will enhance their lives,” Selva said in a statement.
“She gave her life on March 23, 2003, when her unit was ambushed in Iraq, and has become the international symbol of motherly sacri ce.”
he American Indian Culture Center and Museum and the San Diego Grunion” storyteller, and the Luiseño storytellers Native Talk. Gourd Schools Indian Education Program invite the public to attend the 17th Dancing starts at noon and the Grand Entry is at 1 p.m. The MC is Randy annual American Indian Culture Days on May 14 & 15, 10 a.m. to Edwards. For full details call 858-627-7362 or 619-281-5964. is event is a
6 p.m. at San Diego’s Balboa Park. Performing groups include the Kumeyaay project of the Indian Human Resource Center in San Diego. Bird Singers, the Toltecas En Aztlan Aztec Dancers, Abel Silvas, “Running
Page 24 May 2005
Tribes in the News (Continued)