Cherokee Preservation Foundation will host its annual Community Celebration event on Friday, May 10, for grantees, community members and others interested in the work that the Foundation and grantees are doing. The event will take place at the Cherokee Indian Fairgrounds Building from 11:30am – 2pm. It will feature a complimentary Indian dinner at noon prepared by the North American Indian Women’s Association (NAIWA).
Cameron Cooper, the new energy manager for the EBCI, will talk about several exciting demonstration projects, such as the solar trees, implemented at the EBCI’s main Welcome Center and visitor kiosks downtown and on Highway 441, as well as other energy-efficient retrofitting projects that have been undertaken. (SCOTT MCKIE B.P./One Feather)
At 11:30am, approximately one dozen grantees will be at exhibit booths to talk informally with visitors about their projects and programs. As soon as lunch is finished, three organizations that have received environmental preservation grants from Cherokee Preservation Foundation will make short presentations about the results they have achieved so far:
- Jody Bradley, public relations officer for Cherokee Hospital, will share information about how Hospital employees are integrating ideas about sustainability into their workplace. Under the leadership of the Hospital’s Green Team, Cherokee Hospital was recently awarded Wild South’s Roosevelt Ashe Award for being Green Business of the Year in the southeast U.S.
- Cameron Cooper, the new energy manager for the EBCI, will talk about several exciting demonstration projects implemented at the EBCI’s main Welcome Center and visitor kiosks downtown and on Highway 441, as well as other energy-efficient retrofitting projects that have been undertaken. He will describe the resulting cost savings.
- A representative of the Sequoyah Fund will describe the organization’s new green loan policy and how it will benefits individuals and businesses that want to make green improvements in their homes and business structures, respectively.
More than a dozen other grantees will have exhibits at the event and will share information about their programs and projects. They include: Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, Museum of the Cherokee Indian, Cherokee Business Development, Qualla Arts and Crafts, Cherokee Chamber of Commerce, Oconaluftee Visitor Center, Cherokee Day of Caring, RTCAR (Revitalization of Traditional Cherokee Artisan Resources), Cherokee Historical Association, Cherokee Youth Council, The Right Path, Clay County Spike Buck Mound, WCU’s Cherokee Language Program, Land Trust of the Little Tennessee, and Wild South.
– Cherokee Preservation Foundation
