Walking Shield, Inc.

Serving American Indian Families Since 1986
Walking Shield, Inc.
www.walkingshield.org
Spring/Summer 2012
Board of Directors
Gary Wasoski, Chairman
Director of Loss Prevention,
Luxottica Retail
Stephanie Mendez,
Secretary
Retired Educator
John Castillo, Ph.D.,
Member
Executive Director,
Walking Shield
Apache
Michelle Holiday, Member
Manager, Legislative and
Native American Affairs,
Edison International
Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma
2nd Annual Golf Tournament
Walking Shield in collaboration with Southern California Edison’s Native
American Alliance is hosting its second Annual Golf Charity Tournament on
June 25, 2012. We will be playing once again at Pechanga’s “The Journey” with a
shotgun start at 8 am. The purpose of this event is to raise funds to help students currently in college who need support to continue their academic journey.
These funds will include assistance with books, tutoring, rising tuition, parking
fee’s and other costs associated with attending college. Last year 77 golfers participated in this event and we were able to raise over $13,000 to help these students. Here are some of our students who received financial assistance this past
year. (see recipients on next page)
(left) Beihn Family,
winners of our first
annual golf tournament.
Gene Madrigal, Member
Attorney at Law
Cahuilla
Dennis Tafoya, Member
L.A. County Director of
Affirmative Action
Compliance (Ret.)
Santa Clara Pueblo
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(bottom left & right)
Registration and
golfers ready to golf.
Pete Tagni, Member
Lt. Col., USMC (Ret.)
Coordinator, Toys for Tots
American Indian Program
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Walking Shield/Native American Alliance Scholarship Recipients
Duncan Wayne Deon grew up on the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation in South Dakota. He has ventured out of the reservation to obtain a degree in Political Science at Cal State Long
Beach. Primarily, Duncan wanted to create financial stability
for his two daughters who currently reside with their mother
on the Oglala reservation. Duncan’s hope is that with his degree he will be able to bring assistance to those in his reservation, primarily children, who without aide would grow up in
less than satisfactory situations. He believes that his people
deserve and have the right to a better standard of living and is
more than up to the challenge of helping the Oglala find these solutions.
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As the youngest of seven children, Jennifer Lopez has seen the struggles
and hardships her family has gone through in their lives. This has given her
a deep desire to achieve her educational goals of becoming a doctor. She has
witnessed first hand, what life would be like without an education and has
dedicated herself to her studies in order to make a difference not only in her
families’ lives but also humanity at large. Jennifer was the first of her siblings to be college bound and hopes that her dedication to school will inspire
other Native American youth to follow their dreams and aspirations. Jennifer is a member of the Seminole tribe of Oklahoma. She is a promising student with the drive and passion needed to achieve her life’s ambitions.
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As a single parent of three children, Jenifer Webster wants
nothing more than to be a role model for her children. She has
faced many challenges in her life including breast cancer and
the destruction of her home in a fire. Through these obstacles,
she has found the strength and courage to accomplish her
dreams of being an oncology nurse. Through
Jenifer’s experiences with cancer, she has
found that her calling in life is to assist others
with their battle with cancer. Jenifer is
Ojibwe and a member of the Oneida tribe.
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Jessica Arvizu Carmelo has always had dreams of inventing new technology, products and other such innovations specialized for women that will
help to transform the engineering world. She has al ways felt that women are
underrepresented in the engineer work force and plans on bringing her creativity and ideas to this area of expertise. Jessica is currently attending Cypress
College and is interning at an engineering firm in Santa Ana, CA. Although the
classes specialized for engineering are quite difficult, Jessica has the intelligence and passion to help her in the attainment of her goals. Jessica is a member of the Tongva-Gabrielino tribe.
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Sponsorship Opportunities
Please join us this year by participating in our golf tournament. You can view our sponsorship
opportunities on our website: www.walkingshield.org
Not a golfer?
There are other ways to participate:

Donate merchandise for prizes and opportunity drawings

Join us for lunch only for $40

Donate items for players’ gift bags

Make a tax deductible donation directly to Walking Shield, Inc.
Education Program
We embarked several years ago on an effort to enroll more Indian high school students into college. To accomplish this goal we held a gathering table. This gathering table which was sponsored by Southern California Edison, brought together over 30 educators from the Southern California community who were involved with Indian Education. We discussed the barriers and solutions to enrolling more Indian students into college.
We determined that to accomplish our goal, we had to complete four tasks. First we had to acquire funds to provide scholarships for high school students entering college. Secondly, we
needed to provide supplemental support for the students while they are in college to ensure they
graduate. Third we needed to build a pipeline to college. Fourth, we needed to address the needs
of students who were already in college that need help so they to can complete their academic
journey.
The first task was accomplished through the generous support of the College Access Foundation
of California. For the past three years they have awarded us a grant to provide scholarships to
American Indian high school students entering college. This year we will be spending $200,000
to provide 25 new scholarships and to continue to fund the students who have been previously
awarded the College Access scholarships. Here are our first three graduates who are all slated to
graduate in June 2012. (cont.)
There’s more to come…
Please follow us on Facebook!
www.facebook.com/WalkingShield
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Congratulations 2012 Graduates!!!!
My name is Kesha Anagal, I’m Navajo Indian from Chinle, AZ. My parents are Melinda and Mike
Morgan and I am the oldest out of 5 children. I graduated high school in 2007 from Sherman
Indian High School in Riverside, Ca. I attended the University of California Berkeley and will be
graduating May 2012. I majored in Native American Studies. Attending UC Berkeley has been
an amazing and very challenging struggle and one I am proud to finish. After graduation I have
many plans I would like to start and finish. My plans include taking sometime to go home, work
and travel. I’ve always had an interest in health and I plan on looking into grad school. I hope to
eventually work with my tribe to help develop or improve health programs throughout the reservation and to work with educational programs as well as to push for higher education amongst
the youth. Coming to Berkeley was such a great experience for me and one that I would like others to experience. Another goal of mine has been to help the youth who are interested in higher
education seek financial support. I received very little help from my tribe during my years here
at Berkeley based on funding restrictions and I would like to find ways to improve or correct these restrictions. If I had
not received help from Walking Shield I honestly believe my graduation date would have been put off for another year or
two until I could afford it. Walking Shield has provided so much support and help to me, more than I ever expected or
had received from any organization. I’ve always had trouble asking and relying on others for help and I am so grateful
that Walking Shield was very dependable and I appreciate all the help they have given me. Walking Shield has contributed greatly to helping me complete my goals of graduation and I am happy to complete this goal of mine and to start
planning and starting new goals. I just want to say one final Thanks to Walking Shield and to Lynda Estrella, Thank you
very much and I appreciate everything that both have done for me, Thanks.
Edward Jereaux Nunez is a descendent of the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians
and the Seminole Nation. The truth about his education is he really wasn't sure
of his major in college but pursued each class with hopes that a vision would
eventually become clear as he completed his Associate’s Degree. After attending
part time to Saddleback Community College, Business Management/
Entrepreneurship is what stirred his interest. He transferred to Cal State Fullerton and was blessed to have Walking Shield’s Scholarship to support his higher
education. Edward Jereaux Nunez is the first in his immediate family to earn a
college degree.
While at CSUF he was significantly involved in the Intertribal Student Council.
In his senior year he worked with Walking Shield completing an internship and
making a friend with the supportive Lynda Estrella. In his senior year, he
started a business with his parents called Tamaayowut. The vision of this company is to bring sustainable energy onto the reservations. He thanks his family,
his Native community, Walking Shield and of course Creator for making it possible to be successful with completing his degree in Business Administration.
My name is Cheyenne Reynoso I am graduating with a Bachelors Degree in Anthropology
and a Minor in African Studies. I am Cherokee, Chahta, and Shawnee on my mother’s side
from Tahlequah, Oklahoma, originally removed from the Tennessee area; and Aztec (from
Aqua Calientes, Mexico), and Apache on my father’s side. After graduation, I have been
accepted to the Washington Internship for Native Students (WINS) Program in Washington D.C. for the summer. I plan to intern for a year and then apply for graduate school. I
am also working/organizing on an outreach and humanitarian project with the American
Indian Resource Program and native college students this summer in South Dakota. Walking Shield has been a continual positive force and has assisted and made it possible for me
to thrive in college. They have provided me financial as well as moral and personal support
to me. Walking Shield supported my goals and endeavors making it possible for me to continue in higher education and be an active Native student on campus without having to
compromise my responsibilities or commitments. My main financial support came from
Walking Shield and whenever I needed anything the staff at Walking Shield was eager to
help. I am truly grateful and know that without their support and resources, college would
have been a constant battle and hardship. I am forever grateful! Wado!
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Education Program (cont.)
The second task was accomplished through the generous support of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. For the past two years they have provided funds to help our Access Scholars stay in college. These
funds help with transportation, books, tutoring, living expenses, tuition and other supplemental support.
The third task of building a pipeline to college is still under construction. Programs are now in place across
the country that actually work with children from cradle to career. Based on the ‘Harlem Children Zone
Project’, there are holistic approaches to rebuilding a community so that children can stay on track to enter
college and eventually enter the job market. These efforts are taking place in Carpinteria, CA, Santa Barbara, CA and Cincinatti, Ohio, just to name a few locations.
Why reinvent the wheel? Walking Shield has been busy learning about how these programs work so we can
duplicate what has already been done. We need to make sure we use what works and insure they are culturally competent for our Indian community. Research indicates that a child who is not properly prepared to
enter kindergarten is already behind.
Finally, what about those who are already in college and struggling to stay in school? Thus the birth of our
charitable golf tournament. As you have already read, our second annual tournament is on June 25th
2012 at ‘The Journey’ at Pechanga Golf Course. Our ultimate goal is to help our college students graduate
and hopefully return to their tribal communities to help their people.
At the Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association Graduation Celebration with recent Access
Scholars Recipients and Dr. Castillo.
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OneSight visits Bishop, CA
From February 29 through March 9th the OneSight program provided free eye exams and glasses
at the Toiyabe Indian Health Clinic on the Bishop Indian Reservation to 504 children and 307
adults. In total, 719 or 89% of the individuals we saw needed glasses.
A story from Toiyabe: A mother of a 14-year old glaucoma patient returned to the clinic to tell Dr. Chris that she had
gone home and done some research on glaucoma and was very thankful that he was able to diagnose her son.
We have received several requests from reservations across the United States for this program to come to their ‘neck of
the woods’. For the past 15 years Walking Shield has partnered with Luxxotica Retails OneSight Program to help with
vision care for our tribal communities. We hope to continue this program for many more years to come.
2011 Holiday Gift Distribution Program
It was another tremendous year for the Holiday Gift Distribution Program. Over 30,000 toys,
backpacks, school supplies and other items were distributed to 47 reservation and off reservation
groups throughout the United States.
Kids from Ft. Berthold (Three Affiliated) with their toys.
Pierce College students unloading customized backpacks.
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A Big Thank You to our Recent Supporters!
Common Ground Interfaith
Spiritual Center
Lawrence Matranga
Robin Snagg
Rone Ellis
Carter’s
Karen Bednorz in Memory of Scott
Collins and Garret Bednorz
Janie & Jack
Carroll Smith
June Fox
Mary Guyer
Fred Watson
John & Jodene Downey
McMaster-Carr Supply Company
Anthony & Estella Torres
Dolores Ross
Jimmy Dishner BGN (Ret)
Mellor Willie
Charles & Marjorie Hoskinson
Alyce Thomas
Dr. Gary Cromwell
Brad Albert
The San Diego Foundation
Sherry Kavanagh
Jeff & Debbie Stephens
Madeline Rae Jensen
Tomoko Culbertson
Leroy & Shirley Miller
Takiko Niimi
Mette Djokovich
Claire Braga
Nell Madigan
Kenji & June Watenbe
Peter Tagni Lt. Col., USMC (Ret)
Native American Institute
Linda Sloan
O.C. Society for Psychic Research
Ingelore Nosek
Suzanne Schaefer
Union Bank Employee Workplace
Campaign
Evan Krewson
Gymboree
Powlas
Malinda Pennoyer Chouniard
Martha Blackford
Landmark Wooden Toys of Huntington
Beach
Tammy Powlas
Yarnspinners of Westminster
Nancy Berg & Co.
Ruth Ann Miller
Mazda Trix
Red Bird
San Manuel Band of
Mission Indians
Sons of the American Legion,
Squadron 291
Mike & Stephanie Mendez
Gloria Moretta & Family
Boeing Charitable Trust
College Access Foundation of
California
Northrop Grumman
Did you know…
Walking Shield has a comprehensive Planned Giving Program.
Check out our “Get Involved” page on our website or
contact us today for further information!
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Servin g Ame rican Ind ian F amilies S ince 1 9 86
Walking Shield, Inc.
22622 Lambert St. Ste. 303
Lake Forest, CA 92630
Non-Profit
U.S. Postage Paid
Lake Forest, CA
Permit No. 102
Return Service Requested
Walking Shield, Inc.
1986 - 2012
Walking Shield’s mission is to improve the quality of
life for American Indian families by coordinating
programs that provide shelter, healthcare, community
development support, educational assistance and
humanitarian aid.
Walking Shield is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Your donations are greatly appreciated and are tax
deductible.
Phone: (949) 639-0472
Fax: (949) 639-0474
[email protected]
www.walkingshield.org
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