LUMBEE NEWS

AT&T contributes to tribal student’s educational success

        (October 2010) The Volunteer Program of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina was presented with a check from AT&T on Thursday, October 21st during the Tribal Council meeting at the Tribal Housing Complex in support of the Volunteer Program’s First Annual School Supply Drive.

         AT&T Regional Director of External Affairs John Lyon felt the campaign meshed perfectly with the philanthropic focus of the company. “I get requests all the time, I get stacks of them,” said Lyon “but here I didn’t have a request but the need matched perfectly with what we do.” According to Lyon the story struck a chord with him when he read about it in a local newspaper.

         The $1,000 contribution was able to supply various needed items such as clear or mesh back packs, #2 pencils, pens, loose-leaf paper, five subject spiral notebooks, pocket folders, crayons, color pencils, composition notebooks, highlighters, hand sanitizer, Kleenex and 2-inch three-ring binders. According to the Volunteer Program Coordinator Morgan Hunt-Warriax, with the $3,000 received from overall community contributors, the back-to-school drive was able to impact over 200 economically disadvantaged tribal students within the public school system. “Thank you for allowing us to be a part of this,” said NC House Representative Garland Pierce, “because there are in fact children attending school without the necessary school supplies.”

         Upon his arrival, Mr. John Lyon was given a tour of the Tribal Housing Complex building by Mrs. Hunt-Warriax who also gave him a brief overview and historical background of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. “While AT&T does not make multi-year commitments for future contributions,” said Lyon, “I do want to put this program on my list for consideration again for our 2011 contributions.” After the presentation at the Tribal Council meeting, councilor Audrey Revels honored AT&T with a plaque of appreciations for its generous donation, “we can’t say thank you enough,” commented Councilor Revels.  For more information on the Volunteer Program please contact Morgan Hunt-Warriax at 910-521-7861.