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This Fall and Winter Season has been very busy in Lumbee Country. Read the latest news in the Lumbee Today Newsletter. Click this link to reach the latest edition: https://content.yudu.com/web/44fup/0A44fv7/LumbeeFallWinter22/html/index.html

Thank you to everyone who came out to Lumbee Night with the Fayetteville Woodpeckers Baseball Team on Wednesday. We had lots of fun! It rained just a few minutes, but then it turned out to be a beautiful night. Lumbee Tribal Chairman John L. Lowery threw out the first pitch at the game and Senior Ms. Lumbee, Ms. Sharon McNeill Burnette, sang the National Anthem. Thank you to all of our artisans who came out to demonstrate their art and share about Lumbee for guest at the game.

For Immediate Release Lumbee Tribe of N.C. Celebrates the Construction of the 250th Home Built for Homeownership Pembroke, NC (June 16, 2023) - As the nation observes National Homeownership Month, the Lumbee Tribe of N.C. is celebrating a historic milestone. This week, the Lumbee Tribe administration, Tribal Council and staff celebrate the construction of the 250th home built for homeownership. Tribal Chairman John L. Lowery said he is excited to know that the tribal government has helped 250 families to have a home of their own. "This is what we do every day at the Lumbee Tribe, work with our people to ensure our families have a place to call home,” said Lowery. "The homeplace is the heart of Lumbee families and I am proud to know we have helped establish 250 homeplaces for our Lumbee Citizens. National Homeownership month promotes the value of owning a home and the organizations that help further the American Dream of homeownership. It also celebrates the value that owning a home brings to families, communities, and neighborhoods across America. The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina has a very robust Housing program. For information visit www.lumbeetribe.com

You are invited to the Lumbee Tribe of N.C. State of the Tribe Address on July 6, 2023 at 6:30 pm. Lumbee Tribal Chairman John L. Lowery will share information about the tribal budget, recent accomplishments and his goals and vision for the Lumbee People. The event will be held at the Lumbee Tribe Boys & Girls Club in Pembroke, which is located behind the Lumbee Tribe Housing Complex. The address will be livestreamed through the Lumbee Tribe Youtube and the Lumbee Tribe Website. A reception will follow the address.

In accordance with the Bylaws of Lumbee Holdings, Inc. (LH), this is NOTICE of the Annual Meeting of Shareholders. The "Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina" is the sole owner of all 100 shares of LH. The meeting will be held on July 7, 2023, at 12:00 p.m. The Annual Meeting location has been scheduled to occur in the Lumbee Tribe Boys & Girls Club facility behind the Tribal Building. A light lunch will be provided at the conclusion of the Annual Meeting. The event will NOT be livestreamed or recorded. An active Lumbee Tribe enrollment card is required for guest entry. An interpreter will be utilized to allow deaf and hard of hearing tribal members equal access to information and interactions.

Summer is here and we have some very cool camps for our Lumbee Children to enjoy this summer, but learn a great deal as well. This week, some of our younger children enjoyed the Life by the River Camp. The campers enjoyed a variety of activities including hayrides, digging clay for pottery, canoeing, learning a canoe song, picking blueberries, learning about birds that live along the Lumbee, and then they made a pinecone bird feeders, The campers also learned about our old ways of our ancestors for dugout canoes and made soap canoes. They had an amazing time at the Lumbee Tribe Cultural Center and the Museum of the Southeast American Indian. This camp is based on the curatorial themes of Life by the River for a week of immersive cultural experiences tied to the Lumbee River. The camp is sponsored by Project IndigeCHOICE, the Museum of the Southeast American Indian and UNC Pembroke.

Tickets are still available for the Senior Ms. Lumbee Pageant for this Friday night, June 23, 2023. Teresa Oxendine Hall and Boss Lambert Locklear encourage you to not miss a moment of one of the best nights of Lumbee Homecoming. The Senior Ms. Lumbee Pageant pre-show with Chosen Generation begins at 6:00 pm. Tickets are at available for $15 at Givens Performing Arts Center on the campus of UNC Pembroke. Your contestants are Joan Carol Blackwell Dottie Ruth Woods Katie Ann Burns Locklear Edith Ann Jones Patricia Allen Suggs Scarlet Ann Thomas For more information call 910.521.6361 or visit https://www.uncp.edu/resources/givens-performing-arts-center

The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina along with the Museum of the Southeast American Indian is hosting the 1st Annual Indigenous Games as part of the Lumbee Homecoming festivities. Events will include Chunkey and Social Stickball. Chunkey will start at 5:30pm and Stickball at 7pm. To play you must be 18+ or 16+ with guardian permission. Please contact Kevin Melvin at (910)544-8235 or kmelvin@lumbeetribe.com to register to play or if you have any questions.

The Lumbee Tribe of N.C. is moving forward with our newest community. Lumbee Tribal Chairman John Lowery joined Tribal Council members Alex Baker, Bobby Emanuel, Nanci Locklear, former Council Member Ricky Burnett and the Lumbee Tribal staff to break ground at Bear Creek Subdivision. The newly planned District 13 neighborhood, in the Parkton Community, is proposed to have 12-15 homes. These homes will be available for homeownership. The infrastructure construction is officially underway at the site which is near three counties and Interstate 95. The neighborhood will be the second housing development in Lumbee Tribal District 13. The first was Stedman Estates.

Please plan to be a part of the Inaugural launch of the Canoe called "Wisdom" on Saturday, June 24 at the Lumbee Tribe Cultural Center. The celebration kicks off at 10 am and there will lots of fun for the family till 3 pm. The Launch will be at 1 pm. There will be kids crafts, games, food trucks, and kayaking. Celebrate this wonderful occasion with UNC Pembroke's Museum of the Southeast American Indian and the Lumbee Tribe. The event is FREE. Our very own Kevin Melvin (Lumbee Tribal Historic Preservation Officer) and the “Life by the River” Project team sank the canoe “called Wisdom” at the Lumbee Tribe Cultural Center in January. The 18 feet long dugout canoe took 8 months to finish and was created using the burnout method our ancestors would have used hundreds of years ago. "Life by the River" is a program by the Museum of the Southeast American Indian that focuses on North Carolina's Native People's connection in relationship with their ancestral waters. The canoe project was one of the components of the project led by Kevin Melvin. The project was a community collaborative as people were invited to help build the canoe. Eventually the canoe will travel across the state. The goal is to put the canoe in each NC tribes' ancestral waters, whether that is a river, stream, lake or Carolina bay. The tree was cut, moved to the Lumbee Tribe Cultural Center, where it was burned and dug out by teams of volunteers each week since last May. After some final sanding, they set it on fire one more time. The fire helps with the sanding and seals up the inside of the canoe. The vessel was then sunk into the lake where it has remained since January. Since the canoe had been sitting out in the elements for months, it had begun to crack. The water submersion will help preserve it. Lumbee ancestors would have used this type of canoe for fishing, transportation and maneuvering the river systems.

Congratulations to Ms. Gwen Locklear on her retirement from Indian Education. She was recently recognized with an Eagle feather for her years of dedication to Native children across the state and her tribal community. Mrs. Gwen has served as a distinguished member of our Lumbee Tribe. After nearly two decades as an Indian Education Coordinator in Wake County and serving on the State Advisory Council on Indian Education, she has impacted the lives of countless children across our state. Johnston County students also continue to benefit from her work to develop the first Johnston County Indian Education Title VI Grant Program. Thank you and congratulations!