Eche tamwe! “surprise!”… Tahkokën “Fall” has come and gone and Luwàn “Winter” is even nearing an end as we look forward to Sikònke “Spring”. As I mentioned in my last newsletter, I knew it would be sometime after our F&I conference before I reported what the domicile and, more importantly, what our Delaware tribe is doing for our people. What a class act the F&I Conference is every year with the information and venue it offers. The wide variety of topics certainly reflects the expertise of our speakers. Even during our reinsurance session, Rhonda Pinkerton, our compliance director and teammate of the domicile, demonstrated the know-how she has acquired through the years and her respectability in this industry. She and Elaine Higginbotham of Tribal Support Services are the best!

So, what has been going on since Becky Bridendolph, our Reinsurance Coordinator and Assistant to the Registrar, and I returned from the conference? Well, it was no surprise to us when we moved to our Bartlesville, Oklahoma headquarters for the renovation/remodel of our Caney, Kansas offices. Over the course of many years, this location has been a medical clinic and day care facility, so an update and renovation to this already nice building was due. The renovation will allow for further expansion and future additions to our domicile staff. Again, this is another fine example of the growth our Tribe is experiencing and the foresight our Chief Brad KillsCrow and the Tribal Council support. We’ve been told to expect the project to be complete at the end of March or early April. Sometime after we return from Agent Summit in April, we will be excited to extend an invitation for you to visit. Our Osage Nation neighbors have recently opened a hotel and casino that would be a wonderful place for you to stay.

Chief KillsCrow and our Tribal Council continue to improve our existing facilities at our Bartlesville campus, making plans for a new wellness center and gymnasium for the health and wellbeing of our tribal members, other Native American tribes, and the community. Even more exciting are their plans to build a new cultural building which will provide much-needed space for our library, museum, historical archives, and all the activities we organize. As always, the care of our elders and children and the preservation of our language are paramount to this administration. In addition to the food pantry and beef production, food sustainability continues to develop with the planting of an orchard. Our tribe is actively improving our campus for the betterment of our people. The Tribal Domicile is eager to assist whenever called upon to make this happen. We are happy to respond to requests for funding projects for the benefit of the tribe whenever Chief KillsCrow and the Tribal Council call on us.

Agent Summit is just around the corner, taking place at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas April 15^th through April 18^th. We will be there for the twelfth consecutive year – we look forward to seeing you there! This year, we are the reinsurance symposium giveaway sponsor and will have several items to raffle off that you won’t want to miss! We will have another blanket from our company, Teton Trade Cloth by Lenape (https://www.tetontradecloth.com/). Chief KillsCrow and a member of the Tribal Council will accompany our domicile team to show their support.

As many of you know, December and the first few months are extremely busy for us – and we thank you for that. We hope your year-end was rewarding as well. Now, we look forward to 2024, continuing the standard of service that everyone has come to expect. We wish you a great 2024 as we promise to hear your concerns and continue to adapt to the ever-changing marketplace. As always, go to www.tribaldomicile.com to stay informed, and visit our shop, Lenape Reserve, at delawaretribe.org. Have a great “Sikònke!“  

Wanishi,
Allan R. Barnes
Domicile Commissioner
Delaware Tribe of Indians
abarnes@delawaretribe.org