SEATTLE – Jenine Grey, program director of the Chief Seattle Club,
remembers the day a particular homeless woman first visited the club for
help.

The woman had been born on a reservation but was raised in a foster home by
a non-Native family. She married and had children, but then her husband was
killed. She moved to the city to find work but “hooked up with bad people”
and turned to drinking and drugs, said Grey, Tlingit.

“She spent a lot of years living that hard life, drinking and drugging. She
was homeless for a lot of years. She had no desire to get clean and sober.
Eventually, she had a friend who got clean and sober and that helped her to
get motivated.”

With help and encouragement from the Chief Seattle Club, the woman went
through treatment. “A lot of club members came and saw her graduate. It
made her proud,” Grey said. “Today, she is one of our best volunteers.”

The woman now has housing. She makes beaded items and gives them to the
club for fundraisers or to present as gifts. She is a spiritual leader and
leads in prayer and smudging.

“She reminds me of why we’re here,” Grey said.

It’s a story the Chief Seattle Club hopes to see repeated when it expands
its services into a new site in the city’s historic Pioneer Square
district.

The Chief Seattle Club is raising $5.3 million to redevelop the former
Monterey Hotel into a community service center for homeless American
Indians and Alaska Natives. The club currently provides services out of a
leased day center and an office.

Project architect is Johnpaul Jones, Cherokee/Choctaw, of Seattle, lead
designer of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

As with his other Indian country projects, Jones incorporates Native
culture, history and art into the Chief Seattle Club design. “It’s being
designed in the Northwest style,” said Margo Spellman, who is promoting the
fundraising campaign. “When a Native American walks in the door, he or she
will know they’re home.”

Work is slated to begin in October. The hotel will be gutted and fully
renovated. A private source will convert the top two floors into 11 lofts
for American Indian/Alaska Native artists.

During the day, club members will be able to visit the center for showers,
laundry and meals; use computers and telephones for job searches; get
transportation for hospital visits and emergencies; and get help accessing
health care services and substance abuse treatment. They will also be able
to get clothing, blankets and personal hygiene items.

Grey said the new center will also have a gallery to market arts and crafts
made by club members.

The only criteria for membership: be an American Indian or Alaska Native
and be sober when visiting the club.

The new center won’t provide overnight shelter because of a regulation in
Pioneer Square that there be no expansion of social services in the
historic district.

Ultimately, the club wants to develop some kind of housing. “We would like
to,” Grey said. “It wouldn’t be in [Pioneer Square]. And whether it would
be transitional, long term or shelter, I don’t know.”

The Chief Seattle Club was founded in 1970 by Rev. Raymond Talbott as a day
center for homeless American Indians and Alaska Natives. The mission of the
club is “to provide a sacred space to nurture, affirm and renew the spirit
of urban Native peoples.”

In 2004, the club served about 700 different people from tribes across
North America; 25 percent of club members are Alaska Native. An average of
85 – 125 people are served each day, 27 percent of whom are women. About
22,100 hot meals are served annually.

“For 35 years, Chief Seattle Club has been the only program dedicated
exclusively to assisting homeless and at-risk American Indians struggling
to survive on the streets of Seattle,” said Steve Trainer, president of the
club’s board of directors.

“The goal of our capital campaign is to take a historic old building in
Pioneer Square and transform it into a safe place where our services are
available in one location. So far, the outpouring of support has been
tremendous and we hope that others will step forward to help us meet our
goal.”

To date, the club has raised $4.4 million. Major donors include the Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation, Norcliffe Foundation, Paul G. Allen Family
Foundation, Nesholm Foundation, Kongsgaard-Goldman Foundation, South
Downtown Foundation, Seattle Foundation and the Medina Foundation.

Corporate support includes $20,000 from Washington Mutual. Private
contributions total $2.2 million, including gifts from board members. In
addition, donations have been made to the club’s operating fund by the
Kalispel, Lummi, Muckleshoot, Suquamish, Swinomish and Tulalip tribes.

Cecile Hanson, chairman of the Duwamish tribe and great-great-grandniece of
Chief Seattle, served on the Chief Seattle Club board of directors in the
1980s; her tribe gave permission for the club to use her ancestor’s name.

Hanson said that when the center is completed, it will be a longtime dream
come true. “I am happy for them, that they are doing this,” she said.

CAUSES OF HOMELESSNESS

Living on the streets of Washington’s largest city is tough. In 2003, 13
homeless American Indians died from exposure or from violence. The new
community center will be dedicated to those lost on the streets.

Grey said most homeless people she meets are “camping out,” or staying in a
group, on the streets; others stay in a shelter or are staying temporarily
in a low-cost motel.

Of the people served each day, 60 percent are camping out. “Rarely do I
hear of someone camping out alone,” Grey said.

The reasons for homelessness are many. Some wound up in Seattle looking for
work. Others suffer depression from a personal trauma, such as the death of
a loved one or separation from their families.

Being raised in foster homes, sent to boarding schools or otherwise being
displaced are common causes of the substance abuse that lead to the
streets, Grey said.

Although American Indians and Alaska Natives are traditionally communal
peoples, two-thirds now live in urban areas, not on reservations or tribal
land.

And in Seattle, the traditional home of the Duwamish people, only 1 percent
of the population – some 5,659 people – is full-blooded American Indian or
Alaska Native. A total of 10,417 Seattle residents claim mixed American
Indian or Alaska Native ancestry. Seattle’s total population is 563,374.

“Anytime people have been displaced from their homes, they are going to
suffer a trauma there,” Grey said. “Everything around you is a reminder of
your people. It’s where you are from. I’m always intrigued when I meet
someone who is Duwamish or Suquamish, because we are on their land.”

ABOUT THE CHIEF SEATTLE CLUB

Chief Seattle Club is a nonprofit organization run by a 13-member board of
directors. It seeks no government funds. The annual budget is $285,000 and
is composed of contributions from individuals, charitable foundations,
corporations, religious communities and tribes.

The Chief Seattle Club has 10 staff members; eight are American Indian or
Alaska Native.

At one time, five staff members were homeless and struggling to stay sober.
Today they serve as role models for others. In addition, about 40 Native
and non-Native volunteers assist each week.

Contributions to the Chief Seattle Club Capital Campaign may be mailed to
419 Occidental Ave. South, Suite 609, Seattle, WA 98104. Call Grey at (206)
292-6214 or visit www.chiefseattleclub.org.

– Richard Walker is a correspondent reporting from San Juan Island, Wash.
Contact him at irishmex2000@yahoo.com.