President of Grand River Enterprises Steve Williams made a $250,000 donation on behalf of GRE to the Six Nations Language Commission on March 10. Co-ordinator of the Commission Karen Sandy said the donation helps with core costs, allowing more time and energy to be spent supporting the community.
The Commission is a non-profit organization that co-ordinates and supports language initiatives in the Six Nations Territory. Its mission is to co-ordinate and facilitate the revitalization of all Haudenosaunee languages in the territory.
“This gives us the wiggle room we need right now to start looking at other ways we can help our community,” said Sandy. “Not everyone can do the all-day immersion programs we offer so there are many people we are not reaching. With this donation, we can begin to consider mentorship and other programming to reach those who can’t commit to an all-day program.”
The board has a planning session set for April and the Commission also plans on creating a new position. Williams said GRE is glad to continue helping the Commission.
“GRE has made donations to the Commission before and it’s something we want to continue doing,” said Williams. “We appreciate the work they do in the community and want to help them out in any way we can.”
Sandy said the donation is awesome and thanked GRE on behalf of the Commission.
“With GRE’s help we can look at all the work we want to accomplish in the community a little bit more realistically right now. And we are very thankful for that,” she said.
