The Northern Arapaho tribe in Wyoming is getting a financial boost from Longmont for its efforts to fight the COVID-19 spread on its reservation.
Vaccinations for the virus are now being administered among the tribe, thanks in part to city council earlier this month unanimously voting to send $5,000 to the Northern Arapaho to help in the fight against COVID-19. The money is coming from the council’s contingency fund which currently sits at $62,000.
City Councilwoman Polly Christensen told council she wanted the funds to go to medical efforts to contain the virus.
“We want to really help the nation during the COVID crisis,” Chrisentensen said.
At least $3,200 in proceeds from a recent Longmont Sister Cities toy drive also is going toward COVID-19 relief efforts for the Northern Arapaho, Janice Rebhan, president of the Longmont Sister Cities Association, said in an email.
Longmont is piecing together a new sister city relationship with the Northern Arapaho that could generate student exchanges and a sweat lodge at Sandstone Ranch. Members of the Northern Arapaho Business Council met with city council members in October to discuss details of a sister-city bond.
The two sides talked about the logistics of a sweat lodge at Sandstone Ranch along with a storytelling project involving the tribe’s elders, Rebhand said in her email. Longmont and the tribe also may apply for a grant from the Mellon Foundation to fund monuments for underrepresented people, Rebhan said.
“There are a lot of commonalities between our two communities and there are some ideas we want to explore in Longmont,” Rebhan told the Leader in October.
The Northern Arapaho at one time occupied an area that included Longmont. There are cultural sites in and around Longmont that are considered important to the tribe, Rebhan said in October.
A Longmont delegation toured the 2.2 million-acre Northern Arapaho reservation for three days in 2018. The reservation is located between the Wind River Range and Owl Creek Mountains and encompasses the city of Riverton, Wyoming, according to the tribe’s website.
A formal sister city signing was supposed to happen in April in Longmont but COVID-19 travel restrictions forced both groups to cancel the ceremony, Rebhan said.
COVID-19 forced the Northern Arapaho Business Council to declare a state of emergency in March, prompting schools and public establishments to close, according to the news site IndianZ.
Business Council President Lee Spoonhunter in November tested positive for COVID-19, according to Wyoming Public Media.
Earlier this month, 150 Pfizer vaccines were delivered to Wind River Family and Community Health Care. Council elder George Moss was among the first of the Northern Arapaho to get the shot and he noted the toll the virus had taken on the tribe.
“Today, I was the first elder to get the vaccine, and I prayed for this day to come,” Moss said in the Northern Arapaho News Letter. “It’s been hard to see my Arapaho people hurt like this; they, too, will have the opportunity to get this vaccine. This COVID has broken our lives, and so I did this for you, my Arapaho people.”
