LP_121318

4 | December 13, 2018 | The Lockport Legend news
lockportlegend.com
Midwest SOARRING invites community to learn about Native Americans
Jacquelyn Schlabach
Assistant Editor
Only 1.3 percent of people
in the United States are
American Indian or Alaska
Native, according to the
U.S. Census Bureau website.
And although these
people first settled in America
at least 14,000 years
ago, their culture provides
the foundation for the United
States.
Lockport’s own Midwest
SOARRING Foundation is
inviting community members
to its holiday open
house to learn more about
the Native American culture,
visit with members of
the organization, and peruse
handmade Native American
items and crafts from
around the country from 11
a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Dec.
15, at 133 W. 13th St. in
Lockport.
“We talk about ourselves
as a nation of immigrants,
but that isn’t entirely true,”
said Dave Nardin, the special
projects manager at
Midwest SOARRING.
“That’s true with respect to
Europeans or Africans or
Asians, whose history only
goes back the thinnest sliver
of our country’s history,
no farther back than about
1500. But it’s important to
understand that there was a
whole civilization that existed
here for thousands and
thousands of years.”
According to Midwest
SOARRING’s website,
their mission is to “work
toward repatriation, protect
sacred sites, educate the
public and promote community
building among all
people regarding indigenous
lifeways.” The organization
stands for Save
Our Ancestor’s Remains
“When a Native American person walks through a
forest, they see it as themselves being surrounded by
gifts and I find that a wonderful and refreshing way
to look at things.”
Dave Nardin — Midwest SOARRING special projects manager
& Resources Indigeneous
Network Group. Midwest
SOARRING tries to do at
least one event a month for
the public, with a Native
American drummer recently
coming to visit Lockport in
November.
There are 50 active members
of the organization,
some with Native American
ancestry, and others who
just have an appreciation for
and awareness of the culture
and values, and want to
share them, Nardin said.
“A couple things really
impressed me [about Native
Americans], first of all, the
very easy way in with Native
American people are
spiritual,” Nardin said. “I
was raised in a Christian
home, and I certainly consider
myself a Christian,
I try to live by Christian
ways, but there’s always a
certain awkwardness about
praying, for example, with
other people around unless
they belong to your church.
That’s not the same way
with Native Americans,
they’re very, very comfortable
talking about spiritual
things in a very prayerful
and respectful kind of way.”
He continued by noting
that Native Americans also
have a “wonderfully comfortable
relationship” with
the world around them.
“When a Native American
person walks through a
forest, they see it as themselves
being surrounded by
gifts, and I find that a wonderful
and refreshing way
to look at things,” Nardin
added.
Nardin has been a member
of Midwest SOAR-
RING for four years and
said he does as much as he
can to spread appreciation
of Native American culture.
“I’m a passionate lover
of history and when I was
young, my father made it a
point of taking me places,
forest preserves and local
areas, and telling me some
stories about the people
who used to live here that
settled here,” he said.
Nardin along with other
members of the organization
are to be at the annual
holiday open house that will
feature not only educational
presentations but items for
sale. For more information
about the event and Midwest
SOARRING, visit
www.midwestsoarring.org.
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