Walking Hand in Hand

Walking hand-in-hand in a good way

As we recognize and celebrate both National Indigenous History Month and, next week, National Indigenous Peoples Day, we want to thank you for joining us on a different type of philanthropic journey—one that is firmly rooted in our snuw’uy'ulh - Coast Salish values and teachings we learn from our loved ones and Elders. Over the next few months I’ll share more about these values and teachings, particularly in relation to Indigenous-led philanthropy.

To begin I wanted to share more about the teachings of Indigenous gift-giving which I first learned about from my grandparents. They taught me how gratitude extends to the tradition of gift-giving which is intended to balance relationships and demonstrate respect for our mutual existence. The tradition is not an abstract phenomenon, but one that involves the mind, body and spirit. Gifting is less about the material aspect of the gift, but rather the reciprocal responsibility embedded in the gifting process—to enact our commitment to our sacred laws and communities

We focus on walking together to support our communities—with Youth at the centre—to co-build pathways to a future of economic and social prosperity. Thanks to our community of donors, our work is already having an impact.

Sharon Hobenshield, Executive Director
Kw’umut Lelum Foundation

“Our society’s dominant social, economic and political systems typically give support by setting the priorities and then offering funding envelopes to meet those priorities. Indigenous Peoples in this country can sometimes not even make small decisions without government approval and funding. I support Kw’umut Lelum Foundation because of the way it walks ‘hand-in-hand’ with local communities and individuals by letting them set the priorities.” Lyn Makepeace, monthly donor