The Santa Rosa County Creek Indian Tribe put on its annual Christmas dinner Friday night at the Community Center Providence Chapel in Pace three weeks after the 24th annual SRC Creek Indian Pow Wow celebration.
Vice Chief Lloyd “Eagle Heart” Hinote said, “We have pulled back together descendents of lost civilizations, teaching it at schools and holding special events. We are building hopefully every day and teaching the true history.” However, he said none of this would be possible for the Creek Indian Tribe if they had not become a 501c3.
The most recent benefit of the tribe being a nonprofit organization was the Impact 100 award in the amount of $102,500. According to Hinote, the money will go toward infrastructure for another major accomplishment of the Tribe, securing 92.3 acres of property, including almost a half mile of Pond Creek, on Willard Norris Road just west of Oser Road. A tribal update in the 24th Annual Pow Wow Celebration booklet said, “The location became our Tribal Grounds and to the best of our knowledge, this was the first land owned by a Native American Tribe in this area for over 200 years. It is our plan to construct an education building, a Native American Library, a Native American Museum, and other creations to be used in teaching the history and heritage of Native American People.” Hinote also said the land will act as a wildlife refuge where animal rescue work may be accomplished. He added, “We are trying to, within our lifetime, get a place up to bring out the history of Native American culture out here,” a significant goal as Chief Tom Nichols and Hinote are in their 60s and 70s respectively.
Hinote said, “If somebody gave us $100, we could only use half,” if they were not a nonprofit organization. At the time of speaking, he also said he had just finished the yearly application for a solicitor’s license, necessary to solicit and accept contributions.
While various nonprofits are organized different ways, Hinote said the Creek Tribe has no paid employees and turns all funds into services and teaching the public. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Gift Givers Guide bears this out, showing 100 percent of its expenses going into program services.
According to Hinote, the SRC Creek Indian Tribe does not require a certain blood quantum, and so is not a federally recognized tribe and does not receive federal benefits. The tribe has had very good people help donate time, materials, and money, Hinote said. As an example, he discussed traveling as far as Mobile for various events. He said none of the members receive gas or food money. He said, “They do it because they have pride in what they do.”
Up until recent years, Hinote said being a Native American wasn’t considered a good thing. “It was a carryover from the 1800s,” he said. The Indian Removal Act in the 1830s sent millions of Native Americans from the southeast out west or to their deaths. The Pow Wow booklet’s history section says, “A few survivors of our area escaped and hid among the sympathetic whites.” Hinote said, “The language, history, highly developed government, art, and dance were all but destroyed. An entire civilization was almost completely lost.”
In 1996, Hinote said, the Creek Tribe reorganized and invited descendents of all Native Americans to join making the newly reorganized Creeks intertribal. “We attempted to court Creek people as well as other descendents to belong to something,” he said.
The Santa Rosa County Creek Indian Tribe meets on the fourth Monday of each month at the Pace Community Center on Chumuckla Hwy just north of Five Points. Tribe rolls are also open. Contact Gail Allred at 675-1545 for details.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Santa Rosa County Creek Indian Tribe educates on a lost civilization