The American Indian Center of Springfield: ‘We help everyone. We don’t turn away people.”

Kay Gibson and Valerie Badhorse are the co-chairs of the American Indian Center of Springfield. Kay’s tribe is Cherokee and Valerie’s tribe is the Bois Forte Band of the Minnesota Chippewa.

They spoke a little about why they started the center in the first place, and about how it provides cultural classes, financial training and more to Native Americans in the area – regardless of tribal membership.

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Vincent Aragon was one of the cofounders of original Indian Center of Springfield who passed away earlier this year at the age of 93. Kay Gibson said he was an incredible support to them and sold them the original charter for just $25, so they could get the new center going. “We met in homes, and we met in parks, and we met in restaurants, just having meetings — what we wanted to do, what our vision was, what our goals were,” Gibson said.

Valerie Badhorse: So, Missouri is considered a non-Indian state. We don’t have, collectively, tribes or Indian Health Services that are here in Missouri for Native people.

So, what we considered with the American Indian Center is an urban Indian Center.

The American Indian Center here deals with both Native community and non-Native community. We do not require you to have a card to come in and get assistance with us or to be a part of us.

We want anybody that is interested in being a part of our Native community to come in and be a part of us.

If you want to learn, we’re more than welcome to have you here, so that we can teach you.

Kay Gibson: So, Val and I – because we’ve been in the Indian community for so long, we know in a lot of Indian centers, you are required to be registered with your tribe. You’re required. They won’t help you if you’re not.

So, we know – so many people that we know are Indian or Native, but yet, because they’re not carded, they’re not registered, they didn’t get help.

So, that was one of the things that when we started the center, that we said, “We are going to help all the native people, and we invite everyone.” We invite the entire public.

If you want to come and dance with us, if you want to come and make ribbon skirts or ribbon shirts or learn to bead, we welcome them, you know?

And that has – I mean, we’ve probably met more people that are registered Natives that have lived in this community for years than we ever knew before.

“We help everyone. I mean, we don’t turn away people.”

Kay Gibson

People are walking up going, “Hey, I’m Ottawa,” or “I’m Choctaw,” or I’m “Cherokee,” or whatever, and so, it’s made a huge difference.

I mean — people want to learn.

Like for myself: Valerie grew up where she went to powwows all the time. I grew up going to powwow once a year, and my daddy’s telling me that I was a “pretty little Indian girl.”

Didn’t really teach culture.

Where Valerie grew up learning the culture.

So, to me, it’s as big a chance for me to learn the culture as it is some of these other folks that that are looking and needing.

And then, we have people that come in who, you know, “My grandmother was such and such, my grandfather was such and such. I have all the paperwork. I want to become registered,” you know, so we try to help them, too.

But we help everyone. I mean, we don’t turn away people.

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