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As we head into 2010, we at the American Indian College Fund would like to thank you for your support over the past 12 months and your commitment to creating new beginnings for American Indian in the new year ahead.

It’s not too late! You can still make a tax-deductible gift to the American Indian College Fund by 12/31/09. The Fund is helping change lives, one person at a time, in Indian Country by helping students achieve a college education.

The U.S. government has settled a long-running lawsuit over royalties owed to American Indians. The Interior Department will distribute $1.4 billion to more than 300,000 tribe members to compensate them for historical accounting claims, and to resolve future claims. The department also will spend $2 billion to buy back and consolidate tribal land lost by previous generations.

It’s always hard to find the perfect gift for someone who has everything. One donor shared that instead of purchasing another gift for her mother, a retired registered nurse, who claimed she didn’t need any more “stuff,” she decided to donate money for a nursing scholarship to the American Indian College Fund in her mother’s name.

November is Native Heritage Month. Thanksgiving is often referred to as a time when Indian people came together with the Pilgrims, however, it was commonplace among Indian nations and communities before the Pilgrims arrived. It is possible that the Pilgrims’ celebration coincided with an Indian second harvest known as “Indian Summer,” which usually occurs during a period of warmth after a frost. A thanksgiving ceremony usually followed.

This Wednesday marks our 20th anniversary Flame of Hope Gala. We are thrilled to be celebrating our 20 years in a beautiful venue with top-notch entertainment, our supporters, our tribal college leaders, and our students, and hope that our readers will be joining us at the Seward Ballroom of the Colorado Center for the Performing Arts at 6 p.m. on October 28.

It’s less than a week away, and we hope to see you there. The Empress of Soul, Ms. Gladys Knight, will be performing, and we will be joined by people from across the nation that support American Indian education.

My name is Jennifer DeVerney and I work at Herzing University as an Intern and Employer Outreach Specialist with the Career Services Department. I am a proud member of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians located from Manistee, Michigan. I have worked really hard to get to where I am today, and have been blessed to hold a career in education where I help change people’s lives on a daily basis regardless of their race.

American Indian College Fund President and CEO Richard B. Williams and Casey Lozar, Director of Corporate and Tribal Relations, will appear on Colorado and Company on Channel 9, KUSA-TV in Denver on Thursday, September 24, from 10-11 a.m.

We will be running a series of guest blogs about what it means to “Think Indian” in today’s world. This week we will run the first of our guest blogs. “Thinking Indian” is not just a slogan or idea put out by the American Indian College Fund. “Thinking Indian” is how people in the Native community live their lives and strike the balance between their lives as Indian people and mainstream society in college, in family life, and in the workplace.