Herring Pond Wampanoag Awarded $156,000 Project Grant for Land Stewardship and Youth Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) Education Program!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe of Plymouth receives grant from Sheehan Family Companies for land stewardship and youth ecological knowledge education

Plymouth, MA –   Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe of Plymouth, Massachusetts was recently awarded a $156,000 grant from the Sheehan Family Companies of Kingston, Massachusetts. The three-year grant will help further Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe’s mission to preserve, promote, and protect the cultural, spiritual and economic well-being of its tribal members, educate youth, and promote awareness among the public about tribal history and rights.

“The Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe is deeply grateful to the Sheehan Family Companies for their generosity and support,” says Melissa (Harding) Ferretti, Chairwoman of the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe, “This grant is crucial to our continuing efforts to achieve our goals with regard to the education of our youth and the preservation of our tribal homeland.  We are thrilled and honored to partner with an organization that appreciates and recognizes the important contributions of tribal nations to our society today.“

The multi-year grant will help build The Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe build organizational capacity for a Herring Pond Wampanoag Land Stewardship and Youth Education Program and establish a cultural, environmental, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) education program—particularly for youth.  The cornerstone principles of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) include respect, reciprocity, and responsibility, which are essential to relationships among human communities and between humans and the natural world. The grant will also help preserve tribal community-based knowledge of the land and its ecologically significant areas; promote tribal values, especially concerning the cultural, historical, ecological and spiritual significance of the land, water, and wildlife in the region; and create opportunities for collaborations with other environmental and cultural organizations with related goals of land stewardship, conservation, and youth education.

“Sheehan Family Companies is glad to support the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe, as the organization understands well the need to preserve and protect the region’s land and resources.” says, Paul Bussiere, CEO of Sheehan Family Companies, “We hope this financial support will elevate the cultural heritage and help secure land rights for the Wampanoag Tribe, a community at the heart of Plymouth and Southeastern Massachusetts.”

Sheehan Family Companies, a wholesale distribution network of Anheuser-Busch InBev, craft beer, and liquor, was founded in North Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1898.  Now based in Kingston, MA, the family-owned business is committed to furthering a long and multi-generational tradition of charitable giving.

The Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe currently operates in the town of Plymouth as a non-profit 501(c)(3) and is a registered Public Charity in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Wampanoag homelands range from the Plymouth (Plimouth Colony) areas to the upper parts of Cape Cod (Bourne, Sandwich, and Plymouth). Present in this region for thousands of years, the Tribe has been referred to by many names (Patuxet, Pondville, Manomet, Bournedale, Comassakumkanit and The Praying Indians) but is presently known as the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe. 

Sheehan Family Companies aim to make a difference with its philanthropy by supporting nonprofit organizations working to protect the environment through conservation and water protection and improve education for underserved segments of the population. From its base in Kingston, the company has expanded to include operating affiliates in 13 states. Sheehan Family Companies focuses on giving in geographic areas where it does business. The recent grant to the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe – focused on land stewardship and youth education in the region where the Company was founded – is strongly aligned with companies giving priorities.

The three-year grant will help to establish a strong partnership between Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe and Sheehan Family Companies and will support the Wampanoag Tribe’s long-term vision of tribal sovereignty and self-determination.

For more information on the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe and the valuable work the organizations does, visit https://www.herringpondtribe.org

For more information about Sheehan Family Companies, please visit https://www.sheehanfamilycompanies.com/