Brothers Ruben Hoppe, left, and Mason Hoppe sew skins onto their drum frames.
Family members, clockwise from left, Darlene Reyes, Anita Reyes, Bennetta Charles, Deetra Reyes, Emelene Charles, DeAndra Reyes and Jose Reyes show off the drums they made for their family dance group, Taanta Kwaan, after the drum-making class. The family all are directly related to Alicia Roberts, the namesake of the SEARHC Alicia Roberts Medical Center in Klawock.
Josh Hayes sews a skin onto his drum frames during the drum-making class sponsored March 22-26 by the Klawock Tribal Youth Program.
Story last updated at 4/7/2010 - 3:14 pm
KLAWOCK - Klawock youth and adults completed 28 drums during spring break March 22-26 as part of the Klawock Tribal Youth Program, which is sponsored by the Klawock Cooperative Association and the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) Behavioral Health Prevention Program.
Former SEARHC Alicia Roberts Medical Center Behavioral Health Clinician Don Filmore taught the class, while SEARHC Tribal Youth Prevention Specialist Brenda Leask helped organize the materials. There were several other volunteers involved - Doug Hayes, Angela Hoppe, Rachel Nickerson, Tom Leask and Jess Isaacs.
"This was a huge endeavor, but the payoff of seeing the smiling faces on the youth and adults was worth it," Brenda Leask said. "There are many people in our community who Native dance but have no drums, and they end up borrowing drums from relatives and friends. I can only hope there are more opportunities for classes such as this to bring our community members together in a healthy and happy way, because everyone should have their own drum. A big thank you to all that participated in making this a successful class!"
For more information about the Klawock Tribal Youth Program, contact Brenda Leask at 755-4983 (office) or 965-4444 (cell).
