The Ninth Osage Nation Congress approved a $56,600 emergency appropriation of federal funding for unexpected Food Distribution costs incurred this summer.
On Sept. 10, Congress passed bill ONCA 24-90 (sponsored by Congresswoman Alice Goodfox) with the money going toward costs for locally processed meat as the Nation’s Food Distribution Program reached out to Butcher House Meats for assistance due to a disruption in food delivery truck stops. The bill received initial consideration with the Congressional Government Operations Committee on Sept. 6 during the Tzi Sho Session.
Goodfox, also the committee’s chair, said the bill’s matter is emergency-related and she intended to fast-track the bill for a vote after the meeting. She invited Secretary of Social Services Teresa Bledsoe and Food Distribution Director Fidelis “Fi” Davis to discuss the bill with the committee.
Bledsoe said, “There was a change in the trucking vendor in which the vendor was responsible for the delivery for all Food Distribution programs through the U.S. Prior to March, I believe, (the new vendor) did not have that full-blown responsibility. So, what has happened is they basically got behind, got backlogged and in July we didn’t receive our food truck (delivery) for Food Distribution.”
“It’s a good thing we did have food items in the warehouse to be able to allow us to continue to serve our constituents, however, there was a time when we ran out of ground beef and other items,” Bledsoe said. “We worked with the funding agency, which is USDA and food nutrition programs, and they came up with a solution for all tribes. And that was to provide an opportunity for emergency funding to allow them to purchase food items that they’re currently out of.”
According to the Nation’s website: “The (ON) Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (ONFDPIR) provides nutritious food packages to low-income Native American households living on the Osage Nation reservation. The program is administered at the Federal level by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). USDA purchases and ships food products to the Osage Nation FDP based on orders from a list of available foods online. The ONFDP store and distribute the food, determine applicant eligibility, and provide nutrition education to recipients.”
“We applied for that emergency funding, we received it and we’re looking at addressing some of the shortages that we’ve had,” Bledsoe said. “We were able to utilize the Butcher House Meats to assist us with our hamburger shortage that we had and … that was just a wonderful opportunity to utilize Butcher House. Their full-intended use was for the Nation to provide food sources to our people.”
After the program ran out of meat, Davis said his program reached out to Butcher House and Secretary of Natural Resources Dr. Jann Hayman for assistance “so we went and got frozen ground beef from Butcher House to help us supply our clients … but we had other meat items that we could issue to them. We never have had a stoppage in our fresh produce program, so we had fresh produce, which could alleviate the fact that we were low on some of the other products like canned tomatoes.”
Davis noted the Osage Nation has one of the smaller food programs in the country “and we got a (food) order in August, so we, being a small program, really didn’t completely run out like other programs that were completely out of food … Butcher House has supplied us with frozen ground beef throughout this emergency and we’re going to use these funds to pay back Butcher House for (the meat supplied).”
Davis added his program will continue to order frozen ground beef to supplement clients who did not receive a full food package in August. For the disruption, Davis said a food delivery was expected on Aug. 2, but the truck did not arrive until Aug. 22.
In comparison with other U.S. tribal nations with larger populations, Davis noted those, including the Navajo and Chickasaw, serve up to 10,000 people and the Osage Nation Food Distribution Program serves 300-400 constituents.
The committee passed the bill onto the 12-member Congress with a “do pass” recommendation. ONCA 24-90 passed with a 9-0 vote with absences from Congress members Billy Keene, Brandy Lemon and Second Speaker Otto Hamilton that day. The bill was the first legislative item to be passed during the 2024 Tzi Sho Session and will be sent to Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear for signature to take effect.
For more information on the ON Food Distribution Program, visit: https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/services/food-distribution-program
