The first of several planning meetings for the newly formed American Indian Center of the Heartland will take place at 4:00 p.m. Saturday November 15, 2003. The meeting will be held at 811-A Broadway in Cape Girardeau Missouri in the former American Legion building. The meeting is open to all interested people.

Glinda Ladd Seabaugh, Pitter founder and president of the Indian center has for many years felt a need in our region for such a center. As a people our path has been a difficult one, said Pitter. Many American Indian families migrated to this area over a long period of time. Our families have build communities, intermarried and raised families together for many generations. Our ancestors had to hide their identities so well that most of their descendants now living could not join a federally recognized tribe if they wanted to. And yet we share so much more than a piece of paper that proves we are American Indians. These last seven years has proven that our generation has rekindled the Native American spirit of our ancestors. Many of us were raised in a time that our elders told us yes your Indian...but dont tell anyone. Now we are in a time that we can proudly proclaim our heritage and be afraid no more.

It is time for some true unity, harmony and balance to be brought to our people and our region. For years our family and others in our Indian community have seen a need for an Indian center in our region. There is none to my knowledge between St.Louis and Memphis and yet there is a strong and vibrant Indian community here. In this region over the years we have met many Cherokee, Shawnee, Osage, Choctaw, Lakota, Omaha and many others, yet there is no center where all can feel welcome to come, socialize and be a part of a non political American Indian oriented organization. One that promotes Indian cultures Indian arts and crafts and provides real services to the American Indian community. A place to gather together in friendship no matter what your American Indian blood line or lack of it. A place to share with others of like interests, a place of refuge. An Indian center. The Great Spirit has blessed us with a facility that can and will serve the Indian community for generations to come in this region. We are both honored and proud to dedicate this building to serve the American Indian people of the Heartland of America. We do this in memory of all of our American Indian ancestors that have fought the good fight of survival so that we...their descendents, can live on this land that they have left us.

Our plans are to take this wonderful facility the creator gave us, our experiences, and a few good friends and start an American Indian center in our homeland. The Heartland of America. This center will be operated as a non-for-profit community service, cultural & educational organization serving counties in S.E. Missouri, Southern Illinois, N.E. Arkansas, Western Kentucky and Tennessee.

The center will be funded entirely through fundraisers, grants and donations. The center will appreciate the support it will receive and will in turn provide services to the American Indian community. We are seeking donations at this time to help get started. The center will publish a newsletter and web site with the intent of keeping our readers informed of the latest information available to us concerning American Indian issues. It will be provided as a way of reflecting the news, not as an opinion. The center will be open to all interested people and will have monthly meetings. Committees will be formed and volunteers are needed. This center will not be a tribe and there will be no chiefs. It will be an Indian center, nothing more and nothing less.

It is hoped by us that in the years to come the center will grow with the help of many new friends and supporters. We would like to have many activities going on including speakers, arts and crafts and some day an annual pow-wow. We would like to have an outreach program to schools, scouts, churches, veterans, Elders and others in our communities in the five-state area.

Watch our web site AICHL.org, and The Southeast Missourian Newspaper and the Tip Off magazine for future developments concerning the American Indian Center of the Heartland. For more information write or call us at 811 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO 63701 (573)334-4485.