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AICHO Hosting April Concert to Expand Dabinoo’Igan Domestic Violence Shelter

MN Native News

If you’re looking to do some good while having fun in April, there’s a critical org looking for your help. Here’s MNN team lead Sam Choo with something worth putting on your schedule for the 6th.

The American Indian Community Housing Organization, or AICHO, is hosting a benefit concert and fundraiser at the NorShor Theatre in Duluth.

One of the headliners playing to raise money for AICHO’s fundraising concert is Annie Humphrey, who grew up on the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe reservation in northern Minnesota. Here’s a taste of what you might hear from her on the sixth.

That’s Annie Humphrey, and the title track from her latest album, “Eat What You Kill.”
She’s helping AICHO raise $25,000 at the “One Community, Many Voices… Stop The Silence” concert fundraiser. In total, the org hopes to raise $600,000 to expand its Dabinoo’Igan Domestic Violence Shelter.

Our friends at the Native Lights caught up with Humphrey, and asked her why AICHO’s work is so important to her.

“I think there are a lot of mothers and women out there who are just trying to eat and have shelter. And if you are concentrating on only eating and having shelter and feeding your kids, and that is your everyday concern. If that’s where you’re at, and I know what it’s like being there every day, then then the other stuff, the self-fulfillment, the dreams, you know, that that never gets thought about, because you’re constantly thinking about food and shelter and clothing,” said Humphrey.

Native Lights also connected with some of the staff involved with the Dabinoo’Igan Domestic Violence Shelter. Sasheen Goslin is the Indigenous Health Coordinator at AICHO. Goslin is Prairie Band Potawatomi, Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and Kikapoo Tribe citizen. She says Dabinoo’Igan provides hard to find services, particularly for Natives in Minnesota’s arrowhead…

“There’s not a lot of shelters out there. They’re full a lot of the time, and that says a lot about what we need to bring into this community. And that’s like a driving factor behind, not just the goals of Dabinoo’Igan or their mission, but moving forward, how are we going to address the issues around domestic violence? What can we do? What Dabinoo’Igan does is, [it] inserts our cultural values into their mission. And we’re the only domestic violence shelter that I know of in the area that is specifically working on something like that, which is pretty incredible, considering how big our Native population is in this area.”

You can join Goslin, Annie Humphrey, who will be sharing the stage with Keith Secola, Erik Koskinen and many others at Duluth’s NorShor Theatre for the “One Community, Many Voices… Stop the Silence” concert fundraiser. You can lock in tickets now, or buy your own limited edition Dabinoo’Igan concert t-shirt before the doors open April 6th.

Sam Choo reporting for Minnesota Native News

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