B I G T E E P E E F E D E R A T I O N S P E C I A L P O I N T S O F I N T E R E S T : Winter Fun New website Smoke Signals V O L U M E 1, I S S U E 1 Winter Fun I S S U E 6 F E B U A R Y I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E : Daddy Daughter Dance 2 Polar Bear 2 Flag Football Strong Kids 2 Carnival The Winter campout was a lot of fun. We had 150 people that took part in the trip. There were a wide variety of activities that the kids took part in. For many kids, it was their first time riding a horse or target shooting with a rifle. There was so much to do candlemaking, visiting the nature center, archery, rock climbing, sledding down the Black hole slides, playing in the snow, hiking, Saturday night songs and skits and more. We made a lot of memories over the weekend, some of which you can see photos of on the Big Teepee Facebook page. We did have a good amount snow on Saturday which made the campout even more fun! Indoor Archery at Camp Tecumseh Polly already reserved the Camp Tecumseh River Village for next year. Mark your calendars for next year s Snow Moon campout January 16-18, 2015! It is a weekend not to be missed. If you aren t sure if its for you, ask anyone who went Camp Tecumseh is an amazing place to visit! The weekend after the camping trip we had our Late Night swim event at Kroehler. It was a cold night but more than 30 of us braved the weather. We had the Y to ourselves and had a great time swimming, snacking and playing a friendly game of dodgeball! Sioux Tribe 3 volunteer Recruiting 4 Have you visited the new website? Swim Meetings Tribe research 4 4 With the help of our marketing team, we have been working hard to get our new website up and running. The wait is over! You can visit our new website at www.ymcachicago.org/bigtp Our current event information, registration forms, newsletters, registration links and more can be accessed here. We are still working to get bigtp.org to forward to the new site. Please note the new site and use this. Any suggestions or ideas for information that we can add to the site are welcome. Please let us know!
P A G E 2 Daddy Daughter Dance The dance takes place on Saturday February 8th from 7-9pm. We will be dancing the night away at Kroehler YMCA. There will be snacks, a DJ and a photographer. In the past, some tribes have donated sweets as well; feel free to do that as a tribe if you want. Some tribes have a tradition of going out for dinner as a group before the dance. A nice idea to enhance date night with your daughter! Dads typically wear a suit or shirt and tie while girls normally wear a dress for this event. The cost is $15 per person. Please signup online by 2/6. Polar Bear Flag Football / Dodgeball Come join us for our inaugural Polar Bear Flag Football/Dodgeball event! This will be a friendly game of flag football and/or dodgeball on February 23rd at 1pm. Put on your winter gear and meet us behind the Kroehler YMCA at Central Park. We'll start the fun off with some flag football outside if weather permits. As we start getting cold, we'll move indoors and play some dodgeball at Kroehler. This is a free event, but please register online so we can get an idea of how many players we will have. Strong Kids Carnival The 7th Annual Strong Kids Carnival takes place March 7th 6-8pm and is open to the public. We will have games, prizes and treats for kids of all ages. Games & activities will include face painting, lollipop tree, pencil draw, duck pond, a bounce house, concessions and more. It is free to come to the carnival. Game tickets may be purchased at the door. All ticket sales are donated to our annual campaign which ensures no one is turned away from the Y due to an inability to pay. Please register online so we can estimate how many will be attending. We do need some volunteers to run the games and concessions. This would be a great event for tribes to do together. Please contact Polly if your tribe (or maybe just you) would like to help us make this event a success. In addition to helping with the games and concessions, we also plan to promote Adventure Guides as part of this. We are still working out the details, but some volunteers may be helping with that too.
P A G E 3 Sioux Tribe Helping the Community! The Sioux tribe had the privilege of providing Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless this past Thanksgiving holiday. The Sioux tribe served dinner, made lunches, made beds, and donated clothing to 50 homeless guests from DuPage PADS at the United Community Methodist Church located in downtown Naperville. The Sioux princesses and guides also provided coloring books and candy to the kids who were guests of PADS. This was the third-year-in-a row that the Sioux had this incredible opportunity to serve the homeless in our area. It s an eye-opening experience for both the fathers and the kids to see homelessness up close in our own town. The photograph below is of the Sioux Tribe at PADS right before serving dinner to the guests. Your tribe may want to consider serving dinner to PADS guests this winter or spring. The PADS season runs from September through May and is held at multiple church locations throughout DuPage County. DuPage PADS is a 501(c) (3) charitable organization located at 601 West Liberty Street, Wheaton, Illinois 60187. Their phone number is (630) 682-3846.
P A G E 4 Mid Year Recruiting We want to continue to see this program grow. If you know someone that you think might be interested in being part of Guides/Princess, invite them to your next meeting or refer them to Polly to help find a tribe near them. Any new families that join the program from now until the summer will have reduced membership dues. Swim Meetings Looking for a fun idea for a tribe meeting or event? You can rent out the Kroehler pool for your tribe to use. The shallow warm water training pool is available most Saturday & Sunday afternoons for rental. You will have 1 hour in the pool and 30 minutes in our party room (teen zone) if you would like to have a short meeting or bring your own snacks. A lifeguard will be on duty during your rental and flotation devices are available as needed. The cost is $20 for Honor Tribes and $40 for non-honor tribes. Please contact Polly for available dates and times. Remember, if your tribe is represented at Longhouse meetings you may win a free pool party for your tribe. Learn about your tribe Want to learn some interesting facts and history about your tribe. Here is a site that is aimed towards kids who want to learn about Native American culture. Scroll down and you can click the link for your tribe. http://www.native-languages.org/ kids.htm
www.ymcachicago.org/bigtp Big Teepee Federation Kroehler Family YMCA 34 S. Washington Naperville, IL 60540 630-420-6270 Polly Rhodes prhodes@ymcachicago.org Ed Mueller Smoke Signaler Ed-mueller@hotmail.com Click here for the Big Teepee Federation Site Like us on Facebook Post pictures on Facebook Share ideas on Facebook Upcoming Events February 6th, Longhouse Meeting (Fry)@7:30pm February 8th, Daddy Daughter Dance (Kroehler) 7-9 pm February 23rd, Polar Bear Flag Football/Dodgeball @1pm March 6th, Longhouse Meeting (Kroehler)@7:30pm March 7th, Strong Kids Carnival (Kroehler) 6-8 pm March 28th, Dozin with the Dinos (Field Museum Overnight)