Community Giving, All Year Long – Fancywork Yarn Shop

A term we come back to over and over again is “community.” From our social gatherings and knitalongs, to classes and yarnbombings, we hear from our customers that what they love most about Fancywork Yarn Shop are the opportunities to gather and make. Our fiber arts community is strong because it is inclusive, diverse, peaceful, loving, secure, safe and generous.

Join us in extending that generosity to those in need in our community through our year-round Community Giving Program benefitting Warm Springs Community Action Team (WSCAT), a local, independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to grassroots economic and social change on the Warm Springs Reservation.

Investing in People

Let’s work together to lend a hand up to our neighbors on the Warm Springs Reservation, a vibrant community of over 5,000 Warm Springs, Wasco and Northern Paiute tribal members. WSCAT works with Warm Springs community members to lay the foundation for economic change by removing barriers and providing education, empowering each individual to envision a more positive future for themselves. Individuals are given the tools necessary to start or expand a business, buy a new home or car, or get a college or vocational degree. WSCAT offers programs in asset building, financial education, and small business promotion to drive personal development and help strengthen the Warm Springs community.

To date, we’ve raised over $5,000 for Warm Spring Community Action Team. Let’s keep the good will going!

Round up or add any additional amount at checkout to support the greatest resources of the Warm Springs community – its people, when you shop online at fancywork.com. We’ll deliver 100% of those funds directly to WSCAT.

A note from Executive Director, Chris Watson

On behalf of WSCAT’s staff, board, and members of the Warm Springs tribal community, I would like to thank you for your generosity. Fancywork has been a longtime friend of our organization, and your ongoing support continues to mean a lot to us!

In 2022, WSCAT has served over 800 Warm Springs community members, providing IDA matched savings accounts; youth programming (workforce training, college trips, arts, film, and business education, first aid, and more!); financial skills, small business, and home ownership courses, coaching, and counseling. We have built a successful workforce development program (which provided paid internships to 25 community members), begun a food sovereignty program aimed at improving healthy food access on the reservation, helped develop a new independent arts nonprofit called Tananáwit, and worked with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs to build a new skatepark for Warm Springs youth. We also provided free tax filing services for over 300 community members.

Perhaps the highlight of our year occurred on April 4, when we moved the 126-year-old, historic Commissary building from its former location behind the Warm Springs post office to a new location adjacent to Highway 26. From now through mid-2024, we will continue to develop the Commissary as a small business incubator, providing retail space, office space, and an adjacent food cart pod (with public art and an outdoor pavilion) for aspiring reservation business owners.

Again, thank you, Fancywork community, for your kind thoughts and your kind donations! Without partners like you, we couldn’t do the work we do. Happy holidays and best wishes in the coming year!

Best regards,
Chris Watson
Executive Director, WSCAT

WSCAT in Action

Warm Springs Community Action Team works at the grassroots level to open doors and empower lives by investing in the people of Warm Springs, with a hand up, not a hand out.

The Warm Springs Old Commissary Project

The Warm Springs Indian Reservation is a natural and cultural treasure and a vital gateway into Central Oregon. Though currently isolated from retail resources and business partnerships, the people of Warm Springs see a different future for their community; a place to build and support new businesses, gather and share good ideas, and connect with the visitors and business partners who make up their growing regional economy.

With support from a 2017 Tribal Council resolution, WSCAT is now restoring the oldest building on the Warm Springs Reservation and developing a small business incubator to serve as an anchor for small business in the community. In April 2022, WSCAT relocated the historic Commissary building next to Highway 26, and has begun renovating the building and site, pouring a new foundation, putting in a new sewer and water system, and beginning the transformation of the building and site into an important commercial and community gathering place for the people of Warm Springs. WSCAT continues to raise federal, state, and private funds for the project, and to prepare members of the local business community and workforce for a scheduled opening day in early 2024.

The Commissary will provide Warm Springs with a place to grow ideas, share native art, food, and hospitality and bring the reservation into its own as a regional economic resource. Those interested in supporting this project are invited to reach out directly to WSCAT Executive Director, Chris Watson.

Warm Springs Food Cart Pod

Plans are also underway to create a food cart pod complete with a pavilion and commercial kitchen. The pod, which WSCAT intends to open concurrently with and adjacent to the Commissary in 2024, will serve as a comfortable place for travelers to rest and enjoy a delicious meal. WSCAT purchased a food cart in late 2019 and through its workforce development program, utilizes the cart and a café/art store to train Warm Springs tribal and community members to manage and operate food carts and food service businesses. WSCAT has been operating the cart, known as the Twisted Teepee, since November 2019, and has also operated a cafe/art store, known as the Painted Pony, since October 2020. From November 2020 through October 2022, WSCAT staff trained 51 community members in these businesses. Through a federal grant received in September 2020, WSCAT has acquired two more food carts, one of which arrived in August 2022, and the other arriving in Spring 2023. Both carts will be operated by Warm Springs community members when the food cart pod opens in 2024.

The Arts

From 2014-2017, WSCAT worked with Warm Springs artists to create Tananáwit, a community-based nonprofit arts organization whose mission is to provide educational and economic development opportunities by empowering the people of Warm Springs and building knowledge and understanding of traditional and contemporary Native art of the Columbia River Plateau. Tananáwit was incorporated as a nonprofit in December 2017, and is a member-based organization. Currently, Tananáwit’s membership includes 182 Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs tribal and community member artists.

In 2019, WSCAT secured funding from Central Oregon Visitors Association to beautify buildings on the reservation through mural artwork. WSCAT worked with Tananáwit’s board of directors to identify and select two mural artists, who developed 20′ x 10′ murals in downtown Warm Springs, completed in early 2020. One of the murals is located at WSCAT’s office, and the other is at the ReUse It Store, adjacent to the Warm Springs Market and the Warm Springs Post Office. Another is on the gas station at Deschutes Crossing, just off of Highway 26. This mural project is part of a placemaking strategy intended to beautify the community, instill pride in community members, and provide new, interesting sights for visitors passing through the reservation on Highway 26.

In 2021, WSCAT raised sufficient funds to enable Tananáwit to hire its first-ever executive director. Though Tananáwit is now an effective, self-sustaining organization in its own right, WSCAT continues to collaborate with Tananawit’s director, Deb Stacona, to build Tananáwit’s capacity to serve a growing arts community.

Also in 2021, WSCAT worked with Papalaxsimisha, a youth-serving group on the reservation, to implement a youth mural project, with 7 community youth developing murals, and a cohort of youth and tribal members creating a beautiful, giant mural covering an entire basketball court in downtown Warm Springs. In 2022, WSCAT expanded the youth arts program, working with community partners and youth to develop 14 new youth murals, a mural at the new Warm Springs skate park, and a mural covering the entire front of the WSCAT building.

Economic Development

WSCAT also teaches classes throughout the year in personal finance, home ownership, and entrepreneurship, using curricula designed for use in Native communities. In partnership with the Oregon IDA Initiative, WSCAT’s IDA program assists lower income people on the Warm Springs Reservation in moving towards greater self-sufficiency by accumulating savings, purchasing long-term assets, and managing their finances wisely. This matched savings program enables community members to start or expand businesses, pay for college or vocational education, buy or renovate a home, or purchase a motor vehicle. WSCAT’s IDA program is the largest in any Native American community in the United States, with 170 community members currently enrolled, and over 275 program graduates since 2014.

To learn more about Warm Springs Community Action Team or make a donation online, we encourage you to visit their website.

Visit WSCAT.org