NEWPORT – BankNewport has awarded a $5,000 grant to the Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust for the Indigenous Roots Forever Food Access Program, the bank recently announced.
The program builds backyard gardens for Indigenous families and then trains them in how to care for the gardens using traditional practices. The program is the brainchild of Musquant Nompashim Netas, who is also known as Irving “Rocky” Johnson, leader of the Ninigret Nehantic Nahaganset Clan, and Chief Sequan Pijaki, chairman of the Pocasset Wampanoag Tribe.
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The grant is provided through BankNewport’s All In Giving program, which supports nonprofit work that focuses on basic human needs, children and families, education, economic security, healthy lives, arts and culture, and the environment, according to a news release.
“We are so pleased to have the opportunity to extend a $5,000 grant to the Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust to support this very important initiative that not only provides food for Indigenous families in need but also a measure of self-sufficiency while ensuring that native traditions are carried forth to the next generation,” Jack Murphy, BankNewport CEo and president, said in a statement.
“We are grateful for this new partnership with BankNewport and look forward to building a more equitable food system together,” Pijaki said in a statement. “Not only does the Indigenous Roots Forever Food Access Program provide food for people, but it also reconnects the people to the land and to their culture.”
In a statement, Johnson added, “Food brings people together and strengthens communities. It’s a different kind of medicine.”
