Indigenous Travel Fund

Siakumne Tribe in close collaboration with 4 Elements Earth Education, a 501 (c) (3) a non-profit. Together they have helped tirelessly and generously to get traditional grassroots Indigenous Elders and their helpers, from the California Tribes from all over the world to attend events and ceremony. Many Elders are on a fixed income and do not have travel money.

100% of your donation will go, through 4EEE’s non-profit organization for the travel costs, room, board and expenses.

Indigenous based celebration of history and culture.

Indigenous Peoples Days is an Indigenous based celebration of history and culture, established by the local Siakumne Tribe and its supporters to encourage education and healing.  The event coincides with Indigenous Peoples Days—which is officially recognized by the State of California on the second Monday in October (and celebrated in lieu of Columbus Day).

Siakumne Tribal Chairman, Don Ryberg, is in the process of building the “Pata Panaka” (baby woodpecker) Village, in partnership with 4 Elements Earth Education, as a re-creation of a historical village located on the Burton Educational Preserve off of Lake Vera-Purdon Road in Nevada City.

Don Ryberg values “Ceremony, Healing, and Education” above all else and holds weekly sweat house ceremonies for the health and wellbeing of our community.  The Tribe partners with 4 Elements Earth Education & its Fox Walkers programs to mentor youth, teaching life and survival skills based on indigenous knowledge.  Year-round, Pata Panaka hosts up to 50 youth per week, 20 community members in the Sweat House, and over 300 attending the Indigenous Peoples Days (IPD) events.

The free event is largely funded by 4 Elements Earth Education (4EEE), a non-profit organization.  Donations help to bring back earth-based indigenous ceremony and culture, including: the building of the village (outdoor Kitchen, Bark Houses, Big House, Sweat Houses and Tule Houses), education and celebration with people of all walks and ages, and bringing hearts and minds together to create this annual all donation/volunteer IPD event in October to educate.  This event is for and by everyone; as we know, “everyone is Indigenous to somewhere”.

4EEE also has a specific “Indigenous Elders and Helpers Travel Fund” that provides for Elders to travel to IPD, share with youth and the community, and collaborate in Ceremony.

Donations over $100 will receive a free gift - t-shirts, hats and sweatshirts with artwork curated by Amy Sunderman.

We thank you for your support and commitment to this community—so that our important work may continue!

4 Elements Earth Education is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit on a mission to guide children, families and teens toward a pure connection to the Earth through direct experiences in Nature. Our team of passionate and experienced Instructors, on both East and West Coasts, provide hands-on instruction in the ancient arts of wilderness survival, animal tracking, and nature awareness.

4E offers a sliding scale tuition as well as scholarships and no one is ever turned away due to lack of funds. So far in 2022 we have given $90,000 in scholarships and subsidized tuition. This is not possible without donations from the general public and folks like you.