On May 16, 2018, Wabanaki REACH became an official non-profit organization so today is our 5th Birthday!
To celebrate, we are honoring and showing gratitude to Denise Altvater, REACH co-founder, champion of truth, healing, and change and leader of the historic Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission. We are sharing a slideshow we compiled, a story written by Anne Hallward and a poem written by Erika Arthur.
Thank you, Denise, for your strength, honesty, courage and love.
The video can be viewed on our YouTube channel by clicking the following link:
Friendship
I’ll never forget the inspiring example of friendship that I witnessed at Denise Altvater’s retirement party in September, 2022. We sat in a big room, filled with long tables of friends, co-workers, community members and leaders. There were speakers who described the many acts of service that Denise has given to the community. Some also acknowledged the pain and power of Denise’s childhood and all that she had endured. Eventually at the end, Denise herself stood up, both to acknowledge the tributes, and to tell more of her story herself. Halfway through her remarks, Denise paused. The emotion in the room was electric, as we took in the profound way that Denise has transformed
her suffering into gifts for others. “Esther, will you come and stand by me?” Denise asked, looking across the room to her friend Esther Anne.
Esther immediately got up and came to stand by Denise, putting her arm around her waist. I watched as Denise took a deep breath, settled back into the arm of her dear friend, and found her voice. Having reconnected with Esther, it looked like Denise could reconnect with herself. The whole setting would be overwhelming to anyone, to be the center of attention like that, with a big room of people looking at you. But Denise knew exactly what to do, and she gave herself permission to slow herself down, ask for what she needed and then let herself be nourished by Esther’s love and support.
I watched and marveled at the power of friendship to help us find our voices, and to help us reconnect deep inside with who we really are. I loved the way that women’s friendship helps us come home to ourselves. And Denise taught me that I could do the same. When I need to remember what is most important, when I need someone to have my back, and to help me summon up the courage to say what is most in my heart, I can call on a friend. Thank you Denise and Esther for your friendship. It is a gift to all of us.
~ Anne Hallward
Denise Altvater, Carrying Truth
Taken
from the edge,
she swam against
a genocidal current,
endured and
alchemized torture
to fuel
justice, love, truth.
She said,
the trauma is in the taking:
good home,
bad home,
the severing is done.
She said,
how you are heard matters:
to be believed,
to be received,
maybe
then
healing, change.
Tide-like she returns
to the low places;
they fill up,
overflow.
She is a strong
body of saltwater.
Tears reveal
she is not stuck,
but changing,
like all life.
She moves toward
what needs
mending, protection:
the young people
of the edge;
her people
caught in the jaws
of jails and prisons;
neighbors, family
in the chains
of addiction;
water itself.
Her story,
a nest of bees
that lives inside her;
we keep asking for it
because we know
it will move
what must be
moved,
but it stings
coming out
every time.
Now, her body
requests rest,
but her heart,
a stone dropped
in still water,
sends out its ripples:
grandchildren,
the sun
looking their way,
telling them
they belong,
warming them into
each new day,
to carry truth
in the baskets
of their own
hearts.
~ Erika Arthur, April 18, 2023