A Charter

On November 14, 1969, the following charter members of the MAAIC board filed the "Articles of Incorporation." They were Mrs. Pauline Blum, Potawatomi; F. Blackbear Bosin, Comanche-Kiowa; Calvin Chisholm, Shawnee-Creek; Mrs. Betty Jean Hodson, Navajo; Jay R. Hunter, Winnebago; John Levi, Arapaho; C. Lance Lujan, Kiowa-Taos; Mrs. Rubie McKenzie, Kiowa; Mrs. Betty Nixon, Kiowa; Hollis Stabler, Omaha; and Eugene Standingbear, Sioux.

Jay Hunter became the first board chairman of MAAIC, Inc. and Mrs. Blum, Levi, Bosin and Stable continued to serve on the Board of Trustees for many years.

"We had made up our minds we were going to have a multi-service Indian Center, but we were primarily looking for a place to meet. We'd been getting a lot of help from people in the community. Wichita has always been a friendly place for all Indians, they used to come and trade here in the old days. We began having dances at the armories and I planned our First Thanksgiving Feast, so we could bring about a better understanding between Indians and non-Indians in the community," Mrs. Blum says. The Thanksgiving Feast has become an annual event, one that is looked forward to each year by hundreds of Wichitans.

Hollis Stabler wanted Indian recognition for the community. "I was tired of the stereotyped image of Indians. We had to have some identification as a group. And to me this was the start. Now we could have better understanding."