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The Oklahoman: East Central University student in Ada hopes to help foster children through her Chickasaw Tribe T-Ball program

October 4, 2014
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The Oklahoman - Brian Johnson

Tiffany Postoak has the heart, desire and passion to help foster children, particularly those within her own tribe of the Chickasaw Nation.

The East Central University legal studies and political science major from Tupelo High School, a resident of Allen, traveled to Washington, D.C., last month as a National Child Awareness Month Ambassador.

As the representative from Oklahoma, Postoak served as a community leader, learned the ins and outs of setting up a community service project, and how to raise public awareness and spur change.

Postoak’s choice for the fundraising project will be a youth T-ball tournament, for ages 4-6, next spring in the Ada area.

“I was very impressed with Tiffany Postoak from Allen, Oklahoma and also a member of the Chickasaw Nation,” said U.S. Rep Tom Cole in a Facebook post. “She is here as Oklahoma’s Youth Ambassador for National Child Awareness Month and is currently leading a project called Chikasha To’ili (Chickasaw Baseball) to raise money for Chickasaw children placed in foster care. Many of the children placed leave the majority of their belongings behind, but the money raised through Tiffany’s project helps provide clothing for these children in their new living environments.”

Postoak said, “The entry fee will be each player donating clothes or toys. So if you have 12 players on your team, the team of players can donate 12 outfits or 12 toys. Money can be donated also to benefit the Chickasaw foster care children.”

With the collaboration of Christine Pappas, an ECU legal studies and political science professor, Postoak came up with the idea. She was motivated by another former National Child Awareness Ambassador from ECU, Loren Dunnam.

Dunnam represented ECU and Oklahoma at the event in 2012 and set up a project to collect clothing and supplies for the children of her Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma.

“I know that some foster children don’t have many clothes. When you receive foster children, three or four pieces of clothing may come with them, but that’s all,” Postoak said. “Hey, if there is something I can supply for these children, I want to do it. I don’t want them to think that the world has forgotten them.”

Postoak received the all-expenses paid, three-day leadership training on Capitol Hill through a $1,000 grant from the Festival of Children Foundation. She had the opportunity to network with Youth Ambassadors from across the country, in order to have ongoing training, mobilization resources and a platform to build her service initiative.

This was her second time to go to Washington. Postoak has also traveled there with members of the Pi Sigma Alpha Honors Program for Political Science.

“I loved it and I’m excited to go back,” she said before the trip.

Online:The Oklahoman