The holiday season is all about the joining of friends, families and communities.

That’s how Shannon Holsey sees it.  She’s the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians President and appearing on the WTCH Breakfast Club this morning, she talked about what she’s grateful for.

“I’m very lucky and fortunate to live in Shawano County. I attended the holiday parade and I saw that sense of community and it was overwhelming,” Holsey said. “This is the first time Stockbridge got to participate in it and we saw it as an opportunity to educate people and to let them know and to share a little bit of our culture and let them know that we are here.”

One example she gave was Thursday’s celebration of Winter Solstice, which for the tribe is “a day of reflection, and gratitude, and to remember those that have gone before us and to look forward to preparing for the spring and getting a renewed sense of purpose.”

Speaking about operations, Holsey said that people are often unaware of the intricate manner in which Stockbridge-Munsee is run.

“As the largest employer (in Shawano County),  there’s duality, you know we have government and structure just much like the county board and we operate that way.  We have enterprise, judicial, and then government and so it’s pretty complex, more complex than people would believe it to be.”

She appeared on The Breakfast Club alongside  Shawano County Chairman Jerry Erdmann, who requested that Holsey joined him on the show.

“The tribe is a vital part in the county and Shannon has a lot of knowledge regarding what the tribe is doing,” Erdmann said.  “You know, when they live in the county let’s communicate and let’s work together.”

Holsey and Erdmann talked about the many occasions where the Tribe and County collaborate on government needs, including infrastructure and law enforcement.

Erdmann praised Holsey’s State of the Tribe speech  that she delivered to legislators in Madison last April.

“People should recognize that President Holsey is a very, very good tribal leader and if she can give a State of the Tribe’s address down in Madison, [then] there’s a lot of knowledge and lot of things that she can do.  Not only for the county, tribes [but] for everyone in general.”

Holsey said as soon as she was elected, Erdmann reached out to rebuild a relationship between the tribe and county.

“I don’t know what happened, but we have to move past that…this is a bi-partisan effort, this isn’t about party line, this isn’t about tribe or county.  This is about people.”