Heading into this holiday weekend of gratitude we want to express our sincere thanks to all our customers for investing in Secondwind and choosing us to provide you and your family or business with safe, clean, great-tasting water. Thank you to those of you who are considering working with us as well!
While we wrap up our 30th year and look to the future, we know that we arrived where we are today thanks to each and every one of you. Your investment in this local, woman-owned business helps support thirty-eight employees and their families, and this helps put money back into the New Hampshire economy. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
On Native Lands
This year we want to share our growing awareness of the ways in which the culture of discovery harms indigenous peoples in this country. Holidays like Columbus Day and Thanksgiving celebrate the colonization of this land and the systemic violence and genocide against Native Americans.
We acknowledge that we work, live and play on the traditional and ancestral lands of the N’dakina (Abenaki / Abénaquis) People. We honor their elders, past, present and future. We acknowledge that our success is built on the history of violence toward Native Americans and colonization of their lands.
Native American Water Rights
Every day we work to improve the quality of the water of our customers. Secondwind acknowledges that Native American people throughout the nation are fighting to maintain, restore, and protect their water rights. We feel it is our responsibility to help educate about this important issue.
The United States Supreme Court in 1908 said that Indian tribes are entitled to sufficient water to make their reservations livable homelands. In many states, non-Indian groups have developed most (if not all) of the water and left tribes literally high and dry. For decades, the federal government did nothing to protect the tribal interests. In fact, the government provided huge subsidies to develop the water for use by others, to the exclusion of tribes. Sadly, this continues to this day in many places.
Celebrating Mindfully
We celebrate this Thanksgiving weekend while simultaneously holding the complexity of this holiday and its history in our awareness. Our understanding of the harm caused by this holiday and what it represents deepens. So we commit to listen, learn and find ways to de-colonize our lives and our business.
Respectful Resources About Native Lands
If you’re interested in learning more about ways to observe Thanksgiving while acknowledging the real history of the holiday, we suggest the following resources:
How to talk about Thanksgiving at the dinner table.
What kids are learning about Thanksgiving is changing.
What is cultural appropriation?
Learn more about the indigenous land you live on with this interactive map.
Why is water sacred to indigenous cultures?
We invite you to make a donation to one of the Native American organizations included here.