FORT RILEY, KS – Riley’s, LLC, the privatized partnership between the Army and Corvias, will hold a ceremony Tuesday, May 23, at 2 p.m. to mark the first donation of homes to the Kickapoo Nation through Operation Walking Shield.

The homes-which have been identified by Fort Riley and Corvias as excess units-were initially slated for demolition. But coordination between Department of the Army, Operation Walking Shield and the Kickapoo Nation Housing Authority, led to the donation of 10 homes that can be reused on the Kickapoo reservation in northeast Kansas.

Following a brief ceremony, the first home will be loaded and moved off site to start its journey to the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas Reservation.

Operation Walking Shield was started in 1986 and seeks to improve the quality of life for Native Americans by coordinating programs that provide shelter, health care, community development support, education assistance and humanitarian aid.