Donations

As a result of ABC's 20/20 program Children of the Plains, our organization was found by a few people across the country. One of those special people was a teacher, Denise Sulewski, of the PACE Brantley School in Longwood, Florida. She contacted us and told us her students wanted to help the children of Pine Ridge.

Longwood, Florida is known for its large number of homeless families. CBS' 60 Minutes did a heartwrenching story on them in 2011. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2hzRPLVSm4)  PACE Brantley School is a school for children with handicaps and learning disabilities.  Ms. Sulewski's students held a book drive for us, and 4 boxes of new books just arrived from them. Many copies of Diary of A Wimpy Kid, the Twilight series, picture books, and Harry Potter.

We are moved to tears and honored by the generosity of these children.
Their generosity is in the Lakota tradition.
To Ms. Sulewski and her students we send a sincere and huge Thank You.

What We're Reading

                                                         



CALEB'S CROSSING

 "In her new novel, Caleb's Crossing, Geraldine Brooks once again
  takes a shard of little-known history and brings it vividly to life.
  In1665, a young man from Martha's Vineyard became the first
  American Indian graduate from Harvard College. From the few
  facts that survive of this extraordinary life, Brooks creates a
  luminous tale of passion and belief, magic and adventure." Viking

  Be aware, the racism of the 17th century is hard to take.

What Makes Me Grumpy

There are many non-profits working with American Indians.  They are well-intentioned, and have good people running their organizations.  But, many of them enable the people they are helping by doing for them.  The people being helped should be involved in the process.

Be careful who you donate to. Find out who is doing what, and where the money is going. Are the organizations getting participation from those who are being helped? Last week I was told by a Lakota woman that churches bring their youth groups to Pine Ridge and these groups pick up trash along the roads. The woman was insulted by this. Ask what you can do to be useful to the community.

We want to be useful to American Indians - not harmful.

Our Annual Meeting

Board Members: Cassie Cleverly, Moira Burnham, Mary Loftis, Nancy Cayford, Jerry Goes In Center, Sherry Gould

To those who couldn’t come to the wonderful gathering of Monadnock Regional supporters we had on April 30, we are so sorry you missed it! The food was divine, the flute music and singing were an inspiration, and the presentation was insightful. We had a good size group of people who enjoyed the barbecued buffalo. The Friends Board of Directors had decided to serve only indigenous foods, so along with the bison meat, there were corn cakes, beans baked with maple syrup, fruit salad, wild rice, fry bread, and wojapi for dessert. Wojapi is a Lakota stewed fruit pudding—we combined blueberries and raspberries. The setting of the meeting/party was also beautiful, and many thanks to board member Mary Loftis and her husband, Paul Tuller, for letting us use their beautiful barn for the occasion. It was perfect.

Barry Higgins, Abenaki, of Greenfield, Massachusetts, played soulful and haunting music on his handmade flutes. My granddaughter said it was her favorite thing of the evening. Board member Sherry Gould, Abenaki, of Bradford, New Hampshire, sang a traditional honor song, and board member Jerry Goes In Center, Lakota, in her presentation, taught us that buffalo meat, being high in omega 3 fatty acids, is the “salmon of the prairie.” I spoke briefly about why our book project is so important to the children of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, and I thanked everyone for their continued support. 

Members, if we do this again next spring, we hope you can join us. We’ll give you plenty of notice.