Temperatures Drop - Help Continues to be a Critical Need at Pine Ridge
HEAT APPEAL-From ONE Spirit
JANUARY 2009
Three houses have burned on the reservation in the last three weeks. Twenty people lived in those houses. The fires were started from efforts to keep warm by burning clothes and whatever was available.
During the past week, One Spirit volunteers found conditions that are difficult to comprehend:
A young couple who have a severely handicapped baby are staying in one room with the heater we gave them to keep warm. They are out of propane and have been for some time.
A mother and 4 children in an older house saw part of their roof blow off during a high wind. Some of the Lakota people who work closely with One Spirit gathered what scraps they could and repaired the roof temporarily, but it is still lacking insulation and lets in the bitter cold.
At one heater delivery, the people they were looking for were not at home. The grandmother next door offered to keep the heater until her neighbors returned. The men hauled the heater inside and found that the grandmother's house was very cold and she had been out of propane for quite a while.
An older couple live in a 2 bedroom trailer with garbage bags taped over their missing windows. Huddled in the living room for warmth, they have a wood stove but no wood.
An elder had no propane. A very old furnace was sitting on her lawn; it was not working. She had been using the oven of her kitchen stove to keep warm.
With your help we have been able to place 1000 heaters in homes on the reservation. Our goal is to send another 150 at a cost of $6000.
The economic times are hard for everyone and even more so for those who live in this extreme poverty.
EVERY DONATION COUNTS.
Love and Peace,
Jeri, Diane and the One Spirit Staff
TO DONATE
One Spirit WEBSITE
One Spirit BLOG
One Spirit ONE Spirit Yahoo group
Feeding, Heating, and Healing One Family at a Time
Record-Breaking Winter Hits Reservation Service Organizations Hard
By Stephanie M. Schwartz, Freelance Writer
Member, Native American Journalists Association (NAJA)
© January 8, 2008 Porcupine, South Dakota
Winter in South Dakota started early this year and has been exceptionally brutal with days and nights already breaking many records for below 0*F temperatures and reported wind chill factors defying comprehension at
-72*F
On the Pine Ridge Oglala Sioux Reservation, this has set even the most solid of reservation organizations scrambling for heating fuel. Add to the problem a 33% increase in propane costs this year and it has become a very tenuous situation.
Sadly, like everywhere, it’s always the elders and sick who are the most at risk..
Robert Quiver, Jr., is the Elderly Coordinator for the Porcupine District, one of the largest Districts on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Quiver reports that the building used for their Elderly Meals Program is nearly out of propane. They are down to the last 10% of a 500 gallon tank. A full tank could probably get them through the rest of the winter but at $2.20 per gallon, they simply don't have $1,100.00 to fill it.
This may be disastrous news for the 70 to 90 elders who depend on the program for lunch each day, a meal which is delivered to them at home and which may be their only real meal of the day.
Increased gasoline prices for those deliveries made deep cuts into the program's budget and now the increased cost of propane has brought concern that the program will be able to continue.
Quiver stated that if anyone wants to help keep the program going, they should call Crystal at the Lakota Plains Propane
Company 1-605-867-5199 and tell her they want to donate towards propane for the Porcupine Elderly Meals Program using their credit or debit card. For anyone with questions, Robert Quiver can be reached at the Porcupine Elders Advisory Council office 1-605-867-2062
Another service organization in need is the Porcupine Clinic, the only independent, Indian community-controlled health clinic in the United States. It is not connected with the Federal Indian Health Services (IHS) program and is funded primarily by grants and donations. They, too, are feeling the pinch.
The Porcupine Clinic opened its doors in 1992 and serves the entire Reservation as well as the Porcupine District in which it is located. Patients are billed according to their ability to pay and many patients, many of whom are low-income Elders and children, receive free health care there.
Stella White Eyes, Administrative Assistant, reports that at least 120 patients per week are served at the Clinic through their Well Child Program, Podiatry Program, Diabetic Program, Midwife Classes, etc.
Additionally, their CHR Program tries to provide rides for patients to and from treatment at the IHS Hospital in the community of Pine Ridge 30 miles away (at a cost of $10 per person + 65 cents per mile). The Clinic also hopes to re-open its two-bed dialysis unit soon now that necessary repairs to the building have been completed.
But the Clinic needs help. Ms. White Eyes says they are not out of propane but they definitely could use help to make it through the winter due to the increase in propane costs. They have three tanks: a thousand gallon tank which services the main clinic building and two five hundred gallon tanks servicing the dialysis unit.
People wishing to donate propane for the Porcupine Clinic can contact Loretta Margrave at Westco (Western Cooperative) in Chadron, Nebraska at their toll-free number, 1-800-762-9906. Minimum delivery is 200 gallons but donations can be of any size.
Another propane assistance program on the Reservation was founded by Russell Mean, long-time AIM activist and Lakota leader. He is spearheading the Republic of Lakotah Emergency Propane Assistance for the Elderly. For this program, propane can also be purchased and donated directly through the Lakota Plains Propane Company by calling 1-605-867-5199. Questions can be answered by emailing Email
Meanwhile, Robert Eagle Elk, District Coordinator for the Oglala Sioux Tribe Heating and Energy Assistance Office as well as Coordinator for the District CAP Offices, spoke recently on NAMAPAHH internet blog radio about the effects of this severe winter and the multiple blizzards on Pine Ridge. He noted that not only were the elders suffering but also the many working poor who cannot afford heat either.
He said the tribal assistance program was very low on funds and would welcome donations. The Oglala Sioux Tribe website notes that donations may be sent to the OST Energy Assistance Program c/o OST Treasurer, Crystal Eagle Elk, P.O. Box 2070 – Pine Ridge, SD 57770
When asked by this reporter, Eagle Elk responded that he was not sure when the Federal LIHEAP low-income energy assistance fuel allotments would be released but believed it would be in January or February, 2009.
But historically, research has shown that LIHEAP allotments have only been a partial help and never enough to last long through the many months of winter in South Dakota.
Another program, non-tribal but serving the Pine Ridge Reservation, is Link Center Foundation's Emergency Winter Heating/Utility Assistance Program for the Elders, Disabled, and Seriously Ill.
This small, grassroots all-volunteer 501c3 non-profit organization from Colorado was able to assist 220 individual families in 2008 but still has over 200 qualified elders and disabled from the Reservation on a waiting list for assistance.
The organization has been trying to assist those who qualify with $150 in fuel one time. But sadly, donations have slowed down to a trickle even though additional support came in from other organizations such as NAMA (the Native American Music Association).
Meanwhile, winter is barely at the half-way mark. Bitter cold temperatures and snow still persist and are expected to continue well into March. Anyone wishing to donate to this program can visit the Link Center Foundation website and donate securely with a credit or bank card. Link Center Foundation
There are also many other good non-tribal, non-profit organizations trying to help with heating assistance. But with the early onset of winter and the blizzards and extended frigid temperatures creating extreme need, funding is low or depleted at this point for most of them.
Additionally, the majority of these organizations operate solely from donations and are usually unable to obtain grants for their heating assistance programs, which are often referred to as “band-aid programs” by the grant funders. Yet, while it’s true these programs don’t provide permanent solutions, they do address a very real and on-going need.
That is the ultimate point. There simply are no permanent solutions at this time. Further, until such solutions arrive, it will be the programs such as these organizations provide which will continue to keep people alive and warm, one family at a time.
And, if propane arrives for the Porcupine Elderly Meals Program, at least some elders will eat as well.
This article may be reprinted, reproduced, and/or re-distributed unedited with proper attribution and sourcing for non-profit, educational, news, or archival purposes.
Stephanie M. Schwartz may be reached at Stephanie M. Schwartz
View other publications of Stephanie M. Schwartz at Website
W.O.L.E. Website
Web of Life Blog - regular updates on changing needs WOLE Blog
Operation Morning Star
SunDog Warrior's Bed & Breakfast & Homeless Shelter
If Someone You Know Has A 501(C)3. Could You Please Give Them Our List of Needs?
To Know More About Us, Go To:
Sundog's Warriors Bed and Breakfast and Homeless Shelter
Here's a List of Our Needs:
13 4'x5'H Windows
2 2'x3'H Windows
15 2'6"Wx5'H Windows
3 3'Wx3'4"H Windows
3 2'Wx45"H Windows
60 Sheets OSB 4x8 Sheeting
5 Rolls of Felt
20 Sq. Shingles Any Color Req.
3000' 12-2 Wiring
200 Plastic Boxes
175 Wall Plugs
25 Switches
3 Toilets
1 Kitchen Sink w/Faucet
Flooring Snap together 4000'sq ft.
1 3'x3' Shower
200 Sheets Dry Wall
10 Buckets of Dry Wall Mud
5 Rolls of Tape
20 Gallons of Paint
20 10' Stick 3/4" PVC Pipes
20 10' Stick Hot Water 3/4" PVC Pipes
Assortment of fittings PVC Glue & Cleaner
10 Shut Off Valves For PVC-For Pipes
4000' sq ft Blowed in Insulation
15 Bunkbeds & Mattresses(Twin)
15 Sheet Sets (Twin) Any Color for Men
11 16' Rollup Emergency Ladders For Windows
20 Fire Extinguishers
6 Exit Signs
There is a Lowe's & a Menard's in Rapid City.
These two places seem to be about the Cheapest for Materials.
There's a Walmart too.
~Don & Melanie Bosdell~
SunDog Warrior's Bed & Breakfast & Homeless Shelter
Don & Melanie Bosdell
223 E. 5th Street
P.O. Box 264
White River, SD 57579
605-454-9111
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January 2009 Reports
Last updated on March 8, 2009