Lakota Kidz - Helping Hand to the Lakota of Wanblee S.D.

ECONOMIC STRUGGLES ON THE PINE RIDGE RESERVATION

Stephen B. Martin President of Lakota Kidz

Visitors to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the rural mid-west tell us they are struck by three things: the vastness of the plains, the dry, volcanic look of the Badlands mountains, and the depth of poverty facing the Oglala Lakota people. Poverty anywhere is a complicated phenomenon, affected by politics, the environment, distances, access to materials and services, and economic conditions.

There are thousands of acres of rich farming and ranching land on the reservation but, in an ironic twist, most of that land is not controlled by the Indians; rather, it is leased out, at far below market rates, by the U.S. government to non-Natives.

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A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

November 2010

It was a stormy December night in 1999. Carol Taylor, Kathe Donlan, Edward DeFord and I pulled up to the Abington, Massachusetts storage facility that John "Paul" Sullivan rented by the year. Two shadows already danced in a rectangle of light on the icy blacktop . Paul and a veteran volunteer were inside sorting the gently used goods we would soon be sending off to Wanblee, South Dakota.

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PLEASE DELIVER A LITTLE HOLIDAY CHEER TO THE POOREST CHILDREN IN OUR COUNTRY

Help us make the holidays a little brighter for the children of Wan-blee. Sixty-three percent of the kids in Wanblee live below the poverty level. Some have never received a new coat or a holiday gift for that matter. Our "Adopt-A-Child. pro-gram allows you to make a differ-ence in a child's life during the holiday season, via a tax-deductible gift dona-tion.

Lakota Kidz has made it very easy to donate this year. Check out our Holiday Wish List at www.Amazon.com (under the Wish List name of "Lakota Kidz". - be sure to spell "kidz" with a "z"). Simply choose the item(s) you wish to pur-chase. Once you complete the trans-action, Amazon will automatically ship them to our volunteer coordi-nator on the reservation, who will distribute them to the community during the holiday season.

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KIDZ ‘N’ PETS PHOTO OP WITH SANTA
New England Wildlife Center Kidz ‘n’ Pets Photo Op with Santa

Photos with Santa at New England Wildlife Center

Lakota Kidz and the New England Wildlife Center (NEWC) invite you to bring the kids and their pets to the Center for a Kidz’n’ Pets’ Photo Op with Santa.

Santa and his helpers will be holding court between 12 noon and 4 p.m. on Saturday December 3rd, and on Saturday, December 10th in NEWC’s authentic Araquon Lodge, a life-sized replica of a Native American longhouse. The Center is located at 500 Columbian Street, South Weymouth, MA 02190. ...>>more>>

REMEMBERING VERNON BELLECOURT ON THE DAY OF MOURNING

Day of Mourning, Plymouth Massachusetts 2007 Greetings, sisters and brothers: I’m writing this letter from Plymouth, Mass., on what most of us call Thanksgiving Day.

Many Native Americans, however, call it the National Day of Mourning. Indians don’t have a whole lot to be thankful for, especially the Lakota Sioux of Wanblee, South Dakota, the poorest town in America. 75 of its 107 households live below the poverty level. Diabetes and other life threatening diseases are rampant, but there’s no money for medical bills. Families get through the bitter wanietu (winter) by huddling together underneath their blankets inside bare bones government shacks. Alcoholism—the white man’s gift to the Indians— is devastating the town’s young adults, who make up 56% of the population.

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Lakota Kidz – a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 2004, staffed entirely by volunteers, and funded solely by private donations and grants – is dedicated to making brutal winters a little warmer, and to supporting Head Start programs, for the Lakota Sioux living in Wanblee, South Dakota, the poorest town in the poorest county in the nation.