Okiciyap (we help) the Isabel Community


 Appeal for funds from Georgia Little Shield:

Please Please can every one that gets this post from me post it on your page as we are having a hard time raising money for the food pantry and youth program that we are trying to get started.
At this time we are a 501 c 3 and have been wanting to start a youth center for the Children and the food pantry for all that need our services. We paid $525.00 for deposit on the lights today, We sent two individuals out to get supplies to skirt and hook up swear and water pipes that were taken out from under the building. We needed two toilets that the tribe had taken out and door knobs that cost 125.00 for the steel doors. We asked for the one door to have a ramp so that we that have not got the ability to climb stairs would have access. I received a phone call from the guys that went out to get these parts that the total was $2400.00. With all the cost of moving and this we are about out of funds.
I am asking all family and friends for help as we are expecting a food truck on Feb. 21, 2012. We would also like to go and get food from the food bank in Pierre SD. I am hoping that you all will try your best and please to to the site and check it out.
Thanks
Georgia Little Shield/Board Chair
Okiciyap the Isabel Community

Photos from the community's work on Feb 17 will be posted on Feb 18

The trailer was moved to Isabel
on January 30th

Poverty and Suicide on the

Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation

 

The Cheyenne River Reservation occupies an area in Northwest South Dakota that is roughly the size of Connecticut. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the reservation is 8090.

2800 of Cheyenne River's residents live in Zieback county, which consistently ranks as the poorest county in the nation, with 62% of the adults and 76.7% of the children living in poverty. The rest live in Dewey County.

This is how Georgia Little Shield, the Board President of Okiciyap, describes the situation:

The families around our reservations are on fixed incomes of 260.00 to 460.00 per month. This is per month. The people on the reservation fight to survive each month and the winters are so brutal that this is when we would need the food pantry more then at any other time of the year.

Educational attainment on the reservation is low, with only 32% of the residents holding a high school diploma.

One of the most tragic results of the hopelessness that comes from  poverty combined with joblessness, substance abuse, and other issues such as domestic violence, has been an epidemic of teen suicide. . This is not limited to the Cheyenne River Reservation either; many Great Plains reservations, including Standing Rock, Rosebud, and Pine Ridge, suffer from the same phenomenon.

Clearly there is a tremendous need for a food pantry, a GED and other programs for youth in Isabel.

Won't you join us?

Rest in Peace,
Georgia L. Littleshield



Dear Supporters:

It is with a heavy heart that I must share the sad news that Okiciyap founder and board President, Georgia Little Shield, died of heart failure on Tuesday, April 24, 2012.

Georgia was my friend, and I admired her greatly for the wonderful community work she did, as well how she truly overcame her past to become a wonderful, loving person with a huge heart who only thought about other people. I first met her when she was director of Pretty Bird Woman House, which hasn't been the same since she left.

Even though she had to go on disability, she never stopped wanting to help her community, so she asked me to start a fundraiser so the non-profit she had started with the idea of getting a building into place and buying food to start a food pantry. and start it they did. 

My pekingese dog is now barking as I write this, reminding me of Georgia's love for her own pekingese and chihuahuas, and how proud she was of her neice and adopted daughter Crystal, who loves to play with the pups.

This is a terrible loss and we are all still reeling.

Funeral services will be held in Isabel, SD, this Saturday.

We love you Georgia, and miss you already!

Betsy Campisi



The Food Pantry Project

Okiciyap (we help) the Isabel Community

We are a newly-formed community organization working to improve life on the Cheyenne River Reservation. Through collaborative partnerships with families, community, and agency resources, we provide a continuum of supportive human services based on an individualized comprehensive assessment of family strengths and needs. Our mission is to provide and coordinate services with courtesy and respect for each other and for the well being and protection of the residents in our community.

These services are provided through partnerships that help people move towards independence, maintain pride and dignity and realize their potential.

Our first step has been to create a food pantry, which will be followed by youth development projects, including a GED program, once we have a proper building set up. Currently, one of the board members is lending us space for the pantry in a trailer that houses her craft business.

Luckily, a modular 40x60 building has just been donated to us.  Unfortunately, it is 30 miles away, and we needed to transport it to our location in Isabel, SD. We also need money for utilities and more food for the pantry.  

Thanks to the generosity of the Daily Kos community, there was enough money to move the trailer to Isabel, and on Monday, January 30, we moved it into place.

We still need to hook up the utilities and get it skirted.

We have  requested money from our Tribal Council for the food pantry, and hope for an answer by March on the amount it will contribute.

We are a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization, so your contribution is tax deductible.

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