Program lends hand to poor Indian tribes

Nurses General Nursing

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Agnes Running Enemy, 78, who lives on the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Indian Reservation in South Dakota, has received groceries and other essentials.

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The plumbing in Arlette Loud Hawk's small home on the Pine Ridge Reservation hasn"t worked in more than three years. Her furnace broke four years ago, but she doesn"t have the money to fix either.

That could soon change,now that the 48-year-old Sioux woman has been "adopted."She is receiving fuel and food credits from several donorsthrough Adopt a Lakota Family, an innovative program designed to give direct help to the poorest of the Indian poor.

Ms. Loud Hawk would definitely qualify. She hasn"t been able to work steadily since a diagnosis of breast cancer, which now has spread to her lymph nodes. She has no car, and depends on friends and relatives for rides to Rapid City, S.D., 70 miles away, for second-stage chemotherapy.

"I"ve had a lot of help with groceries already, which is really helpful because I"m dependent on the reservation," said Ms. Loud Hawk, who lives with two of her five children and three grandchildren.

Entire article: http://washingtontimes.com/article/20071220/NATION/355766508/1001

vetnrse

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Specializes in Schoolnurse,homehealth,specialneeds,IHS.

Wopila Thunderwolf , a big thankyou for this article and website link to this phenomenal rescue organization .This is exactly what I would like to do, since I found myself landed back on the east coast after a 10 yr stint on Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations. The conditions are exactly as stated, not exagerated and remain horrific. Having experienced the same things first hand , including the loss of many loved ones close to me (including my daughter's father) in alcohol related deaths on the reservation, I live with these things in my heart every day and am trying to figure out a way to get the rest of the country to realize the history and plight of the people. The website is exactly the dream of what I would like to do. I only can do small scale,for the moment, like dig into my own pockets while unemployed to send warm clothing and essentials out to the people that I love.I am always seeing it work on a much larger scale. Over here, having not much means I still have so much more than those living on the reservations in deplorable conditions that most Americans cannot begin to imagine. I have a bad habit of trying to do everything alone without asking for help, and this quality seems to have defeated the purpose of what I can really accomplish. To set up an organization like the one in the article, in my area, to make it easily accessable for people to finally get the real information , and to make it easy for them to help,this is and always has been my dream. I have found someone else that is doing exactly that. There is so much wealth here, there are many who would share if they knew. The website is packed with all the info that Ive been trying to pass on to people, (but have not been organized enough to do so. )This gives me incentive. I first must look into applying for nonprofit status, figuring out the cost or how it can be done the least expensive way, and then getting the info out. Thankyou again Thunderwolf and for all of the ongoing research and articles you submit continually for others to gain this very important knowledge. BTW, I am so sorry to hear of your loss of one so close to you a few months back. It is hard. Prayers sent to you and yours.

vetnrse

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