Running Strong for American Indian Youth®

Stephan Cheney (Kul Wicasa Oyate) came to Running Strong with his dream, TsˈDenoni Youth Program (Where the Bear Plays), to establish an after-school youth mentorship program to help Native youth acquire job readiness skills and work experience “while simultaneously providing positive reinforcement of what it means to be a strong Native American in this day and age.

“The main objective,” he told us in his Dreamstarter application, “is to establish a connection between our transition-aged youth and the younger generation that encourages positive behavior, leadership, and meaningful relationships throughout the community.”

Cheney, now 28 and a former wildland firefighter, mentioned that he likes to do anything that is outside.

“This is probably why I was so passionate about firefighting,” he said. “I feel strongest when I am directly connected with Unci Maka!

“What started as collecting burned pieces of wood from wildfires has now developed into a new passion! I love woodworking and making furniture.”

His work includes constructing end tables, cedar benches, and even dining room tables.

Over the past few years, Stephan has become more and more focused on his passion for woodworking and he continues to partner with Running Strong by selling his artwork through our e-Store.

As the owner of High Rez Wood Company, he describes his business as “A Native empowered enterprise in right relation with Mother Earth.

“High Rez Wood Company specializes in creating high-quality handcrafted items and tables that convey the complexities of indigenous life through indigenous eyes,” he explained.

Stephan developed his love for trees during his years as a wildland firefighter in the knowledge that even as he cut down burnt trees, he knew they still had life and so many stories to tell.

“If you scratch beneath the surface, you can see that the beauty is still there,” he says. “The wood is not only salvageable but also full of spirit.”

Today, for Stephan, an emerging entrepreneur, woodworking has become another method of putting good things out into the world.

He currently resides and operates in Humboldt County, in northern California, where he happily creates in his shop surrounded by ancient redwoods, madrones, and oaks.

Stephan is inspired by the Peoples’ who call the coastal lands of northern California home.

Within his body of work, Stephan incorporates many natural elements such as cedar, tobacco, dentalium, and abalone, and on every completed piece one will find a small 2x2-inch tipi surrounded by a horse hoof representing the Lakota and Horse Nations.

To date, Stephan has worked with many wood species, including Birch, Madrone, Redwood (from his own back yard), Pacific Maple, Western and Eastern Red Cedar, Douglas Fir, Blue Pine, Tan Oak, Eucalyptus, and California Walnut.

For Stephan, knowing where the wood comes from is a priority, as it establishes a connection, a relationship to it. If he doesn’t know the origin of the wood, he won’t use it.

The American Dental Association (ADA) is taking steps to help those who have among the highest levels of tooth decay in the United States: American Indian and Alaska Native children.

And so is Running Strong for American Indian Youth®.

In 2015, we were made acutely aware of this serious, and growing, challenge among Native children throughout Indian Country by our Dreamstarter Cristin Haase, then a promising dental student who is now a practicing dentist serving American Indian communities.

“The level of tooth decay among American Indian and Alaska Native children is more than four times higher than white non-Hispanic children,” reported the ADA in 2017, citing Indian Health Service data from 2015.*

And the numbers are staggering:

“More than half, 54 percent, of this population of children between 1 and 5 years of age have experienced tooth decay,” states the ADA.

Four years ago, Running Strong decided to take action to help prevent tooth decay among Native children by initiating our “SmileStrong” program, which since its inception has been providing dental kits containing toothbrushes, toothpaste and dental floss to well over 10,000 children.

These children and their families know very well the benefits of regular brushings and flossing, particularly those who have experienced serious tooth decay and severe pain – but simply lack access to the necessary tools to care for and protect their teeth.

Within the next few weeks, 3,000 SmileStrong dental kits will be shipped to 18 of our program partners throughout Indian Country, such as Brushy Cherokee Action Association in Oklahoma, Interfaith Action Department of Indian Work, the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, Spirit Lake Tribal Health in North Dakota, and, of course, our own field office, Tipi Waste Un Zanipi (Wellness Through a Good Home), on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

“These items are needed because a large majority of the people in the Brushy area and surrounding communities live in poverty,” reported Gary Bolin, chairman of the Brushy Cherokee Action Association in his request for SmileStrong kits, adding that many times families cannot afford basic necessities such as toothbrushes and toothpaste.

And we know the need for the SmileStrong kits is great:

“The dental kits were a huge hit that last time we distributed them,” reported Kathy Denman-Wilke, director, Department of Indian Work, Interfaith Action of Greater Saint Paul.

And thanks to our supporters, together each year we are helping to create happy, healthy smiles and instill healthy habits among Native children.

The summer youth and education camp organized by Today We Follow-Tomorrow We Lead (TWF-TWL) features traditional Navajo teachings for both boys and girls, and is located in Pinon, Arizona, where the children can attend with their families.

This year’s camp runs from June 14- 16 and is projected to serve 400 children and adults in the communities of Blue Gap, Low Mountain, Burnt Corn, Pinon, Whippoorwell, Black Masa, Cottonwood, Old Tree and Chinle, according to TWF-TWL president Anita Begay.

“The program is needed to help the children enjoy the summer through camp and at the same time learning and participating in their Navajo culture,” says Anita. “The camp is not only limited to the children, the families can also attend, and there are activities that involve the children and their families.”

“The summer youth camp allows the children to know more of their Navajo culture and traditions and to be involved and participate in the traditional education of the Navajo people,” said Anita. “The program has events that include having the parents and children work together as a team, and as a family – education and Navajo traditional values are shared with the children and their families.”

Anita noted that the camps which began in 2010 are designed for participants “1-year-old through the age of the elderly” and that they take place on lands offered by families who volunteer to host the camps at their place of residence.

Anita recounted the story of a grandma who has come to the camp every year.

“She enjoys herself and being around the families. As old as she is, she helps with the cooking and butchering of sheep.

“When asked why she comes every year to the camp her reply was:

‘I have a lot of relations here both young and old and it makes my heart feel good inside to hear the children laughing and to see them playing.’

’It is good that I get to see the care and love of someone else helping my Diné People and their children.’”

“When he was younger,  Aukea Ka’aekuahiwi didn’t realize all it took to get dinner on the table,” reported West Hawaii Today.

“When I was small, I thought, ‘Ok, things just happen.’ They just come onto our plate. I don’t know how, but it just comes to our plate.”

But that was then. Today, 16-year-old Aukea is among our recently announced fifth class of Dreamstarters and is working to fulfill his dream of creating a business raising pigs.

Aukea will be using his $10,000 Dreamstarter grant for “The Swine Project” to not only raise hogs, but to also create a certified “imu” (a traditional Hawaiian cooker/steamer) and smokehouse.

“Entrepreneurship should start at a young age so that we can grow into adulthood knowing that you have made a difference for yourself, your family and eventually your friends,” he told us in his Dreamstarter application. “My ultimate dream is to expand our business and create more opportunities for our fellow youth. This will not only benefit our peers but also the people of the community.”

Ronan Middle School, Montana

Dreamstarter Teacher Amy Miller used her $1,000 grant to help the school’s library become more culturally representative of its student body by purchasing books by and about indigenous peoples, including a classroom set of the novel “In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse” by Native American author Joseph Marshall to be taught in the seventh grade social studies classes.

“When I first applied for this grant, I was operating on a hunch that kids would be excited to see more books that reflected their lived experiences in their library. As a new librarian, I was dismayed at how poorly our collection reflected the cultural identity of our student body, and with my limited budget, I felt overwhelmed by the task of changing it. This grant, along with the generous infusion of cash from our Title VII committee, helped me take a significant first step toward changing the climate of our school's library. While there is still so much work to be done, I am proud that when students walk into their library, books by Native authors and accurate, authentic portrayals of Native peoples are highlighted and visible. I am encouraged to see students taking an interest in the language and culture table and to watch them gain confidence in learning the Salish language.”

Amy was able to purchase hundreds of books including novels, memoirs, biographies, graphic novels and more by and about Native peoples to ensure that students have easy access to language and cultural resources. She noted that the book, “Son Who Returns” by Native author Gary Robinson became their number one top circulating book.

“This has helped to make tribal culture and language a prominent feature of the library,” she reported.

Santa Fe Indian School Kewa Keres Class, New Mexico

Teacher William Pacheco used his $1,000 grant to enhance Kewa Keres language classes by integrating hands-on learning activities into their curriculum. William purchased food dehydrators and equipment for packing dehydrated foods to allow students to engage with food preservation practices, while utilizing their language.

“We wanted to make a connection to food preservation practices and current food trends,” he reported. “The dehydration unit is a part of a year-long curriculum that allows students to have experience in planting, harvesting, seed saving and food saving, and then repeating the cycle.”

The project introduced students to the dehydration process and connected them to traditional food saving practices, all the while using their language for the hands-on activities, said William.

St. Labre Indian School, Montana

Earlier this year, teacher Roanne Hill used her $1,000 Dreamstarter Teacher grant to pull together a cultural gala featuring a prayer by an elder, a Crow language bowl and an Apsaalooke push dance competition.

On Reservations throughout Indian Country, there are thousands of families and elders who do not have clean running water. No water to drink. No water to wash, cook or bathe with. Obtaining water means driving miles to fill up containers, buckets, barrels and water tanks that will last them a week or two if they ration the precious liquid carefully.

For three years, through our Mni Wiconi (Water is Life) program, we have been connecting households without access to running water to the main service line which runs through the Pine Ridge Reservation.

In December 2016, in response to the great need and demand for a similar program on the Navajo Nation in Arizona we initiated our Diné Naabeehó Tó (the Navajo People’s) Water Challenge, providing water to families and elders who had no choice but to drive long distances for just a few days’ worth of water.

Since we began our first project on the reservation just over two years ago, we have completed 23 water connection hook-ups with six more pending.

Among those who have been helped is hydrant recipient Victoria who told us, “I have 2 grandkids” (a nine and a five year-old). She noted that the household appreciates “what you all doing for us. Now I don’t have to haul water, especially this kind of weather, muddy." Most importantly, she no longer has to travel up the Chuska mountain in Tsaile, Arizona to get it.

The cost to simply run a water line and install an outside hydrant is roughly $5,000 per household. This is not an exorbitant amount, but it's well out of reach for the hundreds of Navajo families and elders struggling simply to pay their monthly bills and put food on the table.

Running Strong for American Indian Youth® began our partnership with The Keya Foundation in 2016 with the selection of Annie Chasing Hawk as a Year 2 Dreamstarter and The Keya Foundation has her mentor organization.

Since that time, we have built a strong relationship, due in large part to Annie, a volunteer staff assistant for The Keya Foundation, who is continuing to pursue her dream through the foundation’s Lakota Youth Artistry Cooperative which she created.

“Teaming up with The Keya Foundation and their work with Lakota artists, I hope to bring it to the talented youth artists of Cheyenne River to help them get their start earlier in more hope for success for their futures,” Annie told us in her Dreamstarter application.

The mission of The Keya Foundation is to build organizational partnerships in underserved communities to provide knowledge, cultural renewal and social health to individuals and families, which will ensure a future of endurance, longevity and protection for people of the community.

The foundation accomplishes this mission by educating, training, hands-on learning, and developing programs that can be replicated by communities facing similar problems.

For 2019, Running Strong is supporting The Keya Foundation’s Lakota Language Children’s Book project which will consist of at least eight children’s books with stories told by Lakota elders on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation.

“The project will increase and help distribute the knowledge of the elders and the Lakota language through children’s books,” says Justine Kougl, director of The Keya Foundation.

“The entire community will be served through the knowledge passed on throughout the project,” she said. “This type of intergenerational programming is necessary in order to preserve the history and culture of the Native American people. The focus will be on youth learning the cultural history and taking ownership in the illustration and creation of the books that will preserve their own history.”

In the initial discussions with local elders, educators and youth, it was stressed how important it will be to reach out to all generations for teaching, but to focus on the youth and family experience as that is the way of the ancestors.

The Cheyenne River schools will be the center of project providing a safe, culturally rich environment to develop these books which will on to generation after generation.

The middle school and high school art class students will meet with Lakota elders who will teach them about the history of the Lakota people and tell a Lakota story to the youth.

The oral history will be recorded, videotaped if allowed, and transcribed by the Keya Foundation. It will then be broken out into pages for a children’s book at the 3rd-4th grade reading level.

English words will be translated into the Lakota language to support the Lakota language revitalization on Cheyenne River. The Keya Foundation will work closely with the elders and Lakota language classes at the Oglala Lakota College to preserve the sanctity of the language.

The two arts classes will then work through several class periods to illustrate the pages – est. 15-20 illustrations per book.

Each illustrated page will feature the youth artist’s picture, age and name. Each book will pay tribute to the Lakota elder who provided the historical story, and include a tribute page to those who have helped fund and organize the project. It will also include a summarized translation page with pronunciations of the Lakota words.

“The Keya Foundation is embracing the momentum from the Dreamstarter project which created the initial format and book,” said Justine. “Watching the young artists interact with elders outside their own tiyóspaye (family) is truly rewarding and opens up doors to new relationships for learning.

“The youth have ownership in their histories and these books are going to be around for generations to come. This has created a sense of importance, value and strength or each child involved.

“The Keya Foundation wants to be the inspiration for every elder of every tribe to band together with their youth, school, and communities’ members to put their histories into Native American children’s books for every person to learn from.

“It is the hope of this project to blend both the written and oral histories together and have them available through a central location (hopefully through Running Strong) in order for adults and youth alike to learn more of their language and culture.

The statistic is sobering: Preschool-aged Native American children have almost four times more cases of untreated tooth decay than white children – 43 percent compared with 11 percent, according to a 2015 report by the Pew Charitable Trust “The Oral Health Crisis Among Native Americans.”

This past year, through our Smile Strong program, we have provided thousands of children throughout Indian Country with dental kits containing a year’s worth of toothbrushes, a six-month supply of toothpaste and dental floss.

Among the organizations which have distributed Running Strong Smile Strong dental kits are: Spirit Lake Tribal Health in Fort Totten, North Dakota; the Northern Cheyenne Boys & Girls Club in Lame Deer, Montana; the Round Valley Unified School District Native American Studies Program in Covelo, California; the Navajo Hopi Honor Riders in Window Rock, Arizona; Kickapoo Head Start in Powhattan, Kansas; the Interfaith Action Department of Indian Works in St. Paul, Minnesota; and several others.

“We are very grateful to Running Strong for American Indian Youth® for providing necessary items that families can’t always afford. The dental kits provided all the necessary items children and their families need to access healthy dental care at home,” stated Cheryl Tuttle of the Round Valley Indian Tribes.

Cheryl told us of a grandmother raising her four grandchildren who was very grateful for the Smile Strong kits.

“She expressed how she barely has enough money to last the month for food and that it’s hard to make ends meet,” said Cheryl. “She thanked us multiple times for offering the dental kits.”

Cheryl also explained how many Native children will never visit a dentist no matter what.

“Some of our students refuse to go to the dentist, even to the point where their teeth are rotting out,” she said.

A mother in St. Paul told a youth counselor at the Interfaith Action Department of Indian Works that “Being able to receive dental kits for my kids has helped encourage them to brush their teeth more.

“They are excited because now they have their own box with their own toothpaste, floss and even a timer!” she said. “My 4-year-old son is proud to show me how good he brushed his teeth.”

In another instance in a conversation with a staff member and a student, the staff member (who had previously been a dental hygienist and had seen firsthand the effects of limited dental health care in Native communities) heard from a student that he had never been to a dentist.

“He was curious about taking care of his teeth,” reported the staff member, who was concerned about this and wanted to know if there was anything she could do for this student and was thrilled to learn that Running Strong was providing the organization with Smile Strong kits to distribute to the students.

DIW youth education coordinator Virginia Vogel told us that being a part of the Smile Strong dental program allows students and families the opportunity to obtain resources, such as the dental kits, that they would otherwise have to do without, while also providing the chance for education.

“Our staff has been able to use the dental kits as learning opportunities to expand students’ knowledge about their own bodies and gives them the chance to maintain their health,” said Virginia.

On Friday, February 8, Floria, a resident of Lukachukai, Arizona in Apache County on the Navajo Nation Reservation, reported she was off to the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority to pay her fees for a water hydrant Running Strong for American Indian Youth® just installed at her home.

And she was glad to do so.

“Our whole house needed water,” she had told us, noting that the household of her and her husband, their daughter and son-in-law and her two “grandbabies” had to carry water with buckets from her sister’s house or travel to the Chuska mountain in Tsaile to get water.

But that was before her sister happened to meet Running Strong Navajo Water Project Manager Cassandra Chee-Tom who mentioned the Diné Naabeehó Tó Challenge program to her and suggested that Floria apply.

Her sister “helped start all the paperwork,” noted Floria. “I couldn’t believe how fast the papers went through.”

Because Floria’s home does not have indoor plumbing and a septic system, Running Strong was only able to install an outdoor hydrant, but that does not matter to her and her family members who now have convenient access to all the running water they need for drinking, cooking, bathing and washing, right outside their door.

“I am happy to have the hydrant installed at my house,” she told us. “Now we don’t have to ask for water anymore.”

In the past year, thanks to our supporters, we have been able to connect 18 households just like Floria’s to the water line which runs through the reservation.

“Thank you very much. You all did something we are grateful for. Now I don’t have to take my water containers to my sister’s house to get water.

“The hydrant was installed on February 3 in one afternoon.

“Again, thank you!”

As far as Cassandra is concerned this is just what we do.

“Water is very precious on the Rez,” she commented, adding:

At Running Strong for American Indian Youth® we focus on many priorities for Native American children and families – including food, water, warmth, and shelter – all absolute necessities for life.

But we also know how critically important it is for Native children to grow up with a knowledge and respect of their traditions and language – who they are as a people.

Today there is a commitment among Native peoples across the country not to lose traditional knowledge as elders pass on, taking part of their tribes’ hundreds of years of histories with them.

The Yuchi Language Project

Among the language and cultural programs supported by Running Strong is theYuchi Language Project in Sapulpa, Oklahoma serving the Yuchi.

“We are working feverishly against the clock to keep alive our Yuchi language by linking our youth with remaining Elder speakers who are all in their 90s now,” says executive director Richard Grounds. “Our language is critical to our tribal ceremonies and all our traditional knowledge about medicines, history and cultural practices.

“By connecting our youth to their culture through the language they become stronger and more grounded in their identities as Native youth.”

This year marks the 23rd year of our partnership with Yuchi in support of its mission statement “to keep alive the rich heritage of the Yuchi people by creating new young speakers of our unique language through breath-to-breath immersion methods with fluent Elders and youth.”

The program takes in children as young as 3 years old into daily afterschool language immersion classes for youth up to age 18. It also includes a Master-Apprentice Program for young adults and instructors and a community language program in the evenings.

“We believe the greatest challenge facing the Yuchi community is keeping alive our unique language for future generations,” says Richard. “Our organization is dedicated to this cause but has challenges of limited funding and aging speakers. Our opportunity to work with Elders is limited due to their health and ages.

The youngest of the three fluent speakers is 92 years old, he told us in September 2017. “This means our work is of the utmost urgency.”

But thanks to the efforts of the Yuchi Language Project, in recent years it has produced at least a dozen speakers who are competent to teach the language and who are active in bringing the language back into the three active Yuchi ceremonial grounds.

“We have a clear understanding of what it takes to grow new, young speakers as we bring together Elders and youth,” he said. “The help from Running Strong empowers important program areas that would otherwise go unsupported.”

About the Yuchi People

“yUdjEha nAnô sôKAnAnô -- We Yuchi People, we are still here,” Yuchi Elder Mose Cahwee used to proclaim.

“The beautiful part of his expression is that it is spoken in the special language that was given to us by the Creator,” said Richard. “By using the language it thereby signals in the strongest way possible, that we are still here because we are still able to speak to you in the language that you gave us.”

Yuchi is what linguists call an “isolate,” meaning it has no apparent relationship to any other language or language family, notes an article in the Tulsa World. The grammatical structure is awkward for English speakers, and, similar to many Native languages, it is more spatially oriented.

There are no books or dictionaries of the Yuchi language, except for a 100-year-old ethnography and a group of stories collected in the 1920s which Richard describes as virtually useless.

“We don’t want to preserve what was,” he told the Tulsa World. “We want to preserve what is.”

The Elders

As of December 2011, Mose had passed on and only five Elders who were raised as monolingual Yuchi speakers were still alive – Henry Washburn, Josephine Keith, Maxine Barnett, Josephine Bigler and Martha Squire – who were all in their 80s and 90s, wrote Renee Grounds in the Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine. Since 2011, Josephine Bigler, Henry Washburn, and Martha Squire have passed on.

The five chose to dedicate their last years to keeping the language alive by teaching Yuchi youth at the Yuchi House in Sapulpa.

“They are motivated by a deep sense that they are the last keepers of an ancient way of being in the world, which will be lost forever if they do not act quickly,” wrote Renee.

Washburn, known in his Yuchi name as K’asA, was the last of the elder male speakers.

“Because men and women speak differently in terms of pronouns, noun classes, and family terms, K’asA is the only person who can teach young men how to speak the male version of the Yuchi language,” wrote Renee. “Yuchi men carry the important responsibility of giving tobacco to the deceased in order to reunite them with those who have gone before them.

“This ceremony can only be conducted in the language and fortunately over the past few years K’asA has been able to teach other Yuchi men how to properly carry out this ceremony.”

On December 23, 2012, K’asA passed away at the age of 88 but his impact will be felt for generations.

Another Yuchi elder Maggie Cumsey Marsey passed away in 2008 at the age of 89.

Like Mose and and Henry, Maggie spent the last years of her life passing on her knowledge to the younger generations of Yuchi youth and adults.

“She was a gifted speaker of the Euchee language, one of the last women speakers that talked in the old way,” stated her obituary. “She was dedicated to passing forward the knowledge of her language and she had been involved in various Euchee language classes during her lifetime.”

In 1997, her language work was recognized by the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The text of the award, written in Yuchi , was composed by Mose and awarded at the U.N. Celebration of the International Decade of Indigenous Peoples in Tulsa.

Maggie was particularly helpful to the Yuchi Language Project staff with the monthly oral language presentations they made to the Yuchi community. Her specialty was translating scripture, and one of her accomplishments was translating The Lord’s Prayer.

The Next Generation

Currently, one young toddler in a language immersion class is learning new Yuchi words everyday. At the age of 2, he is beginning to speak Yuchi at home and plays games with his siblings in Yuchi.

“This is the first time in 4 generations that babies have spoken Yuchi!” reported a staff member at the Yuchi Language Project.

And to the supporters of Running Strong who enable us to provide financial assistance to the Yuchi Language Project for its support year after year, Richard Grounds has this to say:

On the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, $1,000 (or $998.54 to be exact) goes a long way in the development of a child’s education.

Thanks to the supporters of Running Strong for American Indian Youth®, we were able to provide a grant to the Lakota Waldorf School to purchase art supplies for students.

“The Lakota children of the Pine Ridge Reservation face many challenges that children of other historical backgrounds don’t have to,” reported teacher Celestine Stadnick who applied last year for a Dreamstarter Teacher grant.

“Art is a tool that applied correctly can help mend emotional wounds,” she said, adding that at Lakota Waldorf children “are provided with a curriculum that is focused on the very individual needs they bring to the school.”

With the grant funding, Celestine was able to purchase high-quality art supplies that the children had never had the opportunity to use before, including Blick colored pencils which “…are highly pigmented, smooth and enable a very fulfilling drawing experience for the children.”

Along with the pencils, she was able to purchase plenty of painting paper, acrylic paint and paint brushes so students had the opportunity to be creative in ways that best suited them.

“Art is an element that is woven throughout daily lives for the Lakota Waldorf Students,” she explained. “It is a tool used to transmit information, develop social skills, experience emotions that are relevant for teachers, and it has a healing effect on students.”

The art instruction provided several benefits for the students including:

Creating a portal for students to express themselves

Teaching artistic skills

Furthering fine motor skills

Relieving students’ stress levels and anxiety

Developing healthy identities

Building self-esteem

Celestine described how one student in particular “experienced a large transition” as a result of the art classes.

“He has a vivid imagination and great care for the people around him, but lacks fine motor skills,” she said.

“Doing art was something he wasn’t familiar with and in the beginning, he often thought it was about creating beautiful results,” she continued.

“After a few weeks he finally started understanding that his art wasn’t for others to be judged, it was only for his own inner life.

“He now creates very original, creative and deep art,” she said. “He understands that making art in my classroom is about the artist – and not about the consumer.

“Witnessing his transition into a boy that is in touch with his emotions and his surroundings has been a wonderful experience for me.”

With the seed money for art supplies Celestine received from her Dreamstarter Teacher grant, she is now able to improve the artistic experiences of her students.

“The arts are very important to Native youth,” she said. “It isn’t only one of our ancient ways of telling our stories, but also helps the children cope with life’s challenges. This program will continue on into the future as its necessity is clear to all teachers and administrators.

Although its January and on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation the low temperatures will remain in the teens for the next several weeks and the ground will remain frozen, gardening on the reservation has begun at the Oyate Teca Project in anticipation of the warm spring and summer weather.

On January 9, Oyate Teca, the newest field office of Running Strong for American Indian Youth®, hosted an informational community meeting explaining everything they would be teaching to Pine Ridge families interested in growing their own organic vegetables and fruits, reported executive director Rose Fraser.

“We had a record-breaking attendance of 32 participants, doubling the attendance from last year,” Rose told us, adding that attendance at the first class on January 23 was 50 people who came to learn the six steps to successful gardening, and six elements to control. “These are foundational teachings.”

“I panicked there for a minute running to the kitchen to see if we had enough food” (as the classes include an evening meal), she said. “Luckily, we had enough food to feed everyone.”

Rose described them as “an awesome group of people” from the communities of Wanblee, Calico, Pine Ridge, Batesland, Manderson, Martin, Oglala, Porcupine, Allen and Kyle with some driving as far as 70 miles round trip to attend.

Enrollment will remain open through February 6 so the number could increase even more, which Rose admits makes her a bit nervous about the success of the program.

“I’m worried about funding…where the money is going to come from to help pay for the incentives for participants and basically doubling up on office supplies, food and most of all space,” she said, wondering if she may have to rent a larger space to accommodate them all.

The gardening program is quite a commitment for Rose, the Oyate Teca staff and for the participants who will be attending the two-hour sessions for the next nine months, from before any seeds are planted until after the final tomato, squash and potato is harvested for the season.

Participants will attend 16 indoor classes focusing on several different gardening techniques including row gardening, container gardening, square-foot gardening, hay bale gardening and utilizing what is known as the Mittleider gardening method.

Each gardening technique contains a series of lessons including soil nutrition, soil deficiencies, organic fertilizers, garden planning, planting schedules, garden layout, as well as providing information as to how to plant for their family, and how to pursue potential season income selling their surplus at the Oyate Teca Farmers Market.

Once the growing season begins following the last frost in May, participants will take part in several outdoor classes in Oyate Teca’s community garden led by master gardener Chet Marks who has more than four decades of gardening experience. There they will gain hands-on experience to utilize in their own gardens.

Included in the gardening program are classes in preservation, where they will learn how to can their vegetables and fruits using both the water bath method and using a pressure canner. They also learn both traditional and current dehydration methods.

For those interested in selling produce at the farmers market, entrepreneurial classes in food handling, financial literacy, business planning, GAP (Good Agricultural Practice) and CPR/first aid are also offered.

“All of these classes have proven to be effective,” says Rose, who has hosted the gardening classes for the past several years.

Participants are required to attend the mandatory classes and receive incentives such as rakes, shovels, stirrup hoes, garden forks, hand tools and gloves and hats. In addition, they receive seeds, soil and trays to start their seedlings, organic fertilizers and a sprayer.

The learning materials and resources will be available to them on a flash drive, binders, day planners that they can all keep together in a Running Strong backpack.

“Tools needed for success as we call them,” she said.

Through the years Rose has seen the success of dozens of families who came to their first class with nothing but a desire to transform a portion of their yard into a garden and throughout the season become filled with more vegetables and fruits than their family can consume which they sell at the farmers market for much-needed extra income, preserve to have on hand for the long winter months, and simply just to give a portion of their bounty away to family and friends.

Thanks to the supporters of Running Strong for American Indian Youth®, and our partners including the Director of the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Emergency Management (OSTDEM) Steve Wilson and Outreach Coordinator Maretta Champagne, Tipi Raisers, and others, numerous homes damaged by a devastating hail storm on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in July have been repaired.

Running Strong field staffer Ken Lone Elk (Oglala Lakota) led the effort beginning shortly after the hail storm which shattered countless windows, stripped vinyl siding from the outside of mobile homes, damaged roofs and more.

Ken, a long-time resident of Pine Ridge, knew the best way to tackle the problem was to coordinate with the OSTDEM and other nongovernmental agencies working on Pine Ridge in an organized effort.

His first priority was reaching out to Steve, who being relatively new to the job, did not know Ken, but quickly learned that Ken was someone he wanted to work with.

With the obvious widespread damage, Steve knew that the tribal government would not be able to go it alone.

“We can’t do everything ourselves,” said Steve. “We need to get everyone involved.”

Maretta said the partnership between the tribe and the nonprofits would not have happened without Ken’s initiative.

“Ken came in and was instrumental in formulating this group,” she said. “He stepped up when nobody else did and for that I’m grateful. We didn’t have that before.”

The first steps involved in providing repairs to some 550 homes, amounting to an estimated $10 million in damages, was to get everyone at the table – the tribe, Running Strong, Tipi Raisers, and others to plot out a coordinated plan of action and to ensure there would be no overlap and duplication of services.

The first question Ken posed at their initial gathering was, “How can we help each other?”

From there the nine districts of Pine Ridge were divided up, no easy task considering its size – 3,468 square miles and larger than the states of Delaware and Rhode Island combined.

With Ken leading the charge, he volunteered Running Strong to take on the most remote districts reaching out to those most in need who are the hardest to reach, and most unlikely to ask for help despite their dire circumstances.

Through the partnership, thanks to the supporters of Running Strong, we were able to purchase windows, siding and other building materials in bulk at a great savings, with the materials to be stored at Tipi Raisers’ warehouse near the small community of Oglala where many mobile homes had been severely damaged.

In January, Ken reported that for the Oglala project alone, Running Strong purchased nearly $7,500 worth of siding, lumber, shingles, nails, screws and more, and that does not include the windows – and all of that goes a long way when they are being used with volunteer labor.

As of just a few days ago, Ken reported that they had completed 59 of the 61 mobile home projects in the Oglala neighborhood known as Belt Village.

Despite the snow storms which have closed roads for days on the reservation, and the frigid weather, Ken, the Tipi Raisers and their volunteers, the Oglala Sioux Tribe staff and others have been working diligently to ensure these families have a warm safe home to live in this winter.

“It actually happened,” commented Steve.

Ken knows none of this would have happened without the generous help of the supporters of Running Strong from throughout the country, and the spirit of cooperation of all the other organizations banding together in this time of great need for hundreds of Pine Ridge families.

“I am extremely grateful to the other nonprofits for their eagerness to help,” said Ken.

It started with a dream… to provide Osage Nation children with the opportunity to learn ballet that connects to their cultural heritage.

Now Running Strong for American Indian Youth® 2016 Dreamstarter Jenna Smith is seeing it happen beyond her wildest dreams.

Just this week we learned from Osage Ballet Director Randy Tinker Smith (who also happens to be Jenna’s mom) that as a result of Jenna receiving her Dreamstarter grant, this past Fall students at Pawhuska high and middle schools will be allowed to choose dance as an elective. Likewise, if students choose to pursue dance as both of their electives, they have the opportunity to earn credit.

“We will have phenomenal results artistically with these kids!” Randy said.

In addition, due to all the publicity from Jenna’s Dreamstarter project over $50,000 was raised in the past two years for productions of the Nutcracker Ballet.

In December of 2017, production featured 64 children (most of whom attended Jenna’s Dreamstarter class) and every child who auditioned received a role. Every seat sold out in the 555-seat Constantine Theater in Pawhuska, one of the oldest operating theaters in the state which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In December of 2018, the most recent production of the Nutcracker, approximately 650 children were invited to performances of the Nutcracker. The ballet was also performed for 2 public performances.

While the Constantine Theater is a lovely space, its stage is less than 28 feet wide and a stage up to 50 feet wide is needed to accommodate all the students who want to be able to dance to their full potential. (“They run into each other on stage, so hold back in their performance,” says Randy.)

And right now, an Osage tribal member is working on a feasibility study to determine if a performing arts theater can be constructed to meet the demand.

The state arts council is so excited about this prospect that they are working to see how they all can make it happen and assist them in the process, including helping to secure grants.

The local government is also an enthusiastic supporter of the proposed arts center.

“When I told the city manager about the theater, he said to be sure and let him know where we want to put the theater because the city will want to participate in this project,” said Randy.

“We will most likely end up being an arts magnet school which will bring new families into our community,” she added. “All of this in a town of 3,500 people!”

“And it all started with a man who said, ‘Let’s help them see their dreams come true.’”

Tuesday, January 15 marks day 25 of the federal government shutdown, now the longest in U.S. history, and it’s no surprise that Native Americans both on reservations, such as the Pine Ridge Indian and Cheyenne River Sioux Reservations in South Dakota, and off reservations are bearing the brunt.

“Native American tribes have missed out on millions of dollars in federal funding for basic services,” The New York Times reported Sunday.

And the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, South Dakota reported last week that “South Dakota tribes fear loss of jobs, food assistance programs as shutdown lingers.”

While Running Strong for American Indian Youth®, of course, cannot replace the responsibilities of the federal government, with the generous assistance of our supporters we are able to provide much-needed assistance to thousands of Native children and families.

Right now, we have already taken steps to ship urgent emergency food supplies to our field office, Tipi Waste Un Zanipi (Wellness Through a Good Home) on Pine Ridge, and to our longtime partner on Cheyenne River, the Eagle Butte Food Pantry.

Sen. Red Dawn Foster, who represents Pine Ridge in the South Dakota State Legislature, told the Argus Leader that the Oglala Sioux Tribe has been impacted “pretty heavily” by the shutdown due to the fact that a large portion of its budget is federally funded.

“A lot of our Indian Health Service employees live paycheck to paycheck and they’re dependent on this,” she said. “They’re already overworked and understaffed, and to have this economic worry on top of that, creates a more fragile environment that therefore impacts our citizens.”

If the shutdown continues, the concern is that it will hurt the Oglala Sioux’s economy and have real-life consequences for people, she said.

Running Strong Field Staffer on Pine Ridge Ken Lone Elk is seeing those “real-life consequences” firsthand.

As we have for 20 years, Running Strong is in the midst of our Heat Match program providing utility assistance to hundreds of Pine Ridge families who need help raising $200, the minimum required to have a propane truck come to their home and fill up their tank.

Since the program started on January 7, Ken expects to have received 700 applications from families to match their $100 with another $100 from Running Strong by the end of the week.

While it is always busy at this time of year for Ken and field coordinator Dave Lone Elk, who oversees the Heat Match program, Ken reported that he is seeing many families coming to them for assistance for the first time.

“We received many people that never used our services before,” he told us.

And even Ken’s own family is not immune from the devastating impact caused by the shutdown.

“My two granddaughters were ordered to work without pay,” he said. “They were classified as essential staff” at the Pine Ridge Hospital where they work in the emergency ward.

On Cheyenne Ridge, things are no better.

Joye Braun of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe told the website Truthout that nurses at the IHS facility in Eagle Butte are not only going unpaid, but they even have to walk to work because they cannot afford gas.

“Many programs that are trust responsibilities of the government — services we’ve paid for with land and resources and forcible removal — are dependent on federal dollars,” Braun said. “Health care, police officers and other federal employees are working without pay. What’s going to happen when services are stopped and tribes who already face huge economic disparages can’t cover costs for basic services? People already can’t afford gas, or food.”

To do what we can in this time of great need on the already hard-hit families on Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River 1,000 boxes of nonperishable food items are on the way to Pine Ridge, with an additional 700 slated to arrive in Eagle Butte by the first week of February.

And that’s on top of 1,700 boxes of frozen food we had already scheduled for January for both reservations.

Food and warmth – there’s nothing more important than that to help Lakota families survive the long winters where it’s not uncommon for temperatures to drop below zero.

Ken knows that the next several weeks will be hard on the families on both reservations, particularly in light of the fact that of course, they have no way of knowing how devastating the impact of the government shutdown will ultimately be, but he is not discouraged and remains full of faith in his people.

“What I do know is that when this happens, the Tribal employees keep on working without pay. This I know because it has happened two or three times in the past.

Christmas is over, and New Year’s Day is just a few days away, but residents of Pine Ridge are looking forward to another important day on the reservation – Monday, January 7 – the first day of this year’s Running Strong for American Indian Youth® Heat Match program.

Winter has arrived on Pine Ridge with blizzard conditions prompting the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety to issue a warning on December 26th alerting residents that they are under a winter storm advisory for the next two days and that no travel is advised.

Running Strong field coordinator Dave Lone Elk is already fielding dozens of calls at his office, Tipi Waste Un Zanipi (Wellness Through a Good Home) in Porcupine, explaining to callers that the Heat Match Program will begin soon.

Through the program, families who set aside $100 and purchase a money order and deliver it to the field office will have their contribution matched $100 by Running Strong for American Indian Youth® in order to reach the $200 minimum required to have a propane truck come to their house and fill their tank.

According to a report in U.S. News & World Report, less than half of Pine Ridge residents rely on electricity for home heating in recent years, with more than half using propane.

“That means on the roughly 2 million acre reservation – where census estimates show the median household income is approximately $31,000 and more than half of people live below the poverty line – it can be more feasible for residents to buy propane and wood to burn for heat, often consuming a significant portion of a household’s income and leaving less for other needs,” states the September, 2018 article.

The cost of propane, and having it delivered to homes on the rural reservation, is expensive – even more expensive than electricity.

Households using propane to heat their homes during the winter would spend $1,661 on average, compared with those predicted to spend $980 on electricity during the same period, according to the article.

“When fuel runs out, people on Pine Ridge may have to choose between food and paying to heat their homes, which in winter can become a life-or-death decision,” states U.S. News & World Report.

Each year for 20 years Running Strong has been working – thanks to our supporters -- to raise the heat on Pine Ridge through the Heat Match program.

The number of families assisted and elderly kept warm through the program over the course of two decades numbers in the tens of thousands: In the winter of 2018 alone, between early January and mid-March a total of 1,034 families participated in the program.

The dollar amount is not insignificant either as during the several weeks the program was in operation, Running Strong – thanks to hundreds of our generous supporters – expended a total of $108,400.

This year we are already on track to provide even more Heat Match grants– thanks in large part to long-time Running Strong supporter Steve Lauri who has generously agreed to match dollar-for-dollar gifts designated to the Heat Match program so that a gift of $100 is doubled and ensures that two households will stay warm this winter.

In addition to the winter storms impacting the reservation, the low temperatures for Dec. 28 are 7 degrees, and 1 below for New Year’s Eve – not including the wind chill factor.

After assisting 902 families during the particularly cold winter of 2017 on Pine Ridge, Dave reported that:

“We had another successful Heat Match this year. Temperatures dropped to -20 below and I really feel that we came through in a big way for a lot of families on the reservation.”

“During these harsh winter months we have provided heating assistance to over 900 families on the Pine Ridge reservation,” Dave continued. “That means a lot of children stayed warm when the temperatures dropped drastically in January coupled with a few random winter storms that pummeled the area with freezing rain and snow.