Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota is in a crisis/mergency/life or death

[walksalone11]

I received this from : cyreita@hotmail.com

Good Evening All:

I am sorry to email you in this manner but I am responding to a humanitarian crisis here the US . I will begin by giving you a chance to read the copy of the letter below:



We need to get the word out asap. The Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota is in a crisis/mergency/life or death situation as we speak/. We must get the word out as regular media could care less. There has been an ongoing blizzard and 6000 electric poles are snapped leaving 17,000 people without electricity. The electric company has left because of the blizzard. They said it will be 21 days at least before their electricity is restored. The people have no heat =,water, electricity and the situation is grim. We must find funding for generators or many lives will be lost. Cheyenne River reservation is so remote. This is an emergency. We must get the word out.


This letter came from the organization pathwaystospirit.org please spread the word and call the congressional and senate representatives and ask them how they can allow Native Americans to die like this. We need the National Guard to help and we need monetary support please if you have media contacts please encourage their participation in getting this story out.

If you want an understanding if there is such goto your search engine or youtube.com and type in search"poverty on the pine ridge reservation".

Whatever you can do to help get the word out is appreciated. Thank you and you will not receive another email as I am not soliciting but trying to call attention to and get support for indian country

[hasanmiah646]

i dont belive this if its true it would be all over the news.

[walksalone11]

I am going to say this as respectfully as I possibly can.........***deep breath*** I have Relatives on this Rez.

It is very true.

[hasanmiah646]

then call cnn... and tell em about it. im sure they can get it all over the news and ppl will c and the ppl can help.

[walksalone11]

LOL.....I live this, ya kno?
We have begged many times to the mass media to tell our stories.......not going to happen.
Can you imagine CNN reporting how many millions the government is spending in Haiti and we can't even get the National Guard or Red Cross to assist in efforts here? Ya right.....ya know there is a saying....."lead, follow or get the hell out of the way"
You may insert your head back into the sand....or where ever you stick it, now.





Laury Anne
"To help, we were told the following:
Send an email to the Tribal Treasurer (Benita Clark) at crsttreasurer@yahoo.com informing her of what you'd like to donate and specify what/where you want it to be used for (propane, busted pipes, food, etc). And, who you would like to provide the donation to (elderly, children, ranchers, anyone). Her contact ... See Moreinformation is (work) 964-4426, (cell) 200-1013 (fax) 964-8305. Sammi, who is working on the task force in Cheyenne River, said for now it is the best way to make sure the community members needs are being addressed."

[walksalone11]

http://www.oglalalakotanation.org/Home_files/January%2026%20Press%20Release.pdf

Oglala Sioux Tribe
PINE RIDGE INDIAN RESERVATION
Loretta Afraid of Bear~Cook
“Anpetu Luta Win”
Post Office Box 2070 ~ Pine Ridge, So. Dakota ~ 57770
Mobile: (605) 441 | 5692 ~ Fax: (605) 867 | 6076
Email: Loretta@oglala.org
Office of Public Relatio...ns
*******************************************************************************
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE:
OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE’S POSITION ON RECENT FINANCIAL SOLICITING IN THE NAME OF THE
OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE IN REGARDS TO SEVERE WEATHER STATE OF EMERGENCY RELIEF.
For more information, contact:
Loretta Afraid of Bear-Cook, OST Public Relations
C/O: OST Media Center
Telephone: (605) 454-2592 | e-mail: Loretta@oglala.org
*******************************************************************************
PINE RIDGE, So. DAKOTA - The Oyate (People) of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
recently experienced a series of harsh blizzards and extreme weather beginning in late December. Hundreds of
families were ill prepared for the high winds, whiteouts and heavy snowfall that closed all roads and highways across
the reservation. Many households eventually ran out of propane, firewood, food and medical supplies.
Tribal President, Theresa Two Bulls, immediately established a Command Post out of her office and organized the
Emergency Management Team to begin the task of assessing the situation. The team paid particular attention to tribal
members with severe medical needs such as heart and dialysis patients. The Oglala (Sioux) Lakota Housing Authority
under the direction of Paul Iron Cloud; the Energy Assistance Director, Denise King Red Owl; Monica Terkildsen,
Emergency Response; and David Kelly from the OST Transportation Department; all provided the core guidance to
the agencies to ensure that all calls were addressed. Without the care and compassion of all resource agencies, the task
of responding to the needs would have been next to impossible.
The disaster prompted other tribes, non-profit corporation and individuals to respond with food, clothing and financial
assistance. Sadly, the disaster had also resulted in tribal members and outside organizations “scamming” for funding
on the internet claiming to raise funds for the poor and needy on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. President Two
Bulls advises the public that these Organizations have not received permission from the Oglala Sioux Tribe to solicit
funds on behalf of the Oglala tribal membership.
President Two Bulls requests that any Tribe, organization or individual who wish to donate for emergency assistance
can send directly to the Oglala Sioux Tribe in care of Dean Patton, Treasurer, Oglala Sioux Tribe, P.O. Box 2070, Pine
Ridge, South Dakota 57770. Mr. Patton has established an emergency fund for such donations. Funds will be used
exclusively for heating costs for electrical, propane, fuel oil and firewood needs. The Housing and Energy Assistance
funds have been depleted.
The Oglala Sioux Tribe is very grateful to the organizations, tribes and individuals who have contacted President Two
Bulls with generous outpouring of help for this ongoing need. President Two Bulls also expresses her sincere
gratitude to all who have kept the Oglala Sioux Tribe in their prayers. She can be contacted via her direct line: (605)
867-4021, or e-mail: theresatb@oglala.org.
Update: Due to the State of Emergency on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, the Oglala Sioux Tribe opened
the doors at the Prairie Wind Casino Hotel to care for 25 dialysis patients and 10 supporting staff from Cheyenne
River. According to media reports, electrical power will be restored in approximately 10 to 14 days.
For more information and updates, log on to the official website of the Oglala Sioux Tribe:
www.oglalalakotanation.org.

[walksalone11]

This is for the 20 or so folks that actually took the time to open this thread so far.

as for everyone else........I surly wouldn't want to interrupt someone with life altering events like identifying a movie title(472 views) deciding the best search engine(152 views) or figuring out preferences for mostly trivial "this and thats" (235 views)......


From E-mail......


"We all know that lots of people are out of propane or cannot pay for their electricity bills. There are some lists of names that are going around with some electrical companies to call to pay for their debt. Please be aware these lists are turning around, not always updated so not really accurate. At the end, we don't know which of these people are in an emergency situation or not and what they need.

To really help these people in what they need the most, you can contact these organizations that are on the reservation. They know the need for their people. And they'll tell you what you can do and for who. Real people in real need!!
These ones are for Pine Ridge reservation:

Wanblee Senior Citizens
200 Cluster Housing Rd
Wanblee, South Dakota 57577
605-462-6112
contact person is Julia Randall

Crazy Horse School
c/o Denise Standing Bear
P.O. Box 260
Wanblee, South Dakota 57577
(605) 455-6808
contact person is Denise Standing Bear, Sped. Dept.

Wanblee Community Action Program
Wanblee, South Dakota 57577
605-462-6302
contact person is Leslie Ashley or Theresa High Horse

They will know who needs what, if it is food, propane, money for the electricity bills, medicine or clothing."

[flame6453]

Hey is there any way i can donate some money to help them online, I would like to do something to help and I totally agree with your reasoning as to why it isn't all over the news, we can send millions to help Haiti but people are starving on the streets all over america everyday. I've got nothing against Haiti I helped there too but i think we need to be doing more at home.

[acurtsinger2]

sometimes are eyes are closed to such things in our own country.  I'm sorry to hear that this is going on!!!

[mgarmstrong]

sometimes are eyes are closed to such things in our own country.  I'm sorry to hear that this is going on!!!

I have to agree....We dispatch millions of dollars to other countries but do not help our own.