We just adopted a canine a few weeks ago. We were told her mother was 1/2 Timberwolf, and 1/2 German Shepherd. Her father was said to be full blooded White German Shepherd. When we arrived at the "breeder's" home we were horrified to see the way the animals were living. We believe it is a puppy mill. We did not bring money to purchase her, but we left to go to an ATM right away. We could not think of leaving her there another minute. The breeder would not allow us to see the father for many excuses. All the adults were chained to trees and the pups (12-15) were running free. It was a horrible scene. We brought Sage home and took her to the vet as soon as we could. She was diagnosed with hookworms and roundworms. The vet said in a few days she could have died.
We very badly wanted to keep her, but the more we researched about her breeds ways, we began to realize our home was not the best place for her. The girls were scared because of her behavior very much unlike a regular pup. So I reached out to some of you and found great help and information from a few of you. Thank you so much you know who you are. Anyway, I began to write to wolf sanctuaries and rescues all over the United States. I finally received help from Danya from Arizona and she directed me to a woman near us that ran a pet boarding business. Brandi is the most amazing woman and she very graciously helped us with taking Sage on as her own.
Recently she said that Sage already has two applications in for potential adoptions. One in Ohio and the other in Florida. I am so blessed to have had Sage in our life and we forever will have her in our hearts. I hope whoever gets to have her in their lives continues to send me pictures of her and let us know how her personality unravels. Anyway this is our story of our beautiful wolf dog and her journey to health. She is doing amazing and is going to be around for many moons to come!
Album:Sage Fire
We just adopted a canine. We were told her mother was 1/2 Timberwolf, and 1/2 German Shepherd. Her father was said to be full blooded White German Shepherd. Her name is Sage.
Add joy to a child's holiday and experience for yourself the feelings of the true spirit of Christmas. 800 boxes are on their way to Pine Ridge.We still need 300 Christmas gifts for children of all ages. To help, contact Marcia McMorrow ( freemar@localnet.com This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it )
What is the Gift Box Program?
The Christmas Gift Box Program sends gift boxes to children on the Pine Ridge Reservation, the present-day home of the Lakota Sioux Indians in southwest South Dakota, near the Nebraska border. For many children in most years, this will be the ONLY Christmas gift they get!! We are taught to have compassionate hearts and to give of ourselves for those in need and those who suffer. And the American Indians on the Pine Ridge, and other reservations, are among the poorest and most underprivileged people in our big country.
What does it take to work with the Gift Box Program?
It just takes a desire to help, and you can work with us as an individual or as a group. Of course, a group can be more fun working together, and can gather more gift boxes. There is no formal commitment and no fees; just you and us working together. You get to do your own gift box activity, but we will always be there to help and to answer questions. And we at ONE Spirit will coordinate the timing and the delivery of the gift boxes.
If you can’t send gift boxes, please send a donation
If you want to support the Gift Box effort but don’t want to send gift boxes, you can send a donation. A check for $25 will give a Christmas gift (a nice box of gifts and shipping) to one child on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Of course, larger checks will give Christmas gifts to more children.
Make out your check to ONE / ONE Spirit, write "Gift Box Program" in the memo line, and send it to:
ONE Spirit P.O. Box 2595 Chesterfield, VA 23832
Or send via Paypal to OneSpirit@one1.org This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
Picture above is the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1968.
Today conditions have become worse due to population increases......
"The housing shortage on the Pine Ridge Reservation is so severe that only 16 people living in a four bedroom house is considered lucky. Next door there are 23 people living in a three bedroom house."
Rapid City Journal
http://nativeprogress.org/content/view/31/50/
Early morning unloading of the truckload of beds ONE Spirit Bed Program provides beds for American Indian people, especially children and elders living on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
We want to see that every person there has a bed to sleep in and adequate bedding to be warm in the subzero temperatures of a South Dakota winter. We hope that our efforts in raising money for beds and bedding can provide Native People in our own country with at least a small taste of the comforts that most of us take for granted as the basics. We are enormously blessed in comparison, and with blessings comes the responsibility to share! Please help us achieve this goal one person, one family, one bed at a time; it is one of the most compassionate things you can do! All of us in ONE Spirit thank you for helping!
The Need for Beds
Residents loading beds to take home after the big truckload delivery. Next to housing and food, probably the most needed item in everyday American Indian reservation family life is a comfortable and warm place to sleep.
On the Pine Ridge Reservation almost all homes have at least one person, and sometimes entire families, sleeping on the floor. Floors are hard and uncomfortable for sleeping, especially for the elders, and get very cold in winter.
In warm weather family members, especially children, suffer insect bites, some from the brown recluse spider. The problem is even worse in homes shared by extended families where numerous people may sleep on the basement floor.
What We Do
We buy beds and deliver them to homes where they are needed. We also work in cooperation with Re-Member an organization on the reservation that builds bunk beds for kids. Each bed that we deliver consists of a frame, a box spring, and a decent quality mattress. Bedding includes a sheet and pillow case set, a pillow, and at least one blanket. Each delivery includes extermination of bed bugs, if necessary.
Feedback: Some Bed Stories
One of the first beds delivered as part of this program was to an elderly woman who was sleeping on the basement floor in the home of her grandchildren. When the bed was delivered, the woman started crying and said that she had never had her own bed before, in all of her 80 years on this planet!
Please consider helping to provide a warm place to sleep for children and elders. Contact us at: ONE Spirit Bed Program
Okini is a Lakota word meaning to share material things. A ONE Spirit goal is to help strengthen families by sharing the material things with which most of us are blessed. Every day, families who do not have sponsors ask for help with urgent needs for clothing or for household supplies such as electric cooking pots and skillets, kitchen supplies, blankets and sheets.
The Okini program coordinates resources to meet these needs. Many individuals or groups join the Okini program and assist with providing items directly to the family who needs them.
You can help us to meet the critical needs of Lakota families. Whether we warm a home, put food on the dinner table, buy a pair of shoes, or provide clothing for children, together we can help a family provide security for their children. If you or your group has access to household supplies that are in extremely good condition that you would be willing to ship to a family on the reservation, you can become a “Donation Center” for the Okini Program.
We email lists of needs to Donation Centers and when someone has one of the items listed, they ship it directly to the family. In the past month we have provided families with coats for children, blankets, kitchen supplies and more.
This program can also use donations to help purchase items not practical to be shipped and to help donors with shipping costs. Recently, a grandmother caring for 8 grandchildren requested help with a water heater. For the past few months, she has been meeting her needs for hot water by heating water on a small hot plate. This makes baths and cleaning very difficult. Through donations, we were able to purchase a hot water heater and the men in the community donated their time to install it in her home.
Support Lakota economic initiatives for self sufficiency including a Fair Market for jewelry and Arts, Women’s Sewing Co-Ops, and Wind Power Projects.
We support initiatives developed by the Lakota people by working together with them to identify needed resources and means of funding. Some initiatives are the Women’s Sewing co-ops, Fair Market for Crafts, and a wind power project that will harness the constant wind on the plains to provide electrical needs.
You can help the Lakota people renew their economy and their communities. This project promotes development that brings jobs and educational opportunities to both the youth and the adult members of the tribe.
Fair Markets for Arts and Crafts
Many of the artists on the reservation produce high quality, original, creative work. They are much in need of outlets for their products that will pay them a fair price for their work. Some of our sponsors and friends work with individual artists to locate and utilize likely markets. If you can help and would like to be involved in this project, please contact Sue Schuster, Sioux_Sue84@hotmail.com This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it , 315-737-7615
Women’s Sewing Co-Ops
Women in different areas of the reservation have formed sewing circles to both make clothes for their own families and to make quilts and other items to sell both on and off the reservation.
If you would like more information about how you can help either by sending sewing supplies or providing markets for the finished products, please contact Sue Schuster, Sioux_Sue84@hotmail.com This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it , 315-737-7615.
One of the most important aspects of One Spirit's work is to support the continuation of the Lakota cultural traditions while helping youth develop their talents and believe in their hopes and dreams. It is in this spirit that we have been invited to work with the leaders and youth of the Pass Creek district to help build the Buffalo Children's Society.
The programs and plans have been developed by the adults and youth of the Pass Creek District. These programs meet a serious need in that they provide opportunities and activities that:
are enticing to young people
give them productive, positive alternatives to involvement in self destructive activities
For those of us at One Spirit, it is a unique way of working with the Lakota people that exemplifies our philosophy of supporting their initiatives. The community has a long-term plan for this program, called The Buffalo Children’s Society, that will provide real hope and support for the youth. This project is beginning with the Allen Art Project.
The Allen Art Project
The Art Project is comprised of three phases.
The first phase: painting the basement space to be used for art activities and preparing the wall for a mural, has been completed. Thanks to a generous donor, money was made available for the paint and supplies. The young people, under the upervision of John DuBray, Administrator Assistant of the Pass Creek District, completed the work. The space is being used for art activities and for community events.
The second phase: setting up a web site so that the youth can display and sell their work. Again, through a generous donor, a new computer and printer were donated and 6 months of broadband internet service has been provided. The web site is in the planning stage.
The third phase: the young people, under the mentorship of Native Artists, will produce paintings, drawings, sculptures, beadwork, quillwork and other art work including a mural for the wall of their space. This phase is ready to begin and the design for the wall mural has been made.
We are presently seeking funding for the art program. We have been able to keep the project moving but ongoing funding for the project is necessary. The community has a plan to make the program self-sustaining and need our help during this development. We estimate that the initial cost of the project will be about $5000.00
In addition to money for supplies, we need:
assistance with exhibiting and marketing the art works produced by the youth
assistance with publicity for the project
Once the Art Project is well established, the Pass Creek community will develop plans for other programs that will be part of the Buffalo Children’s Society.
The letter below from John DuBray describes the program and the dream:
In the south west corner in the state of South Dakota, there is a community called Pass Creek, one of the original nine districts of the Pine Ridge Sioux/Lakota Reservation. The town in the district is called Allen. This Community is made-up of five smaller communities called "Ospiye" These Ospiye are made-up of large extended families called "Tiospiye". These Tiospiye are made-up of small families called "Tiwahe".
In these communities are many young people with visions, dreams, and hope for a better future. They like horseback riding, playing basketball, playing softball, and many things that young people like to do. In this community the love for the horse is rampant. This community is truly a medicine horse community with many of the young people practicing their culture. In this poor socio-economical community the chances of the young reaching their dreams is little or none. By twenty years old they have already given up their hopes and dreams, many times the young look and feel many years past their age. The waste of talent is extremely hard to watch, especially if you love your people the way I do.
These young students of life are very talented. Drawing, painting, quilling, beading, and sculpturing come naturally to these young students of the Pass Creek. I had an art contest at American Horse School and the talent we adults experienced was extraordinary. The natural talent is there with the help of mentors or people who care these youth may possibly seek a career or a life in the world of art. The true meaning of art is create beauty from nothing and this is truly that endeavor.
The One Spirit Program was invited to help with this project to empower our youth on the Pass Creek. The program donated paint supplies to paint the CAP Office and to paint a mural titled "One Spirit", also to locate young artists and to create art paintings to be sold in Liverpool, England to help bring hope and self-esteem to these young veterans of hard times. The CAP Office is painted and we are ready for the next step which is to start the mural. The mentors are ready and the young artists are nervously ready.
If this works out for everybody involved the third step would be to create a Pass Creek Youth Center for all our youth to have a safe place to hope and dream. I would like to give the One Spirit Program a "Wopila Tanka" (Big Special Thanks) for taking the time to have faith in our youth. "Hecetuwelo" (so be it).
John D. DuBray Pine Ridge Sioux/Lakota Reservation Allen, south Dakota 57714
An elder gentleman, one of the most impressive people I have ever met, chops wood to heat his small bungalow. He has no hands. They were amputated because of frost bite.
Two Lakota elders are without heat. The man has just undergone surgery for prostrate cancer and the woman has diabetes and is no longer able to work. It is difficult to stay warm and hard to endure cold baths in South Dakota winters.
A family of 10 huddles around the kitchen oven to keep warm while the latest snowstorm blankets the reservation.
An elder teaches her daughter how to wrap herself and her baby in order to keep warm in the winter when there is no heat.
The people in these stories are real people. They are not unusual, rather they are typical examples of situations on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
We work with propane companies to deliver fuel at the lowest possible price and, we support the efforts of Veterans Organizations to cut, haul, and deliver wood.
Urgent Need Met: Log splitters have been delivered in time before the 1st sub-freezing weather. Contributions are now filling the need for safety equipment and gasoline to cut and deliver the fire wood.
A huge thank you to the two generous donors who met this urgent need in a very timely way.
You can help
100 gallons of propane costs $150.00 and will heat a small house for about two weeks in the extremely cold weather. We can help the Native Veterans provide a cord of wood for $85.00, about 1/2 the current price of wood. Contributions for propane and wood will heat homes twice - once this year and once next year. Money spent by ONE Spirit for propane this year, will be matched next winter by the federal government. Not only are we helping to warm families this year, but we are also investing in heat for next winter.
Contributions of any amount will help to heat a home.
The Food Needs On Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River Reservations
Given the high unemployment (80%) and an average family income of $6000.00 per year, families time and again find food in short supply. Children attend after- school programs to take advantage of snacks as it is often the only food they will have for dinner. Government food programs are not designed for sharing societies. The Lakota people believe in and practice sharing. Families share what they have with extended family, relatives, and neighbors. Those that are eligible for food stamps (EBT) and commodity programs also share with others. This means that food runs out or is in short supply long before the next government allotment. There are no food banks or food resources available to regularly meet basic food needs not covered by the government programs.
There is also an extremely high incidence of diabetes and other health problems that are likely related at least in part to diet. Government programs provide a high starch diet with little fruits and vegetables.
How does project SHARE help?
SHARE helps in two ways. First of course it brings fresh fruits, vegetables and meats to the families at a time each month when it is most needed. Second it provides employment and promotes self sufficiency. On Pine Ridge, the Lakota people unload the food trucks, sort the food, and deliver it to the homes. On Cheyenne River, a group of Vietnam Vets, through a compensated work therapy program, do the work required to get the food to the people. In both instances, the workers obtain food for themselves and their family and they help their people.
How do I participate?
If you would like to know how you can provide a SHARE of food for American Indian families, Contact us at: ONE Spirit SHARE Food Program Carol Binnington, program manager 506 W. Vermont Ave. Urbana, Il 61801 217-344-7474 cbinning@uiuc.edu This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
Bernard John, an artist who lives in Wales and specializes in painting Native American themes, is donating his work for use in supporting our programs.
To find the poster on eBay enter "Sitting Bull Lakota poster" in eBay's search bar.
Bernie is working closely with James Horns to produce posters and cards with his paintings. This first poster, Sitting Bull, is now for sale on Ebay. $16 buy it now or bid starting at $10.