You bought 50 Turkeys for Okiciyap so fast! Now We Just Need the Fixins! (Match offered)

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Wednesday November 14, 2012 · 6:34 PM PST

2012/11/14 · 18:34

UPDATE: Oke has offered to match all donations up to $200! So now is the time to donate!

The other night I posted that Thanksgiving is upon us.....and it has only been a week since Election Day.

So, we started a little marathon to help Okiciyap provide Thanksgiving dinner for 50 families of ten on the Cheyenne River Reservation.

And what do you know, even after this election, we VERY quickly got $1800 in the ChipIn and a $50 check, enough to buy turkeys and some of the fixins. If we can get to $2500, we've got enough for complete dinners.

So if you haven't donated yet, Thanksgiving dinner costs just under $5 per person this year nationwide. So we can go the rest of the way one by one for those of you who are tapped out from the election....

Remember, the unemployment rate on the Cheyenne River Reservation is about 80% this time of the year.....that is a statistic I have a hard time getting out of my mind.

On Sunday, the New England Kossacks started us off by collecting $100. Thanks everyone! It was great to meet all of you.

betson08 for Native American Netroots

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Tuesday November 13, 2012 · 5:51 PM PST

2012/11/13 · 17:51

OK, Thanksgiving is upon us.....and it has only been a week since Election Day!

Last night I started a little marathon to help Okiciyap provide Thanksgiving dinner for 50 families. We've got over $800 so far....can you help us get the whole thing? Even with $5, which is the average cost per person of Thanksgiving dinner this year nationwide.

Remember, the unemployment rate on the Cheyenne River Reservation is about 80% this time of the year.....so there will be no special dinner for these families if we don't help out.

On Sunday, the New England Kossacks started us off by collecting $100. Thanks everyone! It was great to meet all of you.

betson08 for Native American Netroots

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday November 12, 2012 · 8:29 PM PST

2012/11/12 · 20:29

I don't know about you but I feel like it was election day and now suddenly Thanksgiving is upon us.....

So it has occurred to me that we'd better get going if we want to help Okiciyap provide Thanksgiving dinner for 50 families. Doh!

Remember, the unemployment rate on the Cheyenne River Reservation is about 80% this time of the year.....so there will be no special dinner for these families if we don't help out.

On Sunday, the New England Kossacks started us off by collecting $100. Thanks everyone! It was great to meet all of you.

betson08

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday November 06, 2012 · 7:31 AM PST

2012/11/06 · 07:31

I am leaving the house pretty soon to go down to the Albany SEIU offices, today the OFA phone banks. So I check Facebook and here's what a friend in the Bronx experienced trying to vote this morning. Can anyone give me some advice on this? I'm in Albany and appalled that this is happening.

(Blockquote of the FB entry below the squiggle)

betson08

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday October 25, 2012 · 10:31 AM PDT

2012/10/25 · 10:31

OK folks. Some of us are freaking out because the race is closer than it should be....Obama might lose.....Others aren't freaking out because we read Nate Silver on a regular basis and we know he's actually not behind where it matters.

I think we are going to re-elect the President, but I admit to being slightly nervous.

So I thought of what might make me feel more at ease. Then I remembered that I cannot watch Obama smile without also smiling myself. It's been going on for years.

Do you smile when you see Obama smile?

I can't help it, when he smiles, I SMILE....EVERY TIME!!!

OK, here's the test....

(my apologies to dial-up users, this is photo heavy)

The other thing you can do, besides looking at these photos, is join a MoveOn Call Party this weekend, especially if you live in a blue state like I do.

Poll

59 votes Show Results

Smiling yet?

59 votes Vote Now!

Smiling yet?

Yes, Obama Always Makes Me Smile, I can't help it

43 votes

Yes, because I KNOW we're going to win, don't care about the smile

0 votes

Yes, now, because how could you not....but it's not automatic for me

1 vote

No, I'm still pissed off about the first debate

0 votes

I'll smile when I can stop worrying about whether Obama will win

3 votes

Smiling because I'm confident we'll win, but not because of that smile

1 vote

I will work to GOTV this weekend so I can start smiling. Not even this diary will help until I stop losing sleep over this election.

0 votes

I read Nate. I'm already smiling, so PIE

5 votes

Anyone who says they're not smiling right now is lying

6 votes

Romney left Bullying Messages on a Dead Soldier's Family Voicemail

betson08

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday October 22, 2012 · 2:11 PM PDT

2012/10/22 · 14:11

Last week, Anne Romney went on The View and claimed that her husband went to "every funeral" of the military personnel from MA killed on duty when he was governor.

Well, that is except for 2. She forgot to tell the audience what he did to one family that was grieving so badly that they didn't return his calls in what he felt was a timely manner.

Below you will see Romney's hyper sense of entitlement and privilege in action.

betson08 for Native American Netroots

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday April 29, 2012 · 4:03 PM PDT

2012/04/29 · 16:03

Georgia Little Shield
(1959-2012)

Friends, it is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that Georgia Little Shield has died. On Tuesday morning she had a heart attack at home and could not be revived. We're all shocked and sad - family, friends, and the entire Cheyenne River community. I feel like I've lost my sister. I still can't believe she has died.

Her funeral took place in Isabel Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. Central Time. First, there was a community lunch, then a service, and then her ashes were spread around the family ranch.

Georgia was known to many at Daily Kos as the director of the women's shelter known as Pretty Bird Woman House on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, which straddles North and South Dakota. The shelter was founded by the sister of Pretty Bird Woman, who was raped and beaten to death in 2001. Many Kossacks, including nbier, AndyT and Front Pager Mark Sumner (aka Devilstower), wrote diaries and helped raise tens of thousands of dollars for the shelter in 2007. More recently, Georgia worked to get a food pantry and youth development center set up on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. An entire 40-by-60 foot building was donated and moved to the site. Kossacks have also contributed to the funding of the pantry, called in Lakota Okiciyap, "We help."
—Meteor Blades

Georgia was my friend, a tremendous role model and leader, and all-around nice person. She taught me about the kinds of things that many American Indian women endure. But, by her own stubborn example, she also showed me that it is possible to overcome.

Publicly, Georgia was a warrior woman, a role model and just a nice person, in whom the many people she helped could confide. This is what made her a strong director at Pretty Bird Woman House on the Standing Rock Reservation.

When her health issues forced her onto the disability rolls, she didn't stop trying to help other people. She wanted to improve her own community, Isabel, which is on the Cheyenne River Reservation. So she convinced a group of people, including some of her family members, to form Okiciyap ("we help") the Isabel Community. That's how the project started.

Georgia Little Shield at
her nursing school graduation
(Photo courtesy of Renee West)

This diary is a tribute to Georgia: the work she has done for women and her community through Pretty Bird Woman House and Okiciyap, and her love for and dedication to her family and friends. I will tell you what I know about her life, how we met, and give you two options for donating in her honor.

I think it would also be nice to send cards to the family. Her daughters and husband will have one more thing to look at to remember her for years to come. Whether or not you can donate, I encourage you to send a card to the address below.

UPDATE: I just received the family-written obituary for Georgia. Here it is. The details are much more clear, and you see that her Lakota name is Eagle Wings Woman.

Georgia Lynette Taylor was born in Rapid City December 10th, 1959 to Charles and Angeline Taylor. After growing up in Iron Lightening and Isabel she left to find work when she was 18. She worked in a computer chip factory in Rapid as well as in the oil fields and coal mines near Gillette, Wyoming. Georgia married and adopted a baby girl named Crystal Lee and after living in Gillette for several years moved back to Isabel and completed her GED.
She then went on to college at Presentation in Eagle Butte and received a Bachelors Degree in Nursing and Social Work. She then moved to Canby, MN where she worked as a nurse. She then decided to move back to Isabel to try and help make the reservation better. She began her work at the Cheyenne River Housing Authorities Single Mothers Program that was stationed in Isabel at the Manor. There she helped many young women get on their feet and find their way in life. She was their mentor and friend. When they needed something that the program could not provide she helped them and many of them are still her friends today. When she finished her work here she then went on to be a Domestic Violence Counselor in Eagle Butte where she helped many families stop domestic violence and to see that it is not part of the Lakota culture. While employed here she took a stand against authority when she and her co-workers locked themselves in their office for several days because the Administrative Officer of the tribe wanted to view their confidential files. She and her 2 other co-workers ended up going to jail but they succeeded in keeping their clients identities safe from prying eyes and they were praised for their efforts. Unfortunately, the program eventually ran out of funding. After this, because of what she knew, she was asked by the South Dakota Coalition against Domestic Violence to start a program in McLaughlin. Pretty Bird Woman House was created and this was Georgia’s baby. She received her Masters from the University of California at Berkley while working here. She did for Standing Rock what she did on Cheyenne River in helping as many people as she could.

Over the years while helping the people in her programs she had taken in many foster children and helped them to realize that they do not need gangs or drugs and alcohol to be happy and enjoy life, and that education and helping others was the best way to better yourself. She volunteered to work with the Isabel Lakota Youth Group and was their mentor for many years.

Throughout her career she has made many friends in many places across the country because she went to many conferences and workshops for her job. This is the reason she was given the Lakota Name of Eagle Wings Woman, because she was “always flying somewhere”. She hung up her wings and decided it was time to retire back in 2010 and moved to the country with her current husband Norman Little Shield where they raised horses together. Here they helped to raise their grandchildren Isis and Talib Smith, and Krystal Brings Plenty. She was volunteering as President of the Isabel Okiciyap which created a food panty and started the Isabel Community Pow Wow in 2011. She was still helping everyone she could up to the time of her death.

She is survived by her mother Angeline Taylor; husband Norman Little Shield; daughter Crystal Lee Reeder-Taylor; grandchildren Isis, Talib and Onyx Smith, Krystal Brings Plenty; Brothers Jerry, Ted and Bradley Taylor; Sisters Cindy Taylor and Barbara Moncrief; and many other nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her father Charles H. Taylor and her brother Jim Anderson.

betson08

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Sunday April 01, 2012 · 7:45 PM PDT

2012/04/01 · 19:45

I'm reposting a diary I wrote yesterday to update you on the status of Okiciyap, the food pantry we support on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation.

At 6:30 pm yesterday a $500 challenge was made for smaller donors to step up. All donations will be matched up to that amount. Smaller donations are encouraged. Well, we're still $300 short. Unfortunately, I've been going full blast since this morning and haven't been able to tally it all up until now.

So, can we get the extra $300 by sunrise tomorrow? It's all matched!!

UPDATE 1: An anonymous donor has pledged an additional $500 match if we can get a bunch of small donations for that amount by the end of Sunday. Right now it's 7pm EST on Sat, so let's start from NOW.

You in?

Update 2 (Sunday). I emailed Georgia about the challenge yesterday, and sent her a message from the donor. I thought you'd like to see her response:

Its messages like these that I love to get. I am so over whelmed with emotion when I was reading this. There are times that you lose track of those things from living in this world for so long. We tend to think most people do not care about humanity. But this gives me hope. Hope that we are going to be able to finish the setting down of the building and also to fill with food. I am so excited to get the packages from the people that we have started the Game room for the kids and they are excited. The Kitchen Items we need for cooking and storing. We are looking for a refrigerator and stove to replace the ones that were taken out when they gave us the building.
Oh Please put it in your next blog that I am so thankful for all the people are doing to help us out.
- Hide quoted text -

Here's the rest of the today's diary:

You may be aware that over the holidays the Daily Kos community raised funds so that Georgia Little Shield, the former director of our other project, the Pretty Bird Woman House, could start a food pantry with a youth development/education annex on the Cheyenne River Reservation.

I want to update you all on the status of the project, and thank this community for its big heart.

While we did not meet our goal of raising $20K, we did raise enough so that they could move a trailer donated by the Tribe into place, skirt it, and install new plumbing and electricity, doors, stairs and a wheelchair ramp. They have given food out twice now. The second time 63, yes 63, families picked up food. And this project hasn't even really gotten off the ground yet.

They have also been given a small grant from the tribe for a year. It's minimal (Cheyenne River doesn't have a casino) and funds haven't been disbursed yet, but it will make a big difference in being able to keep up with the utilities and other things.

We still need to make goal to ensure that they will be able to work out a proper budget that ensures that they can go to the state food bank and pick up groceries on a regular basis.

More details on all of this below the orange scroll thingy.

betson08 for Native American Netroots

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Saturday March 31, 2012 · 2:36 PM PDT

2012/03/31 · 14:36

UPDATE: An anonymous donor has pledged an additional $500 match if we can get a bunch of small donations for that amount by the end of Sunday. RIght now it's 7pm EST on Sat, so let's start from NOW.

You in?

Here's the rest of the today's diary:

I want to update you all on the status of the project, and thank this community for its big heart.

We still need to make goal to ensure that they will be able to work out a proper budget that ensures that they can go to the state food bank and pick up groceries on a regular basis.

More details on all of this below the orange scroll thingy.

betson08 for Native American Netroots

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday February 19, 2012 · 1:34 PM PST

2012/02/19 · 13:34

"What skirt," you say?

Yesterday, volunteers for Okiciyap (we help) the Isabel Community, put the skirt on the trailer for what is basically a Kossack-sponsored food pantry and learning annex.

AND...we have a $500 challenge grant, good to tomorrow at midnight,

This donor is asking all the small donors to get together now....can you pitch in $5, $10, $15? It adds up quickly, believe me.

Right now, by my estimates we only have about $120 toward that challenge (correct me in the comments if I'm wrong). We have until midnight on Monday to qualify for the match. Can we do it drop by drop?

And when that challenge is up, another Kossack stepped forward with another challenge for next week.....

Here's a photo update so you can see what your money is doing. Yesterday volunteers installed the skirt on the trailer.

Here they are:

Yes, everyone wants to help!

Cutting the wood to size:

There they go, working that skirt:

Okiciyap is truly on the brink of success!

Won't you help us get over this last hump, or forward this diary to someone who can?

(Kossacks who are financially pinched right now - which was me until a month ago - please don't feel guilty for not being able to send funds. You can help us by spreading the word and posting this story on your Facebook pages etc. We greatly appreciate ALL help here!)

Recap below the orange squiggle.

(PS please don't forget to rec this so more people can see it)

betson08 for Native American Netroots

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday February 18, 2012 · 10:31 AM PST

2012/02/18 · 10:31

UPDATE #3 THERE IS A NEW ANONYMOUS $500 MATCH UP. IT'S GOOD THROUGH MONDAY. The donor is asking all the small donors to get together now....can you pitch in $5, $10, $15?

And don't forget to rec this diary now, it has slipped off the list.

Keep it going!!!!!!

And a hearty thank you to our anonymous donors for the important kick!

Okiciyap is on the brink - of success!

Okiciyap (we help) the Isabel Community, the nascent food pantry and education annex on the Cheyenne River Reservation, funded by YOU, is on the brink of success.

The brink....

UPDATE #1 WE MADE THE MATCH!! THANK YOU.

UPDATE #2 Georgia's Facebook page update gives us some new info:

Georgia L Little Shield
Well what happened yesterday, well, we did get the trench line for the electricity dug. The main one that is doing most of this work is my brother Ted and he said he can not do to much with out electricity. But he did talk to Mr. Kraft the electirion and he will be coming in the AM on Friday. Then we have lined up 4 people to come help with the sewer line today and there is no school so the kids are packing up the other old food pantry and going to move that. Next two days are the most fun and fully packed. LOL But were getting there. Any one wants to get rid of their children's boardgames or toys. We sure could use them also Dishes such as pots and pans baking were. Measure cups and large mixing bowls and any other thing you have to buy for the kitchen.

I'm in the process of finding out if there's a house address that UPS can use...stay tuned.

To continue:

There were some unforseen moving expenses: the building, sitting vacant, had been stripped of doors, plumbing, toilets, and even the kitchen faucet. Just to be able to use the building, Okiciyap needed to buy those items and then contract a plumber and electrician to install kitchen faucets, plumbing, a new steel door, and electricity. This put the organization into an financial emergency because we had raised just enough money for the move.

Enter Dr. Erich Bloodaxe the other day with a great diary, and then an anonymous donor with a $500 match. The diary was on the rec list for a long time, but while we made just enough to pay the emergency electricity and plumbing expenses, we didn't make it to $500 to get the full match amount.

The donor who offered the match has extended it through Sunday - surely we can raise the roughly ($200) $100 (somebody slipped a hundred bucks in there while I was writing this - woot!!) more needed to get to the $500 offered....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We've come this far: Okiciyap prepared a wonderful dinner for children and families, complete with gifts for Children who would have had none, thanks to YOU (pics below), the double-wide trailer for a bigger pantry and a learning annex was moved in place thanks to YOU (more pics below), and yesterday a group of volunteers came together with a professional electrician and plumber to install plumbing, electricity, and stairs thanks to YOU (pics from yesterday below too).

Won't you help us get over this last hump, or forward this diary to someone who can?

We are this:

betson08

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday December 24, 2011 · 8:07 PM PST

2011/12/24 · 20:07

Georgia wanted me to forward this message to YOU, the Kossacks who funded this wonderful Christmas party for the community.

Dear Internet Family,
I am writing a post to let you in on a large Christmas party that was enjoyed by the young individuals of our community located at Isabel South Dakota. Oh what a glorious night, to see all the children laughing and running and happy to be somewhere there is food and sober parents and grandparents. I was so proud of the community for coming together for the children.

I want to thank all of the individuals who thought, prayed and sent money to our community, to buy any further assistance with buying food from the food bank of South Dakota. We are so excited to make another trip to purchase food.

I have attached pictures from the party.

Oh and by the way it has been so nice out here in the Dakotas that we purchased four lots in Isabel SD and are waiting for the movers to set a date to move the building. We have raised enough for the move but are still waiting to get more donations for the stairs and skirting that will skirt the building. Thank you all so much for the donations to help us get a food pantry and a youth program going to keep our youth healthy and strong.

Photos below the squiggle.

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Romney left Bullying Messages on a Dead Soldier's Family Voicemail

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Okiciyap on the Brink: BRAND NEW $500 Match Offered (photo diary with updates)

A Message from Georgia Little Shield: the Okiciyap Community Christmas Party