Anyone that heard about the recent Amnesty International report on the sexual assault and rape of Native American and Alaska Native women via the NPR coverage of the issue also heard about a Native American women's shelter in South Dakota that is closing due to lack of funding.
I'm looking for volunteers to help with a fundraising effort to keep the shelter open. Contact me via comments (below) or at: nbier_pbwh@weepingdreams.com.
Want to contribute? Donate here!
The shelter is the Pretty Bird Woman House, established by Jackie Brown Otter after the kidnapping, rape and murder of her sister.
Given the impressive success of recent fundraising efforts by the dkos community for BYU students, contributing to keep this shelter open should be a viable project. Interested in helping? Here's a quick list of things that need to be done.
Contact the Pretty Bird Woman House to get a sense of budget needs: how much cash is needed to stay open for one month? For one year? Just recieved an email from the Director with information about the program. See my comment "First contact" below. Still waiting to hear more about financial need so we can set a fundraising goal. I set a (somewhat) arbitrary fundraising goal of 25000 for now, after a phone call with the Director. They're in a tough spot--a few hundred bucks will keep their phone lines on, the full 25k could keep them open long anough to get additional funding.
Create a Chipin page to collect donations. Chipin page created; text needs work. Page is here.
Write some text to explain the whats and whys of the fundraising effort. I took a first whack at this, but could really use some editing help; marketing is not my strong suite. Happy to hear suggestions, happier to see a complete rewrite: Page is here.
Organize a fundraising push This one is awfully important, and it's an area where I'll need the most help; I'm awful at marketing. Areas where we might focus attention (it would be great if folks could explicitly volunteer for any of these:
On dailykos.
On other left blogs.
Radio media (including local SD/ND stations and possibly Air America).
Follow up with NPR to try to get an "update" o the story.
Other, traditional fundraising sources?
Calling all writers. We could really use some folk to contribute clear, compelling writing, both for the fundraising effort, but also for the web page. I've purchased prettybirdwomanhouse.org and would like to see it grow into a home page for the shelter.
The list is a work in progress; as the project moves forward it will continue to be refined. But it's at least a starting point. Anyone interested in taking on one or more of these items?
Update: More information about the program is available in the comment "First Contact," below.
Update: Chipin Page is Created. Anyone know how to embed a widget in a diary?
Update: First Donation! Thanks!. I'm on the road all day today, with dubious internet access at the end of the trip. If any of you can keep moving this forward while I'm away from the 'net, it would be extremely helpful.