Pretty Bird Woman House is a women's shelter serving the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Without help, the shelter will close due to lack of funds. This diary is about a project to provide the shelter with emergency funding to remain open, and to provide long term support to help the shelter become self-sustaining. Please give what you can, if you can.
I just got off the phone with Georgia Little Shield, Director and Advocate at the Pretty Bird Woman House. Over the weekend, the shelter received a call from a woman who needed to be evacuated. If this had happened on Thursday, the shelter would not have been able to do much more than take the call. But because of your efforts, Georgia was able to tell this woman: "Don't worry about the money--we have money coming. Just get out and come in."
You did this. You made this possible.
But there's more work to be done...
As I write this, the chipin page for Pretty Bird Woman House stands at 12,315.06 $12,550.01 (Over 50%; you people are wonderful)--this is an amazing amount of money, especially in such a short time; you're not just talking about liberal and progressive principles, you're living them.
But this is still just 50% of the way to our goal of $25,000. Reports of folks making donations by check are also flowing in, but I don't think those are enough to push us up over the top. If you're considering making a donation, think about the woman that the shelter rescued this weekend. There are far too many women still out there in her situation. Please help this shelter keep them from falling through the cracks.
If you've already given, thank you! Please continue spreading the word, both online and in the non-digital world.
Some updates:
Georgia was interviewed earlier today by South Dakota Public Radio. They are doing a story on the effort to save Pretty Bird Woman House. It will air across South Dakota and nation wide on National Native News. They may also be doing a longer piece later this week. I'll update with a link once the story goes live.
Many of you have asked about any non-cash donations that the shelter may need. Georgia and her advocates are putting together a comprehensive list of needs, but she was able to give me the following as a start:
-Bed Linens.
-Bunk Beds.
-Mattresses.
-Curtains.
-Shower Curtains (and shower curtain rods).
-New sweat suits, all sizes.
-Non perishable food stuffs.
-Volunteer Needed:- We could use a volunteer to create and maintain an Amazon Wish List for the Shelter. If you want to take on this task, please contact me via email Looks like this one is being worked on; thanks sheddhead!
The domain Pretty Bird Woman House now forwards to the chipin site for donations. The site will eventually be a home for the shelter and its fund raising efforts. Big thank you to the team of writers and web designers that are currently working on it.
Georgia is very excited about becoming a diarist herself, and posting ongoing updates about the shelter, both here and on the (eventual) web site.
Folks are quite curious about how much money has been raised via mailed donations (outside of the chipin page), and I've received a few requests for a poll...so see below.
Volunteer Needed: Contact SD congressional delegation. As per mcjoan's suggestion below, can someone volunteer to get in touch with Johnson's and Herseth's staffs about this issue? Send me an email if you're interested in taking this one on.
Finally, a quick, public acknowledgement: though the dkos community has been absolutely amazing in supporting this effort, a quick google search on "Pretty Bird Woman House" shows that this effort has been picked up by blogs and communities all over--too many for me to list right now, though a full accounting is coming. In the meantime, please take a look and read some yourself! Thank you to everyone that continues to contribute to this effort.
Lots more work to do; continued updates as time permits, but in the meantime, please donate online, or send a check to:
Pretty Bird Woman House
P.O. Box 596
McLaughlin, SD 57642