If you're reading this diary today, the last day of the quilt auction, you're probably aware of the Okiciyap (we help) the Isabel Community food pantry on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, which began last week.
So before I get to the meat of the auction diary, I want to cut to the chase:
Thanks to this fantastic community, we have raised over $6360 for Okiciyap . (it seems like the WePal total jumps every 5 minutes)
If we can raise about another $2640 today, an anonymous donor will give $1000, for a grand total of $10,000. If you can help, even with $5, please do. It is all significant, believe me.
UPDATE 1: I just received this video thank you from Emily, who is in NM coordinating activities remotely: This was a cell phone video so it's a little low in volume, but I hope you can hear her.
UPDATE 2 I just received these photos from the kids
Thanks to you, the pantry is not only up and running, but attracting in-kind donations from near and far, which you can read about below the fold.
In fact, between the fundraiser and a few developments this weekend, the pantry is now stable enough for the group to start to put together what I'd call Stage II of Georgia's dream: an after school program for Isabel's youth that provides them with a safe, health environment.
Georgia wanted to make sure that Isabel's youth can avoid or heal from some of the horrendous abuse she suffered as a child, and that nobody ever has to go hungry. How is this too much to ask in the 21st Century?
Before continuing, I wanted to add a video from a Frontline special called, A Kind-Hearted Woman. Cindy told me that it was a lot like Georgia's story, so if you really want to see and feel on a gut level the kinds of things people are overcoming on reservations, you can watch a few minutes of this.
Watch Kind Hearted Woman Part One on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.
The first line the woman profiled in the movie says is "I was torn to pieces by people I called "dad," "uncles".
Georgia suffered horrendous physical and verbal abuse by her father, which led to a host of other problems, including suicidal ideation an alcoholism. She was determined to help others avoid this fate, and overcame the alcoholism and suicidal thoughts, but her body just could not heal enough from its other ailments for her to see all of this come to fruition.
So, in he honor, we do this: okiciyap. How could we not?
The Quilters Guild auction was a brilliant idea and will be the large chunk of money they have needed to be be on a firm footing for the summer, when school is out.
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