Passing the word on from One Spirit and the Lakota. The reservation needs help and they sent this email to me. You can go to their website and donate some dollars through paypal. I give them what I can for some years now and One Spirirt is the real deal:
We Cannot Leave People To Freeze
On Friday October 9th, the first winter storm whipped across the reservation. It was 11 degrees F, the winds were blowing at 20-30 mph, and it was snowing. We responded quickly to calls from two elders who were without heat and needed wood. When the men delivering the wood arrived at the first house, they were burning their clothes for heat. 
During the next few months, urgent calls like these will come more frequently. We cannot leave people to freeze. There are men on the reservation who will cut the wood and deliver it. They need our help with equipment and transport costs. There are only a few more weeks when they will be able to gather and deliver the wood - between bouts of seriously cold weather.
It is critical that we continue to have the resources to not only meet urgent needs but to prevent these life-threatening situations from happening. That requires that we are able to support the men in gathering wood and delivering it before storms hit.
Right now the two wood programs are in need of a log splitter, 2 chain saws, and tires for a truck. These supplies can save lives this winter.
NO ONE SHOULD BE FORCED TO BURN THEIR CLOTHING IN ORDER TO STAY WARM.
Please donate now. The need is critical.
Love and Peace,
The One Spirit Team
One Spirit WEBSITE
One Spirit BLOG
One Spirit YAHOO GROUP
PO Box 416
Holyoke, CO 80734
Visit us on the web at www.nativeprogress.org
Paypal: OneSpirit@nativeprogress.org
“Let us put our minds together and see what life we
can make for our children.”
-Sitting Bull-
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Heidi Herron
MissOjib
Skip Williamson
ffff ffff
jeffrey dach md
Rod Brock
Salon.com
Comments
Monte
Thank you.
LAST winter the local power company removed the meters from hundreds of homes during the coldest part of winter in direct violation of state and federal law.
The needs are VERY real. Heat is not the only immediate need, although at the moment it is the most pressing need.
For many on the reservation FOOD will be an extremely pressing need by Thanksgiving and will remain a pressing need well into spring. One can of mystery meat, a pound of macaroni, 2 pounds of beans, a box of cereal, a package of powdered milk, a can of chicken, a can of tuna and a couple of cans of evaporated milk don't go far... and THAT boys and girls is the MONTHLY allotment of commodities on the reservation. Food banks empty quickly and there's NO way to refill them on the res if people off the res don't help.
Medical needs include things like bandages and tape, ace wraps, tylenol, alcohol pads for cleaning injection sites, syringes, insulin, antibacterial soap, hand sanitizer, neosporin/polysporin/bacitracin, and that's just off the top of my head.
Personal hygiene needs include basic things like toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouthwash, shampoo, soap, etc...
These are very REAL needs. And very REAL people who desperately NEED help.
Wakan Tanka nici un. (Roughly translated into English... "God watch over you")
Ely
Is this impossible? It seems so. To get so many skeins of structure together, going in the same direction, is contraindicated, particularly when pitting the will of those doing "well" - i.e., those with the casinos, in particular - against the need of those completely ignored and forsaken - it's a daunting idea, much less task.
Thanks for bringing this fine organization to people's awareness. There's many ways to help, involving sponsorship, involving education, and, of course, sustenance and Heat.