Published: Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Tulalips collect clothing for tribes
American Indians in South Dakota are suffering after a November snowstorm hit their reservations.
TULALIP -- In South Dakota, the winter wind whips trees down over roads. When the snow comes, it socks in entire communities.
Those who live there are hardy people. American Indians on reservations there no doubt have stories about long winters, and traditional ways of coping with the cold.
This year, it was different. A severe snowstorm in November dumped 45 inches in areas of the state. The worst of it fell on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Sioux reservations, where tribal members, left without heat and power for days, resorted to burning their furniture to keep warm.
"Even those that could have left for somewhere else didn't want to leave their homes because they were afraid there would be looting," said Frieda Williams, a Tulalip tribal member.
Those stories crept into Williams' heart, and the hearts of Robin Carneen, who works at the Tulalip Boys & Girls Club, and Linda Tolbert, a member of the Tulalip Lions Club, and others on the Tulalip Tribes reservation.
Something had to be done, they decided. Surely the people of Snohomish County will do what they can to help the people of the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations, they thought. Surely if word got out, donations would come pouring in, and the Indians in South Dakota could have new furniture, blankets and clothes.
And so it began. Much has already been given. A Goodwill store in Seattle has donated 700 pounds of blankets, Williams said. The volunteer team of Tulalip tribal members and other local residents believe that people want to be generous, so they're not shy about asking.
"At Rosebud they only have electric heat, so we're even asking people if they can donate wood stoves," Carneen said.
There's one other thing the volunteers need: a truck, and perhaps even a driver.
"We're sort of putting the cart before the horse by collecting all this, because we're still looking for a truck to be donated so we can drive it all out there," Williams said.
Williams and the others hope to collect enough blankets, clothes, furniture, nonperishable food and other items to fill a large truck trailer by Jan. 16. By then, they hope someone will have offered up a truck in which to put it.
It's not the first time Tulalip tribal members have reached out to South Dakota's Indians. Williams organized a clothing drive for the Pine Ridge reservation in 2004.
The reservation has an 87 percent poverty rate, Williams said. About 40,000 people live there. There's a great need now, after November's storm, but the reservation is so poor that people there are in crisis all the time.
"There are children there who never have enough to eat," she said.
Williams hopes to make the clothing and food drive an annual event. She said she's spoken to leaders of the Oglala Sioux and Rosebud Sioux tribes who are happy that someone has noticed their struggle.
Almost anything is accepted for the charity drive, but there is one condition, Carneen said.
"Clothing and every other item should be new or practically new," she said.
Some of the items that have been donated were tossed out, she said, because they were so old and ratty that it would have been insulting to pass it along to people in South Dakota.
"This is extreme poverty, where people are living in third-world conditions," Carneen said. "But they have pride."
Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.
How to help the South Dakota tribes
Donations of clean, new clothing, nonperishable food items, furniture, blankets and other household items are being accepted as part of a grassroots effort to help American Indians who live on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Sioux reservations in South Dakota, where a powerful November snowstorm knocked out power for days and Indians were forced to burn their furniture to keep warm.
The donations are scheduled for delivery to South Dakota on Jan. 16, and donations will be accepted until then.
Donations will be accepted at the Tulalip Tribes TERO office at 6103 31st Ave. NE in Tulalip. For more information, call 360-716-4000 and ask for Frieda Williams.
Those who live there are hardy people. American Indians on reservations there no doubt have stories about long winters, and traditional ways of coping with the cold.
This year, it was different. A severe snowstorm in November dumped 45 inches in areas of the state. The worst of it fell on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Sioux reservations, where tribal members, left without heat and power for days, resorted to burning their furniture to keep warm.
"Even those that could have left for somewhere else didn't want to leave their homes because they were afraid there would be looting," said Frieda Williams, a Tulalip tribal member.
Those stories crept into Williams' heart, and the hearts of Robin Carneen, who works at the Tulalip Boys & Girls Club, and Linda Tolbert, a member of the Tulalip Lions Club, and others on the Tulalip Tribes reservation.
Something had to be done, they decided. Surely the people of Snohomish County will do what they can to help the people of the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations, they thought. Surely if word got out, donations would come pouring in, and the Indians in South Dakota could have new furniture, blankets and clothes.
And so it began. Much has already been given. A Goodwill store in Seattle has donated 700 pounds of blankets, Williams said. The volunteer team of Tulalip tribal members and other local residents believe that people want to be generous, so they're not shy about asking.
"At Rosebud they only have electric heat, so we're even asking people if they can donate wood stoves," Carneen said.
There's one other thing the volunteers need: a truck, and perhaps even a driver.
"We're sort of putting the cart before the horse by collecting all this, because we're still looking for a truck to be donated so we can drive it all out there," Williams said.
Williams and the others hope to collect enough blankets, clothes, furniture, nonperishable food and other items to fill a large truck trailer by Jan. 16. By then, they hope someone will have offered up a truck in which to put it.
It's not the first time Tulalip tribal members have reached out to South Dakota's Indians. Williams organized a clothing drive for the Pine Ridge reservation in 2004.
The reservation has an 87 percent poverty rate, Williams said. About 40,000 people live there. There's a great need now, after November's storm, but the reservation is so poor that people there are in crisis all the time.
"There are children there who never have enough to eat," she said.
Williams hopes to make the clothing and food drive an annual event. She said she's spoken to leaders of the Oglala Sioux and Rosebud Sioux tribes who are happy that someone has noticed their struggle.
Almost anything is accepted for the charity drive, but there is one condition, Carneen said.
"Clothing and every other item should be new or practically new," she said.
Some of the items that have been donated were tossed out, she said, because they were so old and ratty that it would have been insulting to pass it along to people in South Dakota.
"This is extreme poverty, where people are living in third-world conditions," Carneen said. "But they have pride."
Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.
How to help the South Dakota tribes
Donations of clean, new clothing, nonperishable food items, furniture, blankets and other household items are being accepted as part of a grassroots effort to help American Indians who live on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Sioux reservations in South Dakota, where a powerful November snowstorm knocked out power for days and Indians were forced to burn their furniture to keep warm.
The donations are scheduled for delivery to South Dakota on Jan. 16, and donations will be accepted until then.
Donations will be accepted at the Tulalip Tribes TERO office at 6103 31st Ave. NE in Tulalip. For more information, call 360-716-4000 and ask for Frieda Williams.
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