Jumping Eagle Safe House

Before I can explain the needs of Jumping Eagle Safe House on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, I must tell you about the program.

Donna and Billy Jumping Eagle provide a home for up to 20 children that is a safe place for Lakota children to live if they are not able to live with their own family. The Lakota children come to the safe house for various reasons:

• no available space in a house where their parents live
  
• social problems in their environment such as drugs, alcohol, or violence

These children are nurtured at the Jumping Eagle's Safe House. They are encouraged and required to stay in school. The Lakota children are grounded in their culture by the elders (grandparents come in and tell stories in the oral tradition). The children living at the Safe House go on horse-camping experiences and they are taught to take care of horses which is a very important part of their culture. These children are given much care and love from Donna and Billy Jumping Eagle and the people who help them.

It is important that you know these children have not been taken away from their families. The parents know where they are and that they are safe. The children can see their parents and their family but they have the care they need. Many of these children stay at Jumping Eagle for many years.

Through the SHARE food program ONE Spirit provides food for the Jumping Eagle Safe House. The not-for-profit charity provides clothing and supplies needed for the safe house such as:

• beds
  
• equipment for camping - sleeping bags
  
• school supplies
  
• special items and gifts for holiday times.

Donna, Billy, and the Lakota children at the Jumping Eagle Safe House need additional help especially with winter coming on.

The Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota is one of, if not the, poorest areas in the United States. I want you to know that up front and to know it is why I am asking for your help for this Safe House. I know we are all pinched from these hard economic times but I also believe that when we see someone trying to do good works, trying to help themselves and others; our hearts are opened and we find a way to add a blessing to them.

ONE Spirit has pledged to help Donna and Billy Jumping Eagle by building a dormitory building for the children to live in. Jeri Baker and ONE Spirit are working with the Lakota people to get this project completed. There is NO state, federal or tribal funds given to Donna and Billy Jumping Eagle for the home that they provide for these children who just need a safe place to live. They survive and continue loving and helping these children from funds raised from people like you and me who find it in our hearts to donate to organizations like ONE Spirit.

Jeri shared with me that this summer there were about 17 children living at the Safe House who slept out on the deck of the house, in broken down vehicles on the property, and under trees. When the weather gets cold many of them will sleep on the floor of Donna's home. The ages of these children range from 10 to 17 years of age. Donna, Billy, and the children need our help to get the dormitory built so that they can have what every child deserves: a safe home, food in their bellies, and a warm and dry place to sleep at night.

I was unaware, until the other day, of the adverse poverty and the conditions that the Lakota People are living in. Veronica has written from her heart and has shared the extreme situation at Pine Ridge Reservation. She got my attention, my heart was broken, and my soul screamed out that I must reach out and help in some way. I hope after reading about the needs of Donna and Billy Jumping Eagle's Safe House and the conditions at Pine Ridge Reservation, as a whole, that you will want to help too. Veronica's article is: Pine Ridge Reservation Or Prison Camp?

Jumping Eagle Safe House was first published on September 24, 2010 and is updated from time to time with new information by Bev Owens (BevsPaper). The contents are protected under the copyright laws of the United States. The logo and shield images were borrowed from the website for the charity ONE Spirit.