ONE Spirit

The ONE Spirit Mission is to assist the Lakota people in preserving and revitalizing the Lakota culture, language, and self-sufficiency while meeting the basic needs of Lakota families, children, and elders. We strive to cultivate an intercultural relationship that recognizes that we are all related and that American Indians are an equal and valued part of our society.

• We are all related on planet Earth
  
• We can help break the cycle of poverty by strengthening families, promoting economic development, educational opportunities, and providing programs that bring hope to young Native Americans.
  
• We can change what has become a legacy of poverty and addiction with programs that strengthen families and assist them in the protection of their children from the effects of hunger and cold.
  
• It is vitally important to support the elders in continuing their traditional roles of providing expertly crafted traditional clothing, quilting and beadwork that is a symbol of the tribe and teaching the skills for these crafts to younger generations.
  
• Valuing their culture, their language, and their arts is a viable way for the Lakota people to be recognized, as a people, as a nation, as a culture. This recognition will give them a stronger voice to defend their struggles, value their own identity, and make changes from within that promotes self-sufficiency and leadership.
  
• ONE Spirit programs will help cultivate an intercultural relationship that recognizes that we are all ONE.

"The survival of the world depends upon our sharing what we have and working together. If we don't, the whole world will die. First the planet and next the people."

FOOLS CROW
Ceremonial Chief of the Teton Sioux

The ONE Spirit youth program mission is to address problems through supporting the Lakota youth and their families, especially on Pine Ridge Reservation, by providing:

* Safe Houses
* Art programs
* A youth horse program
* Cross-cultural exchanges
* Sports teams like baseball, football, running, swimming.

Each month, ONE Spirit arranges for food to be transported to the Pine Ridge reservation where members of the Lakota community then unload the truck, sort the food into orders and personally deliver them throughout the reservation.

The community workers typically dedicate two long days to complete deliveries, traveling hundreds of miles over unmaintained roads and even taking orders into the homes of elders and putting it away for them. The workers are paid with food and are supplied with gas for the deliveries.

Currently, more than 1,000 people are fed each month. However that number continues to increase as more people request to become part of the program. On a daily basis, we receive many urgent requests for food for elders, families and children.

Over the last 2 months, suicide has claimed the lives of 8 teenagers on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Children who yielded to the overwhelming destruction of chronic desperation and hopelessness. In a community filled with alcoholism, unemployment and appalling living conditions, many children simply do not have a place to go where they feel safe and loved.

One family has committed to reversing this epidemic by opening their home as a safe haven for young people in need. Regardless of whether it is for one night or one year, the family provides food, shelter, love and acceptance to youth who come to their home. Most importantly, they also provide a vision of a better present and a brighter future. The only help that they have received has been from the Food Program of ONE Spirit.

When the weather was warm, many were able to sleep outside on the deck, in abandoned cars on the property, and under trees. Through the winter months however, sleeping outside won't be an option.

We have pledged to build a dormitory for the Safe House which can provide room for the kids already there and hopefully room for more. This will provide further opportunities for young people to have access to a safe, welcoming environment with warm beds and a strong community.

A generous donor has agreed to match the donations of people like you up to $40,000 to help build the dormitory for these kids. You can donate now by clicking on the following link:

ONE Spirit

We have a PayPal button that will allow you to donate easily for a cause that we feel is very important. Thank you in advance for any contribution that you can offer at this time.