Dakota Outreach Project

Bridging the Gap between people and cultures


		Dakota Outreach Project

Video: Crow Creek: The Forgotten People - 12 min.

Video Source: St. Mary's University of Minnesota, Winona
http://www.umbsn.org/Social_justice.html

Toys and other gifts sought for US's poorest reservation

Fourteen semi-trailer loads were delivered to Crow Creek and Santee Reservations in 2006.

Three additional semi-loads were delivered to 11 Dakota/Lakota reservations in the U.S. and Canada over the 2006 holiday season.

Diversity Foundation, Inc., with the help of community members in Winona, Rochester, Rushford, Peterson, Wabasha and other Southern Minnesota communities are now collecting donations to be sent to the Crow Creek, Santee, Spirit Lake and other Indian reservations.

This last holiday season, diversity foundation, with local groups collected clothes and furnishings to donate to the Crow Creek Reservation, at Fort Thompson, SD. Here, Lower Sioux's Bob Larsen helping unload his truck & trailer at Crow Creek.

From right to left: Diane Big Eagle, Crow Creek, Tom Gierok, Winona, Jon Kruse, Winona, and Marcella Big Eagle, Crow Creek, unload chairs at the Elders Center on the Crow Creek Dakota Reservation Feb. 22.

STORIES COVERING OUTREACH EFFORTS:

"Winonans send furniture, clothes to Crow Creek Dakotah," (03/05/2006) By Jerry L. Carter, Winona Daily Times

"Delegation from Winona and Rochester visit Flandreau," (02/03/2006) By Carol Robertson, Dakota Journal

"Trying to Heal the Lingering Pain of the US/Dakota War of 1862,"
(12/30/2005) By Michael E. Randall, Dakota Journal

"Journey Toward Reconciliation," (06/27/2004)
By Nick Coleman, Columnist, Minneapolis Star/Tribune

LETTERS OF SUPPORT:

Barry Drazkowski
Director, GeoSpatial Services
Saint Mary's University of Minnesota
Winona, Minnesota

Lisa Lengkeek
Crow Creek & Diversity Foundation Distribution Coordinator
Fort Thompson, South Dakota

Duane and Diane Big Eagle
on behalf of the Big Eagle family
and the people of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe
Fort Thompson, South Dakota

Click here for links to Winona/Dakota Reconciliation Gathering

WEBSITE LINKS:

Saint Mary's University of Minnesota
Winona, Minnesota
http://www.umbsn.org/Social_justice.html

Many of these Dakota Native American ancestors once lived and called southern Minnesota their pre-European homeland, however today continue to live in extreme poverty.

In an effort to heal the past and help native people and whites connect, the Diversity Foundation, with representatives from Winona and Rochester organizations and their local governments, have begun a number of "outreach programs," bringing aid, understanding and knowledge to all involved.

This will be another of several trips to the reservation which began in 2005, where the Diversity Foundation, with local groups collected clothes and furnishings to donate to the Crow Creek Reservation, at Fort Thompson, SD. identified as the poorest county in the United State, Buffalo County is home to Crow Creek. The reservation , with more than, 3,000 residents, has soaring unemployment of over 90 percent.

As part of the outreach program, Diversity Foundation has begun to facilitate "Reservation Tours," in hopes of educating and healing the wounds of the pasts.