Off to a Running Start (updated with photos)

Georgia Little Shield is incredible. A couple of days after the closing she conducted a training session for domestic violence advocates. Wow.

Additionally, a woman already is using the shelter - she and her teenage daughter needed to get out of their house, and even though the security system hasn't been installed, as long as the house had a lock, they wanted to stay there.

Georgia getting the keys to the house:



Jackie Brown Otter at the new shelter:



Using the kitchen:



Diane, an advocate at Pretty Bird Woman House:



Mary, a board member of a sister shelter:


There is some good news on the furniture as well. A nearby reservation recently renovated the hotel attached to its casino, and donated furniture to Standing Rock, including a number of entertainment centers, chairs, tables, and nightstands. The Tribal Council then distributed them among the service organizations on the reservation. The shelter now has an entertainment center for the living room and the basement, nightstands and those entertainment centers for some of not all of the bedrooms, and chairs and tables for the kitchen and living room. This means that right now, the mom's beds are set up with nightstands and the equivalent of dressers, and all they need are more bunk beds, as well as blankets for full and twin size beds (since I neglected to mention the need for blankets, most people have been sending only sheets and towels. So, now I'll say it, the shelter still needs blankets and pillows).

The money from the current ChipIn will go to buy whatever the shelter is lacking for the house after the material donations slow down. They will probably need a sleeper sofa (in case of overload, an extra bed always comes in handy), but if they haven't gotten the bunk beds yet, they'll probably use it to buy them, since bunk beds are the only things they really don't have enough of right now.

In other news, the original estimate the shelter was given for a security system turned out to be the Cadillac, wireless version. Getting a wired version and doing some hard bargaining got the price down to a reasonable $12,000 (that first estimate was surely wishful thinking on the part of the security company). The fence is set to cost about $7,000, so that still brings it up to $19,000, a significant part of the money we collected for the house fund, so it was good that we went over goal.

Thank you again all you generous donors. You are making a huge difference in the lives of hundreds of women and children.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered....It's THEIRS

This week the Pretty Bird Woman House officially took possession of its new house!! The Board of Directors is there today to go on a walk-through, and will be sending us photos as soon as they can. As soon as I get new photos, I'll post this notice up on the Daily Kos, Street Prophets, and Docudharma.

In the meantime, for those of you who haven't seen the house yet, here are some photos that were posted by the real estate agent:

Front:


Kitchen, View 1:


Kitchen, View 2:


To everyone who has contributed to this project: you have officially made a difference in the lives of hundreds of women and children. Pat yourselves on the back!

Thank you AGAIN Representative Herseth-Sandlin

I want to thank, yet again, Representative Herseth-Sandlin for supporting the shelter. THIS time she called up Georgia Little Shield and told her that she and her husband were going to buy the shelter the washer and dryer it needs.

Now THAT'S the kind of caring by a Congressional representative that we all need!

A few more tidbits - the closing will be on Tuesday, at which time the keys will be delivered. The utilities will be switched over sometime next week as well. On Wednesday, Rep. Herseth-Sandlin's staff will visit the shelter.

They will try to get both the security system and fence installed by the end of the month. When the security system is installed then the staff can move out of their frigid offices and into a warm environment as they get ready to open the shelter.

I'll continue to keep everyone posted here.

Rep. Herseth-Sandlin Continues to Support Shelter

I want to thank Representative Herseth-Sandlin for her dedication to this issue. This morning there was another article in the Rapid City Journal, which quoted her extensively.

This is what she told the RCJ:

"Pretty Bird Woman House provides a safe haven for victims of domestic violence in an area where, tragically, its services are sorely needed," Herseth-Sandlin said....

Herseth-Sandlin, who held a congressional field meeting at Pretty Bird Woman House last year, said she is optimistic that shelters like Pretty Bird Woman House will not be squeezed out of existence by tight federal budgets. Advocates and supporters in Congress will not let that happen, she said.

The shelter provides the only domestic-violence sanctuary and outreach programs on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

"In the face of a tough budget environment with many worthy and competing priorities, I believe the Congress will provide strong funding for grant programs included in the Violence Against Women Act, such as the program through which Pretty Bird Woman House has already secured a grant," Herseth-Sandlin said.

"I will continue to call for full funding of the Violence Against Women Act and more funding for the Indian Health Service and to work with my colleagues in the House to provide adequate funding in the coming year for these critically important programs and services," Herseth-Sandlin said.

Donations

The article ended with a request for donations, which I've mentioned here. This is what Georgia Little Shield told the paper:

"We're looking for a new washer and dryer, if anybody wants to donate," shelter director Georgia Little Shield said. "And we need bunk beds, sheets, a couch and chair set, things for the living room and dining room and any kind of cooking utensils."

The shelter, which now has expanded storage space, also seeks additional items to offer domestic-violence victims when they leave the shelter, Little Shield said.

"We can continue to take donations so we'll have things to give these women when they find their own homes," she said.

The entire article is available here.

Again, thank you Rep. Herseth-Sandlin for speaking out, and thank you to everyone who has participated in this project.

Back in McLaughlin there is also a thank you going out to a group of 61 women you many not have known about - the ones who broke precedent and told their stories to Amnesty International for the report that brought this to our attention. It was really because of these women that assistance to the shelter has been forthcoming. I send my own thank you to them as well.

Want to Buy a Housewarming Present?

You may not be aware of why we're suddenly asking for contributions for household furnishings, since we surpassed our fundraising goal by about $17,600.

It turns out that a security system that has 4 video cameras, 24-hour monitoring, including a monitor that Georgia can use at her home (which helped reassure the City Council by the way), and an alarm system will cost $24,000. After that it's only $50 per month. Since they also need a fence, these two things have severely eaten into the budget for home furnishings.

If you're interested in contributing to this part of the project, you can contribute via check, or the ChipIn at right, or you can also add a personal touch and buy one of the things they need. I have set up 2 wish lists at Target. The most recent one, called Housewarming Presents is here. I had made an earlier one, which for some reason I can no longer log in to. Both are fine, but I chose different linens in the second one, which really is neither here nor there. You will get an idea of what they need from those lists.

Thank you for all your support. The shelter is planning on having a housewarming and a giving thanks party, and will send photos of them to post here.