Help Another Native American Women’s Shelter?

( – promoted by navajo)

If not, just skip this diary. It will annoy the hell out of you.

KELO in Sioux Falls did the introduction to this situation for me:

Sioux Falls shelter for women and children who have been abused is at risk of shutting down.

The shelter has been running on grants and federal funding since 2000, but those grants are coming to an end. Now the director says the women at the shelter may have to move out.

The Mita Maske Ti Ki shelter, which means “My Sister Friends’ House,” houses about a dozen women and children who have left abusive homes and are trying to turn their lives around. But with their funding running out at the end of August, those victims of domestic violence could soon lose their sanctuary.

Link to the Shelter blog where you can donate

When Georgia Littleshield from Pretty Bird Woman House called me and asked me to do this my response was: OH, HELL NO.

A lot of people really got very resentful and tired of the fundraising diaries for PBWH. It was exhausting to do that fundraising drive for the house. You have no idea how much time this took behind the scenes – it was all Pretty Bird, all the time.

This time round it’s worse. It’s election season. People want to donate to candidates, not causes. I’m one of them.

Also, I really wanted to move from the bucket brigade putting out fires to legislative solutions, really solving the problems facing Native American Women.

But Georgia said: if you don’t, who will?

And Jolana, the director of My Sister Friends’ House said: I don’t want to close. We help so many women.

And I read Teacherken’s diary:All of us, starting right now.

And I can’t go to sleep knowing that somewhere, someone could have been helped, but I didn’t bother.

So, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to Mita Maske Ti Ki.

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The goal is simple: $35,000. We buy them three months to land a new grant. The South Dakota Coalition Against Domestic Violence is helping them, as is Pretty Bird Woman House and other shelters.

More later. I have to go to bed.

3 Comments

  1. Off to a better start than I expected for a very gripey diary which tells you little about the shelter.

    Right now we have $170, ehem, $270 (thanks Devilstower!). If we get another $30, we pay for a day of operations. If we get another $80, the women at My Sister Friends’ House wake up and 1% of their goal has been met.

    Thank you.

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