Elders treated to Thanksgiving Dinner at Grand Gateway

RAPID CITY – Over 300 Rapid City Elders and their grandkids took over the Grand Gateway Ballroom this weekend for the Ending the Silence Gathering of the Elders 2023 to celebrate life, reconnect, visit and laugh with old friends, share their pics from younger years, play games, and enjoy an epic Thanksgiving Meal together.

The night was filled with high positive energy with numerous elders arriving three hours early out of excitement and to save their seats.

Award Winning Actor and Star of ‘Dreamkeeper’, ‘Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee’, ‘Into the West’, ‘Black Cloud’, ‘Hell on Wheels’ and ‘Yellowstone’, the legendary Eddie Spears made a surprise appearance to sign autographs and take selfies with everyone

Ending the Silence Rapid City is a Native based program focusing on resolving Native on Native Violence in our communities.

Currently 4 out of 5 of our Native youth are sexually abused before they turn 12. Over half of our teens have contemplated, attempted or successfully completed the act of taking their own lives this past year alone. This is not a white man raping our Native youth, the assaults are Native on Native Violence

Many of our Elders have stepped up to take care of their grandkids to prevent the State from intervening. The Gathering honored our grandparents for taking on this huge responsibility of being care providers and to empower them to keep pressing forward

Ending the Silence accepted the invite from the owners of the Grand Gateway to use the space for our gathering. The family contributed over $7,500.00 for the event including the venue, Meal, prizes and staffing.

The Meal, which included Bapa Soup, Menudo, Frybread, Turkey, Ham, Mashed Potatoes & Gravy, Corn, Green Bean Casserole, Pistachio Salad, Sweet Potatoes, Dinner Rolls along with Fruit, Meat and Cheese Trays, Apple and Pumpkin Pies was opened with prayer songs from Salomon Red Bear & Family.

Mega Prize Bingo and Hot Seat Drawings included Presidential Suite Stays at Grand Gateway Hotel, Artwork from 5th & Main Freeds Furniture, Helicopter Rides, Weekend Getaways and original beadwork from Cindy Mesteth Designs.

Hundreds of new jackets, gloves, scarves, socks, boots and new pairs of shoes were given away. Ramon Two Bulls was the Disc Jockey playing country and rock music the entire time.

The Gathering was filled with lots of tears, prayers, hugs as Sage smoke filled the space in a good way. What happened and what was said by one of the owners must never be forgotten and must always be remembered.

This event was not meant to disrespect those individuals who felt it is too soon for them to attend due to mourning. I hear you and I know the pain you felt or are feeling because my kids and parents were hurt exactly the same way.

Choosing to accept the invite was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made in my life. Historical trauma is a major factor in our hardships as Lakota people today. We must try our hardest to overcome this not before we create more historical trauma for our future generations if we pass away with anger still on our hearts.

Our kids and grandkids will feel the only way to keep our memory alive is to continue keeping that hate alive.

Following the conclusion of WW2 one of our Native Veterans, whom was fully decorated with honor for his service came back to Rapid and went to Hotel Alex Johnson wearing his uniform and medals to rent a room. He was told ‘No Indians Allowed’ and was denied a room.

Instead of holding anger, he decided to become a business owner downtown Rapid selling flooring and paint. When the 1972 Rapid City Flood decimated our Community and displaced thousands of our tribal members, killing hundreds of people, he choose to run for Mayor of Rapid City as a full-blooded Santee Sioux Tribal Member against three white guys.

His name was Art LaCroix. He won with 70% of the overall votes and became the most influential leader in Rapid City history winning six consecutive terms. LaCroix is credited for rebuilding Rapid City after the flood, creating housing for our Native families, building the Rapid City Airport, and earning the title ‘Star of the West’ for our community. LaCroix welcomed Elvis Presley to Rapid City with a Lakota Honoring and gifts.

Due to his failing health, LaCroix made the difficult decision to not run for a seventh consecutive win

As the longest running and most successful Mayor, The City of Rapid City memorialized his legacy by naming both LaCroix Links Golf Course and The Monument’s LaCroix Hall after him.

The Mayor is in charge of the Police Department. We cannot rewrite history, we must acknowledge it and learn from it to preserve his legacy. If he could overcome, we all can overcome this hardship as well

As each Elder made their way into the Ballroom they were greeted by Leslie Lesert, the oldest sibling of the Uhre Family. She gave everyone sage, flat cedar, tobacco and a cup of coffee to welcome them.

Chance and I would like to say Wopila to my cousin Molina Ferguson for prepping and cooking, Cindy Mesteth for working tirelessly to make sure everything was running smoothly. Wopila to Ramon Two Bulls, Eddie Spears, all of the volunteers and our younger elders who attended but choose to help out with the meal distribution.

We had numerous youth members from our program serve the meals, filled glasses with drinks, handed out tickets and Bingo Cards, and pies. It was awesome to see them unselfishly honor their elders.

Jasmine Stangle and the Crew from Outback Steakhouse did a fabulous job in the kitchen. She gave all of the Elders Free Outback gift cards.

Numerous individuals dedicated numerous hours of their lives to prepare the event. Shoutout to the crews at Foothills, Perkins, and Grand Gateway for everything.

We took a vote and it was unanimous – we will host more events in the Ballroom for years to come.

Wopila to everyone who showed up and who called me to share words of encouragement and the strength to do this for our Elders.

Together We Are Ending The Silence RC.

 

 

The post Elders treated to Thanksgiving Dinner at Grand Gateway first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

Visit Original Source