Looming crisis prompts ‘Call to Action’

PORCUPINE – Thunder Valley Community Development Corp. issued a “Call to Action” that urges people to contribute to a matching fund drive by July 24 to aid in the battle against the novel coronavirus Covid-19 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

“Our community is extremely vulnerable to a crisis like this,” Executive Director Tatewin Means said in a recorded fundraising plea. “Covid-19 poses a tremendous threat to our people, our traditions, and our future. We need your support.”

Thunder Valley CDC, headquartered in Porcupine, has prepared and delivered more than 1,600 cleaning kits and countless food boxes across the reservation, Community Engagement Director DeCora Hawk told the Native Sun News Today.

However, more medical, food, and household supplies, as well as money for volunteer deployment and training and other materials, are needed according to the organization.

“Now is the time to donate,” Means said. “Not only will your money go directly to the front lines, but the Seventh Generation Foundation is generously matching your donations.”

Seventh Generation Inc., a Unilever spinoff company marketing certified sustainably produced health and household items, established the foundation to make grants to non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations “that promote and improve environmental conservation, the sustainable use of natural resources, and human health and social welfare.”

The foundation’s mission statement echoes Lakota values, revealing, “We will care today for seven generations of tomorrows by stewarding social and environmental progress in the communities where we live, work and do business through education, environmental conservation, research and advocacy.”

Thunder Valley partnered with the foundation in hopes of receiving up to $50,000 Seventh Generation pledged to provide in funds to double each individual third-party donation.

Some 17 percent of the $100,000 goal created by the partnership had been met with 88 small donations amounting to $17,182, as of July 18.

“Covid-19 is ripping through the world, having a disproportionate impact on communities,” Thunder Valley observed. “Few communities are as vulnerable in the United States as native communities and, among native communities, Pine Ridge Reservation is one of the most at risk in light of this looming crisis.”

 

(Contact Talli Nauman at talli.nauman@gmail.com)

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