Tongue River Men’s Shelter

As reported recently in Native Sun and many oth­er publications around the nation, homelessness is on the rise, particularly need­ed during the arctic winter conditions on the Great Plains this winter.

Homelessness is not lim­ited to urban areas – it ex­ists on many Indian Reser­vations as well, including Northern Cheyenne in Montana. In addition to the homeless there, many peo­ple live in very substandard housing with inadequate heat, cooking facilities and in some dire cases – no win­dows. In many cases, there is serious overcrowding in homes. And often, there is no housing to be had.

Fortunately, the North­ern Cheyenne reservation is served by the Tongue Riv­er Men’s Shelter, located in Birney, MT, one of the most remote locations on the reservation. It is not a tribal program, nor is it fed­erally funded by the Tribal Housing Authority which controls the availability of federal housing on the Reservation. It is a 501 © 3, founded and run by Er­nest Littlemouth, Tribal Vice-President as a person­al undertaking. The shelter was established as an out- of-pocket expense in 2018 when Littlemouth then served on the Tribal Council. Since then, he received help from a grant writer, good friend to the Northern Chey­enne who helped get the charita­ble tax status to collect donations, upon which they rely for opera­tion.

For the recent two weeks when temperatures dipped to -18, the Shelter was filled to capacity, hav­ing space for up to eleven clients, with the age range of 18 (the min­imum age) to 71. Unfortunately, due to lack of facilities and staff­ing, the Shelter is not able to pro­vide emergency shelter for wom­en, families or children.

Recently, this writer had the op­portunity to visit with Littlemouth, the Shelter Director, to tour the center and sit down for coffee with some of the residents, even beat­ing one in a cribbage duel.

Sonny Elkshoulder, Little­mouth’s nephew operates as an unofficial assistant at the center, having spent two years there and was very helpful in providing in­formation. Littlemouth, however, personally checks on the shelter each day, serving as mentor, coach and if need be, disciplinarian for the residents.

Littlemouth explained that when he was on the Council, he realized that a Shelter was critically needed on the reservation. A previous ef­fort to establish a non-profit shel­ter in Lame Deer was short-lived. Ernest and his wife Dolly were then running a summer feeding program for children in Birny, out of pocket. “They had nowhere else to eat,” he remarked.

Littlemouth also candidly ex­plained that for a short while in his life, he himself was homeless in Billings, learning first-hand the challenges of “living on the street.”

“Maybe that is why I understand them,” he commented.

The first challenge is location, Birney some 22 miles from Lame Deer and the site of the only homeless shelter on the Reserva­tion. The Tribe operates a transit (public bus) system, but due to a shortage of drivers that service is available to Birney only twice a day, Monday through Friday. Ac­cording to the schedule, rides to Lame Deer can be had at 6:30 a.m. and the return trip is 5:30 p.m. If a person misses the bus, that is their bad luck. Hitchhiking to Birney is problematic.

On the other hand, Elk Shoulder said that the Community Health Representatives (CHR’s) are very helpful in providing transporta­tion for medical appointments and counseling and will deliver medi­cations to the Shelter for residents. Also, the tribal commodity pro­gram delivers items for residents who qualify for that assistance. Other goods bought with Food Stamps are shared with the com­munity population at the center.

The shelter is a renovated church, including an arctic entry which includes space for a deep­freeze; kitchen with complete cooking facilities; dining and common area with a semi-large screen. Otherwise, the sleeping areas are curtained off to provide a modicum of privacy for the oc­cupants. The entire large room is heated with a wood stove supple­mented by electric heaters when needed, supplemented by a solar panel, secured by a grant.

Elkshoulder was proud to de­scribe the self-sufficiency efforts at the shelter, for which the occu­pants are responsible. On week­ends and when transportation is available they cut their own fire­wood and will even sell it to elders for ten dollars a load (very eco­nomical). The proceeds are used for food at the shelter. Residents rotate cooking and cleaning duties.

In the summer, they have a gar­den to produce fresh vegetables and in the winter hunt wild game. In addition, many tribal members drop off wild game which the res­idents preserve and eventually cook. And of course, the Tongue River is nearby, excellent source of summer fishing.

The complex also includes a surplus food center. “People from Ashland and Lame Deer have come over here for food,” Elk­shoulder explained. “But, we’ve had a lot of problems with break- ins and thievery.”

In addition, the small commu­nity tries to help one another out, building each other up and en­couraging personal progress. “It is really hard for those who get out of jail to get on their feet, get a job or find housing,” Elkshoul­der explained. “We help them with I.D.’s; social security and sobri­ety.” He shared an example of a young man who spent two stints in the Rosebud County jail, amount­ing to about two years for a series of misdemeanors and whose fami­ly does not want to deal with those problems.”

“Often, a lot of our young people head for Billings,” he explained. “Until they find out how tough it is or need medical care. Then they need to come home.”

Littlemouth sometimes goes to Billings, finds some lost Chey­enne’s, brings them home and encourages them to straighten up. He was happy to share a couple of success stories.

“This one guy got out of the joint, had terrible anger problems and even caused conflict here,” he explained. “You don’t throw a fit in a sweat, unacceptable. But, we didn’t give up on him and I was glad to see him not too long ago. He got his family back, found a job and apartment and is living in Billings.”

Another young man just couldn’t keep out of jail, until Ernest in­tervened and helped him sign up for job training. “Now he’s doing okay,” the Tribal Vice-President reports.

Indeed, the center has some very specific living rules, “after 3 strikes – you’re out.” In order to check into the facility, a client must sign a waiver agreeing to abide by certain rules: drinking and/or drug use; smoking indoors; violent or aggressive conduct and stealing are all specifically against the grain. Littlemouth has been known to personally counsel indi­viduals with problems.

As Elkshoulder reported, for a short time the local law enforce­ment were bringing men to the Shelter who had been drinking. “We don’t deal with that,” he said.

Every Sunday, a traditional sweat is conducted and although attendance is not required, nearly all the residents attend. Dolly and Ernest or other community mem­bers make sure to provide a good home-cooked meal at those occa­sions.

“Ernest is a good man, a Chris­tian man,” Elkshoulder noted. “I came back from Winnebago to help him and to pray, especially for my special needs son. I really only know how to pray the Chey­enne way. That works the best for our people.”

At this time, the long-time fund­raising assistant is taking a break which is leaving the shelter often short of food. Next week, for ex­ample, Ernest will travel to Bill­ings to meet with a donor (a for­mer St. Labre student) who will bring precious goods: food, mens’ clothing, especially winter gear etc.

Anyone else wishing to make a charitable and tax-deduct­ible donation can contact Trib­al Vice-President Ernest Little­mouth, Northern Cheyenne Tribe, P.O. Box 128, Lame Deer, MT 59043, telephone 407-477-6284. He will call you back.

(Contact Clara Caufield at acheyennereview@gmail.com)

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