Thanks from Our Friends at Pine Ridge Reservation!
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Kiyuksa O'Tipi Reintegration Center Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyapi, Inc. (LOWO) Little Wound Elementary School Little Wound High School Library Red Shirt School Sewing Circle |
April 2, 2008 Dear Friends of Pine Ridge, Thank you so much for all the supplies and gifts for our upcoming Kindergarten Celebration in May. Everything we need has arrived in good condition. The cups, plates and napkins will go right along with our springs songs for the program. The food items are greatly appreciated. We even received some cute ladybug magnets. The girls will love the Sonya Pet Salons and the boys are going to enjoy playing with the Gears. Thanks to everyone of you that donated these items that will make our party a very special day. Pilamiya! (Lakota word for Thank You!) Sincerely,
Robin Sager
February 18, 2008 Friends of Pine Ridge, I'd like to extend my warmest thank you to you all who participated in this Valentine drive for our school. The students are very excited and happy to have received the wonderful cards. Thank you all for all your effort and know that you've touched our children in a positive way.
Pila Miya, (thank you)
April 23, 2007 Dear Friends of Pine Ridge, There is no service too small that does not help everyone. Those trowels that were sent were small, but they helped to plant fifty trees so that our part of the world will look beautiful again. Thank you so much!!! The kids and I will pray for you.
God bless, February 8, 2007 Dear Friends of Pine Ridge, We are going to have a great time at our Kindergarten Celebration in May. The children are going to love the rodeo theme. I wish you could be here to see their faces when they see those adorable stick ponies you sent. I want you to know they arrived safe and sound. They are very well trained. For now we are keeping them corralled up in our storeroom. The decorations, plates, napkins, coffee, lemonade, mints, nuts etc. are just what we needed. Thank you so much for your generosity (a Lakota Value). Pilamiya! (Thank you!)
Robin Sager February 7, 2007 Dear Friends of Pine Ridge, I would like to extend a heartfelt handshake to each and every one of you. We are very thankful for your generous donations of the Valentine cards and candy. The students are happy and the teachers are appreciative of that. Again, Thank you all for your hard work to make this possible for the children. Have a wonderful day.
Alice Phelps 10/19/06 I'd like to extend a warm handshake out to each and every one of you that helped out with the Halloween carnival drive. We would like to thank you all for the great effort put forth at ensuring that this drive got completed. Thanks to you all we will have a fun and successful Halloween carnival this year!!!
Sincerely, August 22, 2006 Friends of Pine Ridge, Thank you very much for your wonderful donations of the school supplies for our school this year! It was wonderful to be able to have these supplies before the first day of school which is Mon. the 28th. We'd also like to thank you for the wonderful books we've recieved for the library. Thanks so much for the team effort and the giving from your heart! Sincerely,
Alice Phelps May 11, 2006 Dear Friends of Pine Ridge Reservation: The Kindergarten Class had a wonderful celebration! Our program began with our class gathering around the drum to sing a surprise Lakota song for our guests. Once it was completed they walked to their places to the front of the Parish Hall and sang, "Shout Praises" in Lakota. Girls wore grass skirts with leis and the boys wore beach combing hats with leis. They sang, "The Hukilau Song," with actions. Everyone got into the island theme and we even had a guest speaker/singer, Marei Kingi, originally from New Zealand. Marei is an English teacher at Pine Ridge High School. He brought two weapons and demonstrated combat warrior maneuvers with a long spearlike weapon that mesmerized the students. He explained that our weapons today are books and knowledge. He then raped colored clothes over the shoulders of each child and sang a beautiful song about the rainbow in his native tongue and English. Many special awards were given out along with a Kindergarten Certificate. Father Pauly concluded the program with prayer. Our school drum group, Anpo Teca (New Dawn), sang the Honoring Song, while our guests all lined up to shake hands with our eight students. Special beach bags were passed out to each child, which FOPRR helped provide. Each bag had a beach towel, visors, toys, and more. They are definitely ready for the beach now! A reception for the students followed. We had a beautiful cake, fruit & veggie trays, lemonade and coffee. Thank you FOPRR for providing the plates, cups, napkins, table clothes, plastic ware, lemonade, and more. Thanks to your help, this day was very special and one we will always remember. Your generosity (a Lakota Value) is greatly appreciated. May God Bless You back for your kindness toward us! Your friends,
The Kindergarten Class March 24, 2006 Dear Chris and Friends of Pine Ridge, I just told Chris that Our Lady of Lourdes is now the proud owner of 120 beautiful blue chairs. Thanks to the moneys you sent in to Alice and me. Then the prizes you sent for the Bingo she and I had to raise the last bit of money needed for the chairs. May God bless you for your charitable donation to the school. A dream has been fulfilled. Our Lady of Lourdes now has its own blue chairs which I used at Christmas time for the Christmas program. Everyone had a place to sit. Graduation is the next big function where the chairs will be used again. I will keep you in my prayers for making my wish come true. Gratefully, Sr. Susan
October 24, 2005 Dear Friends of Pine Ridge, I want to express my sincere gratitude for the books that have been pouring into the Our Lady of Lourdes library. Before coming to Our Lady of Lourdes I did not know what sort of budget to expect for the library or what sort of resources I would have. As it turns out, it was the Middle School that was poorly supplied with quality literature, so this was my first project. Although our budget will allow for the purchase of some new books, it will never cover the cost furnishing a more complete Middle School library. Myself, the students, fellow teachers and administration appreciate your donations towards this goal! The Middle School students especially cannot wait to dive into their new books! The majority of books we have received so far are still for the Elementary School. New books will now replace old tattered ones, there is a greater selection, and I am proud to say that there are now more Native American titles on the shelves. Book donations have come from all distances, in all sizes and quantities. Thank you especially for the brand new books that were bought. These will be well taken care of. FAMILY READING NIGHT UPDATE: Our Family Reading Nights are going well! Our purpose in starting the Family Reading Nights were to instill the idea that children and their parents need to read together EVERY NIGHT in a quiet comfortable environment. Already by the second grade it is clear which students are reading at home and which are not. Our second objective was to get more books in the homes to ensure that reading good literature is a constant possibility in our students' lives. It can be difficult to start new traditions here, but students and parents now ask when the next Family Reading Night will be! At our first Family Reading Night, traditional Lakota Stories were told and then parents and children were allowed to read to each other in a relaxed environment. There were refreshments, and families had the opportunity to take home a free book. At our second Family Reading Night we allowed parents to come in and preview and buy books from our Scholastic Book Fair and to read to their children. We hope to continue Family Reading Nights once a month for the entire year. Your donations of books for Family Reading Nights have been unbelievable and I suspect that we will have enough books to donate to families until well into the spring. We now have a wealth of Native American titles that will be popular with children and their families to take home. Generosity is one of the four values of the Lakota medicine wheel in addition to Courage, Respect and Wisdom. Your donations have truly demonstrated the spirit and strength of this value. You and the schools you work in are the best friends our school on the Pine Ridge Reservation could have. I look forward to working more with the Friends of Pine Ridge Reservation as we work towards meeting our goals of providing our students with quality literature and information literacy throughout the year! Mitake Oyase (All Our Relations)
Claire Newman |