Thank You from Re-Member, Inc. 2005

July 11, 2005

Dear Friends,

You’ve been teaching us at RE-MEMBER what the true meaning of “Friend” is, with your generous donations of tools and bedding that are so integral to our work here on Pine Ridge.

Each week volunteers ready all of the bunk bed components in our workshop. Then they are loaded onto a trailer, along with mattresses, pillows, and bedding, and placed in homes, one community at a time, around the reservation. We always seem to have more requests than we have beds.

I’m going to let a little girl about 6 years old tell you the story from here. This was the first place of her own to sleep, and her eyes were practically glowing with anticipation. She busily ran from the RE-MEMBER cargo trailer to the trailer where she lived to check on the volunteers’ progress. And finally there were several trips to choose just the right colors and prints of her sheets, pillowcases, and blanket. When we left she was perched happily in the special space that she had helped create.

There are very few choices to be made amidst the overcrowded living conditions found here on Pine Ridge due to the tremendous poverty. Thank you for helping us bring a measure of comfort and choice into the lives of the Lakota people.

Sue Schuster
RE-MEMBER
Communications Director

June 11, 2005

Dear Friends,

Thank you for all of your wonderful donations! We deeply appreciate the caring and sharing that was so evident from your response. Your efforts enable us to continue to reach out to the Lakota people amidst the enormous need that is found on Pine Ridge.

The Lakota word “tiospaye” translates loosely in English as “extended family”. One of the many fascinating relational aspects we’ve run into on the reservation has to do with their understanding of just what that means. For the Lakota, your mother is not just the woman who gave birth to you. It also includes your mother’s sister(s), maybe your grandma, sometimes any other adult woman living in the home with you, and in some cases, the neighbor lady (if none of the others are around). One’s cousins are referred to as brothers and sisters. Like the African model, the entire “village” becomes the family; all are equally responsible to one another.

RE-MEMBER has that same feeling about you because you’ve elected to stand with us through your generosity. “Mitakuye oyasin” (We are all related). And through our relationship with the people of Pine Ridge, you are a part of their “tiospaye”, even if you’ve never been here.

Pilamaya (Thank you!)

Sue Schuster
RE-MEMBER
Communications Director