NAHA has been very busy these past few weeks delivering food, drinks, Wal-Mart products and Tempur Pedic mattresses to the Reservations. We were able to acquire 18 truckloads of Tempur Pedic mattresses from Good360. One story that I couldn’t wait to share with you is the other week when we delivered a truckload of mattresses to one of the Reservations, they took the pallets the mattresses came on and built bed frames out of them. It was very resourceful because otherwise the pallets would have been thrown into a wood pile to be burned or just thrown away. So when I heard that the bed frames were being built out of the pallets I was thoroughly impressed and just thought that was a great way to recycle something and turn it into a something very useful.
Summer is dwindling down and Winter is right around the corner for the Reservations in South Dakota. I won’t even mention Fall because here on the Reservations we don’t get the pleasure of having the cool weather before the real cold weather hits. Basically we have 2 seasons: Summer and Winter. It goes from one extreme to the next, so you will understand the urgency for my request to you today. School is only a few weeks away and we need to be able to provide the children with the proper attire for when the temperature drops below zero with the wind chill making it feel like 30 degrees below. Many of the Native American children walk a great distance to get to school. When it gets that cold out they MIGHT have a light jacket to wear with shoes that have holes in them so you can understand why so many young children get deathly sick with pneumonia. That is the reality out on the Reservations. Many do not have the proper clothing to keep them warm to and from school. They then must make the decision to stay home and will end up missing out on an important education that hopefully will someday get them to a good college or have a well-paid career. So you see it’s just a continuing cycle. That is why I am asking you today to contribute any amount you can afford to help purchase Wal-Mart vouchers. What are Wal-Mart vouchers you ask?
A Wal-Mart voucher is worth $75 and is only good for shirts, pants, socks, shoes, underwear and dresses that they may use at their nearest Wal-Mart. Everything the parents purchase with this voucher is tax free. We are able to get these vouchers at a huge discount, so your contribution will go a lot further than it could through any other means. This is a great deal for the parents of Native American children because they are able to provide them the necessities for the school year and warm clothing for when winter hits. The children will be able to experience owning a brand new pair of tennis shoes that no one has ever worn before, or a brand new pair of jeans, shirt, etc. So you can see how important your contribution is to both the parents AND the children.
If you can’t send in a money contribution, won’t you consider going through your children or grandchildren’s gently-used clothing and ship them to our warehouse? You may ship them to our warehouse at: NAHA, 12085 Quaal Rd., Black Hawk, SD 57718. We are also in need of school supplies for the children. Again, a lot of the parents won’t even be able to afford to buy the necessary school supplies that their teachers require. Please, don’t hesitate in sending in your contribution or shipping clothing, school supplies, etc. because time is running out and we need your help NOW!!!
As always, I offer Wopila (many thanks) for all you do to help NAHA say “yes” to Native American families in need.
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