Pretty Bird Woman House - first and last call

by: betsyny

Mon Dec 21, 2009 at 20:16:54 PM PST

For those of you who aren't familiar with the history of our involvement with the shelter, I will direct you to a post that Andy T wrote on the Pretty Bird Woman House blog, which pretty much summed up our efforts then.

the shelter, which includes a general (tax deductible) fund for the shelter, and a separate one for gift cards for the staff (not deductible).

This year, for reasons I will tell you about in the update below, I'm just doing a ChipIn for the staff. General donations (the tax deductible kind) can still be made by check, but not on-line.

Impressions of the Standing Rock Reservation - Photo Edition

by: betsyny

Fri Feb 13, 2009 at 09:58:49 AM PST

For those of you who haven't followed the Pretty Bird Woman House diaries, to make a long story perhaps too short, last fall I became the shelter's fundraiser. Last winter, due to the generosity of the Netroots, the shelter bought a 3 bedroom house in McLaughlin SD, and it now a fully-functioning, 3 bedroom women's shelter.

Georgia Little Shield, the shelter's director, invited me out to Standing Rock to observe some domestic violence prevention workshops they were doing in the communities with Cecilia Fire Thunder and Carmen O'Leary, two famous activists. Unfortunately, due to some snow and severe cold the workshop was postponed until after I left. So, I had to stay indoors for the first few days and then I got to know the eastern part of the reservation for the rest of the time.

Below the fold you'll find lots of photos of Standing Rock and some of my impressions. I will follow with another diary strictly about the shelter.

Lets Honor Joe Biden's Family Like this

by: betsyny

Mon Oct 06, 2008 at 12:11:25 PM PDT

Considering that Sarah Palin wants Alaskan women to buy their own rape kits and is against abortion even in case of rape or incest, and John McCain's pathetic record on women's issues buying Pretty Bird Woman House a new furnace also draws a stark contrast between our values, shared by the Obama/Biden ticket, and the McCain/Palin horror show.  

So what do you say? Are you in for say $5.

Introducing My Sister Friends' House

by: Andy Ternay

Tue Aug 12, 2008 at 22:40:34 PM PDT

But I am asking you to stop and see if you have $20 or $10 or even $5 to spare for My Sister Friends' House - Mita Maske Ti Ki, a Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault shelter for women and children.

They have lost their grant funding and face closure by September if they don't get enough funding to continue to operate as a shelter. They need $11,000 by August 31st to operate through September.

The end goal is $35,000 by September 30th - three months of operating expenses as they apply for grant funding and get established out on their own.

Help Another Native American Women's Shelter?

by: Andy Ternay

Tue Aug 05, 2008 at 23:01:01 PM PDT

KELO in Sioux Falls did the introduction to this situation for me:

Sioux Falls shelter for women and children who have been abused is at risk of shutting down.

The shelter has been running on grants and federal funding since 2000, but those grants are coming to an end. Now the director says the women at the shelter may have to move out.

The Mita Maske Ti Ki shelter, which means "My Sister Friends' House," houses about a dozen women and children who have left abusive homes and are trying to turn their lives around. But with their funding running out at the end of August, those victims of domestic violence could soon lose their sanctuary.

Link to the Shelter blog where you can donate

Building Momentum For Change: Ending the Maze of Injustice

by: Andy Ternay

Wed Jul 23, 2008 at 20:29:17 PM PDT

Right now Native American women on reservations are 3 times as likely to be raped as a white woman. Due to an insanely complex series of jurisdictional issues, limited law enforcement, minimal political will and racism, perpetrators of sexual assault and domestic violence against Native American women often commit their crimes with impunity, knowing they will likely never face prosecution. All of this was documented in sickening detail last year by Amnesty International's report Maze of Injustice

Today, Senator Byron Dorgan introduced the Tribal Law and Order Act in the Senate.

The legislation is designed to boost law enforcement efforts by providing tools to tribal justice officials to fight crime in their own communities, improving coordination between law enforcement agencies, and increasing accountability standards.

Will this legislation stop the violence?

How To Rape A Woman And Get Away With It

by: Andy Ternay

Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 11:50:28 AM PDT

Come over the fold and I'll tell you exactly how this happens - and you can take an action, a small first step towards ending this nightmare.

Pretty Bird Woman House Needs a Coat of Paint +

by: betsyny

Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 11:07:48 AM PDT

Anyway, the shelter has been operating for about a month, and wonderful things have been happening since they closed on the house in February.

One exciting development has been that many members of the McLaughlin community have gone from being suspicious to being supporters. That's one reason we're raising money right now: a youth group from a local church as volunteered to paint the house.

More below the fold.

Pretty Bird Woman House Update: It's a GO!

by: betsyny

Wed Jan 30, 2008 at 14:55:59 PM PST

First of all, I want to express my deepest gratitude to all the Kossacks and other members of the netroots community for your commitment to the survival of the Pretty Bird Woman House.  Helping this shelter has been one of the most gratifying things I've ever done, and some of that has to do with the outpouring of caring and compassion that I witnessed while I was doing this project.

This morning I received an email informing me that the McLaughlin City Council had unanimously approved the shelter's petition to operate in the house it wants to purchase. This was a wonderful accomplishment given some initial misgivings that some of the City Council Members had expressed.  

Pretty Bird Woman House Update: Why Isn't Anything Easy in Indian Country?

by: betsyny

Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 10:20:52 AM PST

I want to update everyone who has been involved in the Pretty Bird Woman House fundraiser on the situation with the house purchase.

After you read this you might also ask: Why isn't anything easy in Indian Country?

While we were running this fundraiser, the City Council of McLaughlin, which exists as a separate entity within the boundaries of the Standing Rock Reservation, passed an ordinance requiring that any nonprofit wishing to establish a boardinghouse or shelter in a residential area get the approval of the City Council first.

This means that  even though Pretty Bird Woman House could have closed on the house on January 4th, they had to wait for a Council meeting on January 7th.

Everyone was certain that after hearing about the shelter, the City Council would just say "of course you can" to their request.

Not so.  

Pretty Bird Woman House: Raises Over $80,000 for a New House

by: Andy Ternay

Sun Dec 30, 2007 at 08:02:28 AM PST

In October, Betsy Campisi, a volunteer on the last Pretty Bird Woman House fundraising drive called Georgia Little Shield, the shelter director to check in. After all, after the previous May fundraiser, things looked great - Pretty Bird Woman House had a building, funding from the Netroots until a grant kicked in in... things were going well. But when Betsy spoke to Georgia she heard grim news.

Our shelter was burned down. They stole everything. Then they burnt it down.

Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and just hope that the net is there to catch you. This time there was no net. But you wonderful people... you wove that net even as everything was falling off the edge. You wove the net out of blog posts and $5 donations, out of human love and compassion.  

Pretty Bird Woman House Update: YOU are buying THIS house!

by: betsyny

Fri Dec 07, 2007 at 12:17:23 PM PST

We need donations urgently right now since there was only enough money for a really low bid, so that makes things still a bit tenuous. And then there will be closing costs and a security system. But even though we haven't sealed the deal yet, we're coming very close!

The amazing part of this project is that the individual efforts of a bunch of bloggers are making such a big difference to a group of women. This is what a community is really about.  And were else can you see donations doing something so huge so fast?