Monday
La Plant
• Program Activities: kickball, hitting/fielding, trash pick-up (social responsibility), thank you cards, friendship bracelets, football
• Numbers: 7 (4 girls, 3 boys; ages 6-10 – Edward for the first time)
• Report: It is great to partner with the Boys and Girls Club because we have inside space and local knowledge with the staff. However, it also gives the youth an option to escape if they are not interested in the Initiative’s programming offerings. We encountered this situation last week and it occurred again. However, we were able to engage the whole group in kickball for the first part of our day and then we split off with softball/hitting and indoor options. It was nice to get the group moving around outdoors, but it took some convincing. We also took a few youth on a circle around the BGC to pick-up trash and to help take responsibility for the upkeep of the facility.
Swiftbird
• Program Activities: kickball in mowed field, thank you cards, hitting/fielding, chalk art and hopscotch
• Numbers: 7 (4 girls, 3 boys; ages 4-13)
• Report: Once everyone had the proper footwear, we started programming with a whole group game of kickball up on the field. The wind was blowing very hard, which made kicking fair balls a real effort. However, they all ran the bases well. As the skies darkened, we moved over to the community building and worked on making and decorating thank you cards in the carport. The rain finally chased us onto the porch where we hunkered down to stay dry and emerged fifteen minutes later into the sunlight. Those that finished their art began hitting and working on skills for the remainder of the day. This was another group that ranged in age, as with last week, but seemed to be dominated by ages six and under.
Tuesday
Bear Creek
• Program Activities: sharks and minnows to warm up, kickball, fitness reviews, trash pick-up (social responsibility), thank you cards, playground tag
• Numbers: 9 (6 girls, 3 boys; ages 5-11)
• Report: The kids were excited to see us once again. We brought the group down to the field per our usual routine. We opened with a spirited game of sharks and minnows to get them moving, thinking about being active and excited for what was to come. They all played well during kickball and were in good spirits. After a break for water, we revisited the fitness assessment tasks to focus on healthy living. We have discovered that most of the youth that were tested at the start of the summer are not the youth we are seeing at the end. Bear Creek has had the most consistent group, as far as we can tell, so we wanted to make sure to revisit that concept. The fitness work was folded into another pillar – social responsibility. We had them focus on caring for the community center and “keeping mother earth from getting sick.” We filled and disposed of six bags of trash. The youth were all then excited to move indoors for a final activity of making thank you cards. This group, with minor “he’s being mean(s)” and “she hit me(s),” gets along very well and is willing to accept our planned programming. We ended with our customary circle and complemented each other for a good day.
Cheery Creek
• Program Activities: kickball, softball, bottle shakers (recycling effort and social responsibility), beading and friendship bracelets
• Numbers: 14 (7 girls, 7 boys; ages 3-14)
• Report: The plan for the day was to prepare for Wednesday’s game with Eagle Butte. However, we quickly discovered that the bulk of the team was off at a camp for the week meaning that at least five players that participated in the pervious game would by unavailable. Tugboat, a youth that had been very involved before, was occupied and unable to assist for the day, which was a major set-back as well. That forced us to Plan B (wait, was there a Plan B?). We worked on skills with the assembled group and, with the help of some youth, spread the word throughout the community that players were needed. More flyers were distributed and we leaned on the youth to take ownership to round up a group by the following day. Still, there was program to run, so we stayed focused on the day’s theme of skills by playing kickball and practicing hitting. Debbie once again worked her magic with the younger group at the playground and made soda bottle shakers to use for cheering at the game. With fingers crossed, we left the river valley under sunny skies and optimistic from the slow arrival of potential players and pledges to find others.
Wednesday
Bear Creek
• Program Activities: kickball, catch, tag and variations on sharks minnows, fairy hunting and flower seeking
• Numbers: 5 (3 girls, 2 boys; ages 5-7)
• Report: We arrived earlier than normal and we also had shortened programming due to the scheduled softball game down in Cherry Creek. Still, we were able to get youth engaged for the day, after they finished their chores, in outdoor activities. We again got them running and had their heart rates up with kickball and other active games. Afterward, we cooled down in the shade with a story about and subsequent hunt for fairies lead by Debbie. This younger crew was very receptive to the effort and we wrapped up with our thank-you circle.
Cheery Creek
• Program Activities: softball game vs. Eagle Butte
• Numbers: 8 players – with more watching in the stands at various times throughout the game
• Report: Our optimism from Tuesday was quickly tested when we drove into town. Youth that had committed to playing were off in other communities or could not be found. We spent nearly forty-five minutes driving throughout the community searching for our regular youth and any other interested players. Slowly, youth made it out to the field and we were able to scrape together a co-ed team of ten that include three youth we had never seen and the addition of two ringers – Michael and Craig. The team from Eagle Butte arrived and we had the first pitch at 3:45. It was instantly apparent that the opposing youth had been coached and knew how to play, creating nerves and doubts in the Cherry Creek kids. Still they played well and enjoyed the competition. They all tried their hardest, all we ‘coaches’ could have asked. We played two games comprised of seven innings, with the second game ending in a tighter score than the first. Improvement! In all, it was a success for Cherry Creek to host the games. Families and spectators observed throughout the afternoon and the youth had a chance to compete.
Though we were the team present for the game, we executed a plan laid out from other Initiative teams. Also, the Eagle Butte team was transported and coached by Dean from the Youth Diabetes Prevention Program. He has been a great community contact and support. As with the first game, the YDPP supplied food and water for the participants. The Initiative has certainly benefited from the engagement of the YDPP.
Thursday
Note: we had to alter our days of service to accommodate the softball game down in Cherry Creek. We visited La Plant and Swiftbird to make up for the missed programming on Wednesday.
La Plant
• Program Activities: hitting and throwing, beading, board games, indoor ‘culture camp’ activities
• Numbers: 5 (4 girls, 1 boy; ages 6-11)
• Report: The BGC was closed when we arrived, no program staff were present. We later discovered that Teresa had taken the day off. That was a surprise to us and also caused many youth to believe no program would take place for the day. Still we knocked on doors and with the facility closed, we programmed outside for the first hour with two youth that showed up. Then, Tyson from the Youth Outreach program arrived to prepare for his culture camp, but the Club was still closed. He drove to off to pick up Tasina, the assistant director, and brought her to La Plant (she did not have a ride in from her house – the reason the BGC was locked). Thankfully, the Club was opened because a large storm rolled through. We had to move all activities indoors where we remained for the rest of the day. We programmed with the youth inside and briefly observed as Tyson started his activities.
Swiftbird
• Program Activities: kickball, sharks and minnows – why running and exercise is good, red/green light, bracelets, beads, nails, hitting and fielding
• Numbers: 13 (7 girls, 6 boys; ages 4-13 – Sam joined for first time)
• Report: We were able to round up our largest number of youth in the community and it gave good energy to the day’s programming. We opened with field games in the grass near the playground. Despite the age differences and the large, ankle-braking holes in the turf, the group was engaged and participated well. Once the group’s focus wondered from the games, we moved into split activities with hitting/fielding and beading. Youth transitioned between the different options and remained engaged throughout the entire time. Perhaps, a reason for the high numbers and good involvement was the presence of Sam, an older youth. He participated for first time for any group, as far as we knew, and he played very well everyone. His inclusion to the group was great, it was just unfortunate that he only joined us for our last day.
Friday
Close-up and Goodbyes
Report:
We knew from the start of the summer that we were the ‘closers.’ We were the ones to shut down programming and relay the collective farewell on behalf of the Initiative. Our day was spent driving to the communities to thank the local contacts and say goodbye to the youth. On the east end of the Reservation, we gave thank you cards made by the youth to Teresa and Tasina. We were grateful for the partnership with the Boys and Girls Club and their support throughout the summer. Out there, we also drove to White Horse to learn more about the community and investigate its future programming potential. Back in Eagle Butte, we stopped at Tyson’s house and at the Youth Diabetes Prevention Program to again express our gratitude for their support throughout the summer and to pass along a few thank you cards. Afterward, we continued to the west side of the Reservation and deposited programming supplies and Initiative gear back at the Sioux YMCA. We also stopped in Cherry Creek to see the youth a final time and pass out more cards. Finally, in Bear Creek, we gathered up the youth one last time to play some games and enjoy their positive spirits. We programmed for about an hour and a half and the youth, in their way, seemed to express their appreciation for our summer long presence. They were able to recall the names of all the Initiative staff and gave out lots of hugs. It was clear that the addition of Bear Creek to the programming roster was a good decision.
As we conclude our time out in Cheyenne River, we wish to express our thanks to the Sioux YMCA staff, its board and the local community members for their knowledge and time with us. We had a great experience. And, we want to particularly acknowledge Mona Thompson and Carol Mann who were invaluable partners in Team 5’s success and this year Initiative as a whole.
With gratitude,
--Craig, Debbie, Michael
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Team 5 Week 1
Monday
Transition Day
• Report: Part of the routine is for each team to introduce the newbies to the area. We were treated well by Team 4 and shown many things. We were shepherded to all four communities throughout the day and met many of the youth in the communities. It was a hot day and we played water games (drip, drip, drop) at all our stops, expect for Cheery Creek were we were greeted by a pending storm. In Bear Creek, we saw the work done by Team 4 in the community building and it looked good. As a whole group, we enjoyed a fantastic lunch down at the Missouri River in the 102-degree heat and continued to discuss the critical details concerning our experience. In the evening, we were able to have a welcome/departure dinner with various board members and folks connected to the Sioux YMCA. It was a great way to start our time and to make contacts. We hope that we can retain all the knowledge passed on to us; there has been much to absorb. We appreciate the efforts of those teams that have come before and truly hope to carry on their good work.
Tuesday
Bear Creek
• Program Activities: Sharks and Minnows, Bocce ball, hitting, playground, swings; inside: nutrition conversation, coloring, nail-polish (that’s when the older girls joined)
• Numbers: 9 max – including Sunny and Jarrin
• Report: Things want very well in this community. The youth all seemed to enjoy the variety of activities we ran and were receptive all pieces of programming. We played sharks and minnows, bocce ball to practice throwing, hitting from the tee and tag up on the playground. We also made use of the community building that was nice and clean still from Team 4. Our indoor activities to help have a break from the heat where we all discussed healthy food options and the benefits of being active. The youth were very respectful with their peers and assisted in clean up and collecting the balls.
Cheery Creek
• Program Activities: softball, basket, friendship bracelets, hula hoop, junior softball
• Numbers: 23 max (lots coming and going throughout)
• Report: When we arrived, a small group was off playing softball at the second field with Tugboat, Chad and Jacob running the show. We were able to get them to move the game next to the community center so we could conduct program. We began by playing a 6 v 6 softball game and more joined. Door knocking was not really needed, they saw the game and came out. Debbie ran great activities with those that were not interested in softball, making friendship bracelets and beading in the shade. This community is clearly the oldest of all the ones where we program and the big kids dictate the agenda. After the game concluded, we attempted to focus on a few fundaments and drills, which was a flop. We lost almost the entire group. Then we moved indoors for a spirited game of basketball and the numbers returned. Debbie was the organizer of a second softball game for the younger set and kids that are not always include with the older group. It was great to have the split efforts for the old and young. Hopefully we made good connections with the big kids so that we have creditability in the community.
Wednesday
La Plante
• Program Activities: sharks and minnows, softball on the tee, crafts, fairy hunt, nail painting, story time, playground time
• Numbers: 9 max (many came and went) – Ivis was off with his Beebe gun
• Report: With our partnership with the Boys ad Girls Club, we try to focus on outdoor activities because the youth have good indoor options with the BGC programming. But, there are times when the just desire to be out of the heat. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. There was a group of girls inside when we arrived and we jumped in to keep working on their crafts and projects. Debbie did nail painting and story time afterward. Michael and Craig were outside with a smaller group that wanted to field balls and hitting instruction. Then, we all took a field trip over to the school and the playground. Simply Similes was in their final week of programming and the youth told us on different occasions what activities were planned for that day – it is clear that the youth get a lot of programming in this community.
Swiftbird
• Program Activities: bubbles, chalk, beading, bracelets, hitting, ball toss on front porch
• Numbers: 7 max (ages 2-13)
• Report: When we drove into town, we quickly discovered that many of the youth were off at the river. As a result, we had low numbers and a broad age range (age 2-13). In order to keep the group near each and engaged, we did many activities in the carport of the community building and discovered that Michael has a future with nail polishing. On the side field, a few youth were interested in hitting and Cottonball. It was a mix-bag, but those that were with us had a good time.
Then went to Camp Marrowbone to visit with fellow Alabama camp staff and see Carol and Mona. We had the opportunity to witness Camp in action and assist with dinner. There were many youth out at Camp that knew or meet other Initiative teams and staff; it was nice to connect with those youth and know that they are still involved with the YMCA.
Thursday
Bear Creek
• Program Activities: kickball, sharks and minnows, red light/green light, bocce ball, batting practice, books, coloring, friendship/beading
• Numbers: 11 (saw Nevin, Ethan, Stacey showed up for the first time)
• Report: Prior to heading out for program, we stopped in at the Youth Diabetes Prevention Program to complete a request form to have water and food at our softball tournament. At the YDPP we connected with Dean, the Eagle Butte coach and started rethinking our plan to hold the game on Friday. We promised to reconnect and determine what was the best plan of action.
As with Tuesday, the youth were excited for our arrival and program. It is easy to energize and motivate this group. We continued with bocce ball and sharks and minnows to get the group moving and working on softball skills. Then, Anthony showed up and we organized a kickball game. They played well together and it was nice to see how gentle Anthony was with the younger and smaller kids. Then, we moved things indoors for stories and bracelets, which gave us another opportunity to connect and discuss health options.
Cheery Creek
• Program Activities: softball drills and batting practice, basketball, junior kickball, nail painting, hula hoop, bocce ball with throw contest
• Numbers: 11 (many showed up late – down at the river)
• Report: The youth were slow in arriving. After door knocking, we learned that many of the kids were down at the river. Our numbers were low, roughly 10, all day which was a surprise to us. Regardless, we came to play and worked with those that were present. We started out with batting and fielding exercises and tried again to focus on skill development. Our jobs are all in youth development, but we agreed that we felt like dentists – here was a lot of teeth pulling. We discussed the upcoming game with the group and tried to solidify the details. In order to serve all ages, we ran bocce ball and throwing along with beading on the side field for the younger youth. It is useful to have the split of activities.
Friday
We spent the morning verifying with the Youth Diabetes staff the food availability. It seemed that our request would be honored. Also, we learned that they were going to be able to join us out in La Plante and Swiftbird next week. Then, we had to travel over to The Main (the Youth Center) to reconnect with Dean. We decided to reschedule the game between Eagle Butte and Cherry Creek to Wednesday. It will cause us to juggle some of our schedule, but we wanted to ensure that we had a game/pay-off for the youth down in Cherry Creek. Also, there is still hope that we can get another community to still make Friday’s original date. It was a productive morning.
Afterward, we were graced by Nate and Pat’s presence. They were traveling out to engage with community members and learn about the take-aways from this year’s Initiative. We all proceeded to Bear Creek to introduce Nate and Pat to the youth and show them the community. We played more field games with the group and were able to show of the community building. It was a good day and conclusion to our week.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Team 4 Week 2
Monday July 25th
La Plant-
We met a few camp counselors from Alabama and one of them was with us last year. They were heading out to Laplant and Swiftbird to pickup kids to go out to camp. There was also a church running VBS this week so we ended up with 4 kids. It was really hot today so we played some water games and did some painting and beading inside of Boys and Girls club.
Swiftbird-
We started off by playing some water games and then played a game of kickball to help the kids learn the game of baseball. We broke off into groups and the first group worked on some hitting drills, group 2 worked on throwing and catching, and group 3 worked on some different art projects. We met 3 new kids today and it took a while for them to come and get involved but after watching us so much fun they jumped in and played with us for the rest of the day.
Tuesday July 26th
Bear Creek-
We went to the Y early to pick up some different supplies and headed out. We met 2 older girls that haven’t been with us yet. They seemed to have a great time. The kids here love to hit the ball so we worked on hitting first and played some kickball. After kickball we worked on some grounders and throwing. We have noticed that all the kids we have met have a natural athletic ability. To end our day we played some tag games and the kids taught us a new one.
Cherry Creek-
We stopped off at the Y and picked up Paul, who is a Sioux Y staff, to come out with us. They weren’t a lot of kids today and started out with some more hitting instruction. The kids here are older so we worked a lot of fielding work. After that Josh hit pop-ups to the kids in outfield and we also worked on some base running, tagging up and hitting the cutoff man. To keep the kids with us the whole time we played the kids in a basketball game. All of us old guys were very tired by the end of the day. Also at the end of the day a few kids came up with some horses and offered us a ride, which Paul jumped all over the chance. The end of the night our reservation mother (Mona) stopped by and we talked until 11 that night. She is such a great person with a great laugh.
Wednesday July 27th
La Plant-
We knew we wouldn’t have a lot of kids and being our last full day with them we wanted to do something different. We had a huge water balloon fight, followed up with an old civil war water fight. Bob and John started a kickball game while Josh did some lanyards and beading with a new girl that hasn’t been with us yet. We also did some more painting and some of the kids made some signs of welcome for the next team.
Swiftbird-
We again met two new older girls today and started of the hot afternoon with some of the same water balloon games we played at La Plant. We then played a game of 500 with the balloons, it was so much fun. Bob did some craft projects with the kids and we worked on catching and throwing. We wrapped up the day with a water war and started meetings with people back in town to set up the last softball tourney. Our hope is to get other communities involved beside the ones we previously serviced.
Thursday July 28th
Bear Creek-
The kids were swimming again so we didn’t have a lot of kids, but we were told this was the last day of swimming for the summer. We got there early to fill up some water balloons and had fun with water. The kids here really love hitting so we worked for a long time on hitting instruction and played some “cotton ball.” It was really hot out today, fitting because this is our last full day.
Cherry Creek-
We stopped by the Y to refill our drinking water and fill up balloons. When we arrived there was another outreach group was setting up a cookout and games, we asked if we could play with the kids for a while. It was a blessing because we met a lot of new kids and had enough people that we split up and played a full game of softball. We used water balloons to hit for the first part which the older kids loved. They are working really hard to beat Eagle Butte in the last tournament. We have really pushed to have a previous contact person step up and be a leader. Good news: He now has asked us to bring him an application to be a Y staff member. We left early due to the cookout and a massive storm that blew in while we were leaving. Tonight we took out Mona and another board member for some DQ.
Friday July 29th
We went to Bear Creek and spent extra time so we could clean up the community center. On our way to the Y we were talking about how great it was that we will be going home yet at the same time we don’t want to leave. We ended up talking with a lot of adults and came away with a sense of love. The members of the community love the YMCA staff for being here because we love their kids, and they seem to be interested in what we’re doing out here. Overall it has been a great week full of a lot of laughs and smiles, which is the best part of us being out here. Tonight we plan on going out to camp and look around; we have been invited to a dinner.
Saturday July 30th
We plan on cleaning up and work out some last min. details for the tournament. We were also invited to go to a Pow Wow of which we are extremely honored and excited.
We would like to thank all the Sioux Y leaders for giving us such a great gift by coming out here. Thanks to all of our Y supervisors for letting us come as well. Thanks to family and friends for sharing us with these great people. Lastly, we would like to thank all the teams that have come before us this year and past, we are now part of a very special family. Good Luck Team 5!
La Plant-
We met a few camp counselors from Alabama and one of them was with us last year. They were heading out to Laplant and Swiftbird to pickup kids to go out to camp. There was also a church running VBS this week so we ended up with 4 kids. It was really hot today so we played some water games and did some painting and beading inside of Boys and Girls club.
Swiftbird-
We started off by playing some water games and then played a game of kickball to help the kids learn the game of baseball. We broke off into groups and the first group worked on some hitting drills, group 2 worked on throwing and catching, and group 3 worked on some different art projects. We met 3 new kids today and it took a while for them to come and get involved but after watching us so much fun they jumped in and played with us for the rest of the day.
Tuesday July 26th
Bear Creek-
We went to the Y early to pick up some different supplies and headed out. We met 2 older girls that haven’t been with us yet. They seemed to have a great time. The kids here love to hit the ball so we worked on hitting first and played some kickball. After kickball we worked on some grounders and throwing. We have noticed that all the kids we have met have a natural athletic ability. To end our day we played some tag games and the kids taught us a new one.
Cherry Creek-
We stopped off at the Y and picked up Paul, who is a Sioux Y staff, to come out with us. They weren’t a lot of kids today and started out with some more hitting instruction. The kids here are older so we worked a lot of fielding work. After that Josh hit pop-ups to the kids in outfield and we also worked on some base running, tagging up and hitting the cutoff man. To keep the kids with us the whole time we played the kids in a basketball game. All of us old guys were very tired by the end of the day. Also at the end of the day a few kids came up with some horses and offered us a ride, which Paul jumped all over the chance. The end of the night our reservation mother (Mona) stopped by and we talked until 11 that night. She is such a great person with a great laugh.
Wednesday July 27th
La Plant-
We knew we wouldn’t have a lot of kids and being our last full day with them we wanted to do something different. We had a huge water balloon fight, followed up with an old civil war water fight. Bob and John started a kickball game while Josh did some lanyards and beading with a new girl that hasn’t been with us yet. We also did some more painting and some of the kids made some signs of welcome for the next team.
Swiftbird-
We again met two new older girls today and started of the hot afternoon with some of the same water balloon games we played at La Plant. We then played a game of 500 with the balloons, it was so much fun. Bob did some craft projects with the kids and we worked on catching and throwing. We wrapped up the day with a water war and started meetings with people back in town to set up the last softball tourney. Our hope is to get other communities involved beside the ones we previously serviced.
Thursday July 28th
Bear Creek-
The kids were swimming again so we didn’t have a lot of kids, but we were told this was the last day of swimming for the summer. We got there early to fill up some water balloons and had fun with water. The kids here really love hitting so we worked for a long time on hitting instruction and played some “cotton ball.” It was really hot out today, fitting because this is our last full day.
Cherry Creek-
We stopped by the Y to refill our drinking water and fill up balloons. When we arrived there was another outreach group was setting up a cookout and games, we asked if we could play with the kids for a while. It was a blessing because we met a lot of new kids and had enough people that we split up and played a full game of softball. We used water balloons to hit for the first part which the older kids loved. They are working really hard to beat Eagle Butte in the last tournament. We have really pushed to have a previous contact person step up and be a leader. Good news: He now has asked us to bring him an application to be a Y staff member. We left early due to the cookout and a massive storm that blew in while we were leaving. Tonight we took out Mona and another board member for some DQ.
Friday July 29th
We went to Bear Creek and spent extra time so we could clean up the community center. On our way to the Y we were talking about how great it was that we will be going home yet at the same time we don’t want to leave. We ended up talking with a lot of adults and came away with a sense of love. The members of the community love the YMCA staff for being here because we love their kids, and they seem to be interested in what we’re doing out here. Overall it has been a great week full of a lot of laughs and smiles, which is the best part of us being out here. Tonight we plan on going out to camp and look around; we have been invited to a dinner.
Saturday July 30th
We plan on cleaning up and work out some last min. details for the tournament. We were also invited to go to a Pow Wow of which we are extremely honored and excited.
We would like to thank all the Sioux Y leaders for giving us such a great gift by coming out here. Thanks to all of our Y supervisors for letting us come as well. Thanks to family and friends for sharing us with these great people. Lastly, we would like to thank all the teams that have come before us this year and past, we are now part of a very special family. Good Luck Team 5!
Friday, July 22, 2011
Team 4 Week 1
Sioux Team 4 Week 1
Tuesday sendoff we were excited to get underway. Later we hit a little detour of our own doing but found our glitch 20 miles down the road at the same time we got a call and John’s dog got loose back home. We filled up with gas and the Y buy didn’t work. With all mishaps out of the way we entered the reservation crossing the Missouri River with a sense of awe. The land was beautiful. We met team 3 and headed to dinner to meet Mona, the mother to all teams out here. Carol was the executive director and Ben who is on the board. We also had the pleasure of meeting Tyson who is the Youth affairs coordinator. The food and talk was great and Tyson won “toss up Tuesday” and we got half of the bill.
Wednesday we started our day at the Sioux Y to pick up some gear and headed to La plant. We had about 8 kids and met the leader of the boys and girls club. La plant was the most difficult because the kids seem to be difficult to keep engaged. We feel this is due to the high amount of programming. The next stop was Swiftbird which is a small community and we had about the same amount of kids. The kids here were younger and were sad to see a kid named Cotton leave to move back home. A great kid who came up with a baseball game we were playing with every community today. He cried when all of us were leaving. We ate lunch and headed to Bear Creek which ended up being our favorite place. We had about 10 kids which were school age and very happy to see us. We played “Cotton ball” and sang some camp songs. The last stop was Cherry creek and had the most beautiful drive in to this community. We had 20 kids which were mostly older in age; there was a small group of younger girls which ended up being Bob’s shadow. By the end of the game there were 9 dogs playing outfield. We met a mom here whose name was June. She opened up her house to use the bathroom and use her yard for games, if we needed.
Note: she has pictures of Ben, Pat, and Derek when we first started coming out here.
Thursday:
We started our day at Bear creek and went door knocking. Bob found out from a mom that the kids went swimming and wouldn’t be back for a while. We did have one kid who came with us and one more a little later. During this time Josh and Bob played games with the 2 kids and John did his best to clean up the community center, which is in rough shape. When the kids came back from swimming, we had the opportunity to meet kids that were not there on Wednesday. We did some hitting and fielding drills and were amazed at the natural talent that some of them showed. At the end of our day, the kids taught us a new game that was really fun. After that we ate lunch in the van and picked up Rikki who works for the Sioux Y. We all went to Cherry Creek which was also Rikki’s first time there. On our way there Rikki told us that people call this area God’s country which we all agreed. We went knocking on doors and started with a few kids. By the time we started programming we had a large group of kids but many were new faces. We worked on fielding, batting, and outfield work. At the end of our time the kids wanted to play us in basketball. We used the indoor gym and man can these kids really play ball. Rikki was working with some younger kids and is really trying to gain all the knowledge she can so when we leave she can continue to do programming. We were all worn out and went back to drop off Rikki; Bob and Josh grilled some great food and we ate like kings.
Friday
We went to Swiftbird and came into the Y to do send in our blogs and do some lite clean up. We are off to the Badlands to go camping and act like tourist.
Note: We are working on logistics for setting up another tournament so that when team 5 gets here they will have a lot of kids at this last event of the summer. We will talk with Tyson to bring in other communities and the Youth Diabetes Organization to bring Water and Snack. We will also talk with Carol about transportation and talk with the city to use the field. This last event we hope will be a huge deal with lots of families throughout the reservation.
Tuesday sendoff we were excited to get underway. Later we hit a little detour of our own doing but found our glitch 20 miles down the road at the same time we got a call and John’s dog got loose back home. We filled up with gas and the Y buy didn’t work. With all mishaps out of the way we entered the reservation crossing the Missouri River with a sense of awe. The land was beautiful. We met team 3 and headed to dinner to meet Mona, the mother to all teams out here. Carol was the executive director and Ben who is on the board. We also had the pleasure of meeting Tyson who is the Youth affairs coordinator. The food and talk was great and Tyson won “toss up Tuesday” and we got half of the bill.
Wednesday we started our day at the Sioux Y to pick up some gear and headed to La plant. We had about 8 kids and met the leader of the boys and girls club. La plant was the most difficult because the kids seem to be difficult to keep engaged. We feel this is due to the high amount of programming. The next stop was Swiftbird which is a small community and we had about the same amount of kids. The kids here were younger and were sad to see a kid named Cotton leave to move back home. A great kid who came up with a baseball game we were playing with every community today. He cried when all of us were leaving. We ate lunch and headed to Bear Creek which ended up being our favorite place. We had about 10 kids which were school age and very happy to see us. We played “Cotton ball” and sang some camp songs. The last stop was Cherry creek and had the most beautiful drive in to this community. We had 20 kids which were mostly older in age; there was a small group of younger girls which ended up being Bob’s shadow. By the end of the game there were 9 dogs playing outfield. We met a mom here whose name was June. She opened up her house to use the bathroom and use her yard for games, if we needed.
Note: she has pictures of Ben, Pat, and Derek when we first started coming out here.
Thursday:
We started our day at Bear creek and went door knocking. Bob found out from a mom that the kids went swimming and wouldn’t be back for a while. We did have one kid who came with us and one more a little later. During this time Josh and Bob played games with the 2 kids and John did his best to clean up the community center, which is in rough shape. When the kids came back from swimming, we had the opportunity to meet kids that were not there on Wednesday. We did some hitting and fielding drills and were amazed at the natural talent that some of them showed. At the end of our day, the kids taught us a new game that was really fun. After that we ate lunch in the van and picked up Rikki who works for the Sioux Y. We all went to Cherry Creek which was also Rikki’s first time there. On our way there Rikki told us that people call this area God’s country which we all agreed. We went knocking on doors and started with a few kids. By the time we started programming we had a large group of kids but many were new faces. We worked on fielding, batting, and outfield work. At the end of our time the kids wanted to play us in basketball. We used the indoor gym and man can these kids really play ball. Rikki was working with some younger kids and is really trying to gain all the knowledge she can so when we leave she can continue to do programming. We were all worn out and went back to drop off Rikki; Bob and Josh grilled some great food and we ate like kings.
Friday
We went to Swiftbird and came into the Y to do send in our blogs and do some lite clean up. We are off to the Badlands to go camping and act like tourist.
Note: We are working on logistics for setting up another tournament so that when team 5 gets here they will have a lot of kids at this last event of the summer. We will talk with Tyson to bring in other communities and the Youth Diabetes Organization to bring Water and Snack. We will also talk with Carol about transportation and talk with the city to use the field. This last event we hope will be a huge deal with lots of families throughout the reservation.
Team 3 Week 1
Monday July 11th
After picking up Rikki from the Sioux YMCA in Dupree, Team 3 drove out to La Plant and Swiftbird for a day full of programming. When we arrived in La Plant, we found three kids at the Boys and Girls Club and sent Chris out to recruit more. He was unsuccessful so we played games like SPUD and dodgeball. The boys wanted some baseball practice, so we went over catching grounders and pop-ups and batting off the tee. As we played, we spied a pick-up truck packed full of kids driving up and down the neighborhood. We discovered that it was the Simply Smiles group (a bible-based camp operating Monday – Thursday in La Plant) and they were recruiting kids early that day. Theresa, the director of BGC in La Plant, and the previous Teams had worked out an agreement with Simply Smiles that they would not do programming until after the Y leaves at 3 pm. Apparently, there was a mix-up due to the time change between La Plant and the location where Simply Smiles was staying! Theresa resolved the problem by allowing Simply Smiles to operate out of the Boys and Girls Club after the Y leaves. She hopes this will get kids used to the BGC so when the Summer volunteer groups and the Sioux Initiative leave, they will still know there is a place with activities for them at the BGC.
Swiftbird was next with similar games of SPUD and baseball. One of the older boys in the community who we have identified as a great role model and leader, Cotton, made up a new game. He placed hula hoops in a vertical row lined up with a baseball tee, and assigned each hoop a point value ranging from 50 – 500. If you hit the ball past the last hoop, you were awarded zero points, so skill was more important than might. All of the kids were able to play, even the “big” kids like Megan and Chris. We are still working on a name for it (I call it the Awesome game). We plan on using Cotton’s game at other communities as well.
Tuesday July 12th
We headed out to Bear Creek and Cherry Creek today. Rain clouds in the distance made me nervous so we tried to get a hold of the key holder to the Community Center in Bear Creek. No luck. When we arrived in Bear Creek only a few kids were outside but they were happy to see us and willing to find more kids to play. I noticed an awning at the playground that would be perfect for circle games so it could rain as much as it wanted and we would be ok! We played Cotton’s game and softball activities, throwing songs in once in awhile (they LOVE “la tush”). When we felt the first few drops of rain, the kids helped us pack up the van and we headed up to the playground to play under the awning. By the time we got there, the rain had stopped but the kids did not want to leave. We played some freeze tag and ball tag and finished up with the Beat game. We learned our lesson about the rain though, don’t go to the park unless it’s pouring. The pull to the swings and slide is too strong for the kids to resist.
We weren’t sure what to expect when we got to Cherry Creek. We stopped there for a couple hours on Sunday to tell them about the softball game we were planning for them in Eagle Butte on Friday. Tyson, a youth leader in Eagle Butte, came with us as a representative of the Eagle Butte team that Cherry Creek would play. We played a pick-up game with Tyson and the kids which showed them how good they would need to be for the game on Friday. When we left Sunday, the kids seemed excited and definitely looked up to Tyson already as a role model, but we weren’t sure how many would be willing to play. Tyson had two teams lined up for us, the 8 – 13 yr olds and the 14 – 18 yr olds. How would we find 20 kids to play in one week’s time?
Anyway, when we got to Cherry Creek we saw that a game was already going on at the baseball field. About 15 kids were playing a pick-up game which they organized in preparation for Friday!! Tugboat, an older teen in the community had brought the kids and the baseball materials together. They had been playing for hours when we got there and the day before they practiced for hours in the rain! It was awesome! We let the kids continue playing softball on their terms and offered a little extra programming on the side, playing kickball and SPUD with the younger kids that didn’t want to play softball. We left the community with BIG smiles.
Wednesday July 13th
We got up early to help out with a FIT challenge that Tyson put together in Eagle Butte. Unfortunately it was a very rainy day and not a lot of kids showed up. Tyson planned on offering a second day so he could reach as many kids as he had planned. It showed our group that even the best laid plans don’t always turn out. We’re a bit nervous for the softball game Friday. We hope everything works out.
The rain continued all day so we did indoor programming in La Plant and Swiftbird. The kids learned about cows and dairy products and colored in pink puddings and blue ice cream (yum). The Beat game and Assasin were both fun games played. But the highlight of the day was the colorful gymnastics mat. The kids showed us their tumbling and cartwheeling skills. Afterwards, we had a big dance party and Chris taught them how to “doug-ie.”
Thursday July 14th
It will be a short day of programming since we are going to Camp Leslie Marrowbone for the firepit dedication to former Sioux YMCA Director Bill Weitzel. We arrived in Bear Creek early hoping that we would find a couple of kids awake. We were pleasantly surprised to find a group of kids outside and ready to race the van to the park. We played Frisbee games then split up the group so some could do friendship bracelets and others could do softball practice. We had a request for “La Tush” (makes them giggle every time) and were on our way to Cherry Creek for a brief visit.In Cherry Creek we found the kids practicing for the Big Game. We handed out permission slips and explained the logistics of transportation to Eagle Butte; “there will be a van to pick you up at 3 pm (fingers crossed), But just in case please see if a family member or friend can take you up to Eagle Butte. We will reimburse them for gas! Please!”At the dedication to Bill Weitzel at Camp Marrowbone we were able to make connections with many Sioux YMCA board members; Manny, Rene, John, Mona, Michelle, and Myra and met a fellow staff from Minneapolis, Robbie! We Were able to see what a great space the Sioux Y has to offer kids in the area, and to see how the kids responded to it. Three of our kids from La Plant went swimming in their jeans and t-shirts not once, but twice! As we left, we were already having withdrawls, hoping someday we could come back to Camp Marrowbone.
Friday July 15th
The day of the BIG GAME in Eagle Butte. It was set for 5 pm with the younger kids playing from 5 – 7 pm and the older kids playing from 7 – 9 pm. Snacks for both teams would be donated by the Youth Diabetes Prevention center.
Chris drove down to Cherry Creek to oversee the transportation of the kids and collect permission slips. Megan and I stayed back to do the finishing touches on signs cheering for both Eagle Butte and Cherry Creek. A total of 20 Cherry Creek kids showed up in Eagle Butte at 5 pm sharp, but the other team was nowhere to be found! It wasn’t until later that we discovered that Dean, the staff from Youth Diabetes Prevention that volunteered to transport the kids to and from Cherry Creek, was also the coach for the other team and had to get his Eagle Butte kids together after dropping off our team.
Although there were some set-backs, like the scoreboard remote being overcharged and not working (oops) and the game starting at 5:45 instead of 5:00, the kids were excited to be there and Cherry Creek parents kept arriving to cheer on their team.
The mother’s especially were excited to see their kids play, but not so worried about winning. Several kept encouraging the boys by saying it was their first time and that they still had a lot to learn but by the end they were shouting out advice and chastising the boys when they made silly mistakes. By the end of the games they were out of protective mode and into competition mode.
When the 5th inning hit in the second game, the other team was exhausted. There team had played both games in very hot weather while we had enough kids to switch it up every once in awhile. We decided to cut the game short, ending in the 6th inning. When we asked the boys to shake hands at the end of the game they were upset that the games were over so soon, “I will only shake their hands if they play another inning against us,”–Malik. Several boys were visibly upset that they couldn’t play longer and we were only able to calm them by reassuring them we would set up another game for them to play in.
After we saw that the kids all had rides home and cleaned up the softball field that the Eagle Butte City Office graciously rented to us for free, “anything for the kids”, we headed to Dairy Queen to celebrate with a Chocoholic Ice Cream Cake shared with Mona, John, and Tyson. We were excited to accomplish what we had come to do by setting up a softball team and transporting them to Eagle Butte to play a real game and by creating a successful collaboration with the Youth Diabetes Prevention center and with youth worker Tyson White. And now we get a vacation.
After picking up Rikki from the Sioux YMCA in Dupree, Team 3 drove out to La Plant and Swiftbird for a day full of programming. When we arrived in La Plant, we found three kids at the Boys and Girls Club and sent Chris out to recruit more. He was unsuccessful so we played games like SPUD and dodgeball. The boys wanted some baseball practice, so we went over catching grounders and pop-ups and batting off the tee. As we played, we spied a pick-up truck packed full of kids driving up and down the neighborhood. We discovered that it was the Simply Smiles group (a bible-based camp operating Monday – Thursday in La Plant) and they were recruiting kids early that day. Theresa, the director of BGC in La Plant, and the previous Teams had worked out an agreement with Simply Smiles that they would not do programming until after the Y leaves at 3 pm. Apparently, there was a mix-up due to the time change between La Plant and the location where Simply Smiles was staying! Theresa resolved the problem by allowing Simply Smiles to operate out of the Boys and Girls Club after the Y leaves. She hopes this will get kids used to the BGC so when the Summer volunteer groups and the Sioux Initiative leave, they will still know there is a place with activities for them at the BGC.
Swiftbird was next with similar games of SPUD and baseball. One of the older boys in the community who we have identified as a great role model and leader, Cotton, made up a new game. He placed hula hoops in a vertical row lined up with a baseball tee, and assigned each hoop a point value ranging from 50 – 500. If you hit the ball past the last hoop, you were awarded zero points, so skill was more important than might. All of the kids were able to play, even the “big” kids like Megan and Chris. We are still working on a name for it (I call it the Awesome game). We plan on using Cotton’s game at other communities as well.
Tuesday July 12th
We headed out to Bear Creek and Cherry Creek today. Rain clouds in the distance made me nervous so we tried to get a hold of the key holder to the Community Center in Bear Creek. No luck. When we arrived in Bear Creek only a few kids were outside but they were happy to see us and willing to find more kids to play. I noticed an awning at the playground that would be perfect for circle games so it could rain as much as it wanted and we would be ok! We played Cotton’s game and softball activities, throwing songs in once in awhile (they LOVE “la tush”). When we felt the first few drops of rain, the kids helped us pack up the van and we headed up to the playground to play under the awning. By the time we got there, the rain had stopped but the kids did not want to leave. We played some freeze tag and ball tag and finished up with the Beat game. We learned our lesson about the rain though, don’t go to the park unless it’s pouring. The pull to the swings and slide is too strong for the kids to resist.
We weren’t sure what to expect when we got to Cherry Creek. We stopped there for a couple hours on Sunday to tell them about the softball game we were planning for them in Eagle Butte on Friday. Tyson, a youth leader in Eagle Butte, came with us as a representative of the Eagle Butte team that Cherry Creek would play. We played a pick-up game with Tyson and the kids which showed them how good they would need to be for the game on Friday. When we left Sunday, the kids seemed excited and definitely looked up to Tyson already as a role model, but we weren’t sure how many would be willing to play. Tyson had two teams lined up for us, the 8 – 13 yr olds and the 14 – 18 yr olds. How would we find 20 kids to play in one week’s time?
Anyway, when we got to Cherry Creek we saw that a game was already going on at the baseball field. About 15 kids were playing a pick-up game which they organized in preparation for Friday!! Tugboat, an older teen in the community had brought the kids and the baseball materials together. They had been playing for hours when we got there and the day before they practiced for hours in the rain! It was awesome! We let the kids continue playing softball on their terms and offered a little extra programming on the side, playing kickball and SPUD with the younger kids that didn’t want to play softball. We left the community with BIG smiles.
Wednesday July 13th
We got up early to help out with a FIT challenge that Tyson put together in Eagle Butte. Unfortunately it was a very rainy day and not a lot of kids showed up. Tyson planned on offering a second day so he could reach as many kids as he had planned. It showed our group that even the best laid plans don’t always turn out. We’re a bit nervous for the softball game Friday. We hope everything works out.
The rain continued all day so we did indoor programming in La Plant and Swiftbird. The kids learned about cows and dairy products and colored in pink puddings and blue ice cream (yum). The Beat game and Assasin were both fun games played. But the highlight of the day was the colorful gymnastics mat. The kids showed us their tumbling and cartwheeling skills. Afterwards, we had a big dance party and Chris taught them how to “doug-ie.”
Thursday July 14th
It will be a short day of programming since we are going to Camp Leslie Marrowbone for the firepit dedication to former Sioux YMCA Director Bill Weitzel. We arrived in Bear Creek early hoping that we would find a couple of kids awake. We were pleasantly surprised to find a group of kids outside and ready to race the van to the park. We played Frisbee games then split up the group so some could do friendship bracelets and others could do softball practice. We had a request for “La Tush” (makes them giggle every time) and were on our way to Cherry Creek for a brief visit.In Cherry Creek we found the kids practicing for the Big Game. We handed out permission slips and explained the logistics of transportation to Eagle Butte; “there will be a van to pick you up at 3 pm (fingers crossed), But just in case please see if a family member or friend can take you up to Eagle Butte. We will reimburse them for gas! Please!”At the dedication to Bill Weitzel at Camp Marrowbone we were able to make connections with many Sioux YMCA board members; Manny, Rene, John, Mona, Michelle, and Myra and met a fellow staff from Minneapolis, Robbie! We Were able to see what a great space the Sioux Y has to offer kids in the area, and to see how the kids responded to it. Three of our kids from La Plant went swimming in their jeans and t-shirts not once, but twice! As we left, we were already having withdrawls, hoping someday we could come back to Camp Marrowbone.
Friday July 15th
The day of the BIG GAME in Eagle Butte. It was set for 5 pm with the younger kids playing from 5 – 7 pm and the older kids playing from 7 – 9 pm. Snacks for both teams would be donated by the Youth Diabetes Prevention center.
Chris drove down to Cherry Creek to oversee the transportation of the kids and collect permission slips. Megan and I stayed back to do the finishing touches on signs cheering for both Eagle Butte and Cherry Creek. A total of 20 Cherry Creek kids showed up in Eagle Butte at 5 pm sharp, but the other team was nowhere to be found! It wasn’t until later that we discovered that Dean, the staff from Youth Diabetes Prevention that volunteered to transport the kids to and from Cherry Creek, was also the coach for the other team and had to get his Eagle Butte kids together after dropping off our team.
Although there were some set-backs, like the scoreboard remote being overcharged and not working (oops) and the game starting at 5:45 instead of 5:00, the kids were excited to be there and Cherry Creek parents kept arriving to cheer on their team.
The mother’s especially were excited to see their kids play, but not so worried about winning. Several kept encouraging the boys by saying it was their first time and that they still had a lot to learn but by the end they were shouting out advice and chastising the boys when they made silly mistakes. By the end of the games they were out of protective mode and into competition mode.
When the 5th inning hit in the second game, the other team was exhausted. There team had played both games in very hot weather while we had enough kids to switch it up every once in awhile. We decided to cut the game short, ending in the 6th inning. When we asked the boys to shake hands at the end of the game they were upset that the games were over so soon, “I will only shake their hands if they play another inning against us,”–Malik. Several boys were visibly upset that they couldn’t play longer and we were only able to calm them by reassuring them we would set up another game for them to play in.
After we saw that the kids all had rides home and cleaned up the softball field that the Eagle Butte City Office graciously rented to us for free, “anything for the kids”, we headed to Dairy Queen to celebrate with a Chocoholic Ice Cream Cake shared with Mona, John, and Tyson. We were excited to accomplish what we had come to do by setting up a softball team and transporting them to Eagle Butte to play a real game and by creating a successful collaboration with the Youth Diabetes Prevention center and with youth worker Tyson White. And now we get a vacation.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Team 2 Week 2 Journal
Monday, July 4th, 2011
On this, our day of independence, we were invited by Mona to go to a Pow Wow in Iron Lightning. We brought camp registrations and promoted camp to the youth we saw. Also, ran into many of our youth from Bear Creek and Cherry Creek. While at the pow wow we were able to go to a ceremony and see a tradition that is usually saved for Memorial Day but because of the rain this year they were unable to get to the cemetery. After that, Mona brought us to try to dig up turnips. We walked around and collected sage but never found a turnip. We were told it was probably too late for them and the “tops had blown off.” Also, we met Emily who does the photography program at the Sioux Y and participated in a walk to prevent youth diabetes.
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011
Today we went to Bear Creek and stuck with our Food Pyramid programming. We started by shooting hoops and playing kickball and then moved into Food Group Bingo. We had fewer youth than usual because of the holiday weekend and many families went out of town. While playing kickball, many adults from the community came and watched what we were doing. This community definitely seems engaged with their youth. Food Pyramid Bingo was a hit! We played bingo and gave a small basketball as a prize that we had received from Tyson to give out. During bingo, Levi and Jenny played basketball, first to ten. Every time Jenny scored Levi would say, “Wait for me to score so we can win together!”
Cherry Creek- We arrived in Cherry Creek and had an instant battle against fireworks. The kids weren’t ready to play games because they had pockets full of bottle rockets. We did manage to get a baseball game going for a while and ended by playing basketball with the older boys. The younger boys practiced playing catch and the girls played Food Pyramid Bingo.
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011
Rain, rain go away come again another day! Today in Laplant it is raining fiercely. So, we programmed in the Boys and Girls Club and did painting. We made paper airplanes and then painted them and had a paper airplane contest of who could go the longest. Also, we painted insect themed paintings to hang on the wall. A few kids walked over to the school and shot baskets with Andrea. We tried to contact Deretta by stopping by her house. We had Mona call last week and let her know that we would be stopping by today. She never answered.
Swiftbird- The rain is gone and the kids are ready to play. They see the van and come running out like moths to a flame. Everything is still wet so we sit outside the community building, under the “garage”, play with chalk, and make friendship bracelets. All of the kids are covered head to toe in mud from a mud fight and all are embracing making the bracelets from the little boys to the older girls. It was fun to see all the kids exchange bracelets. Then we played basketball, until the unfortunate “Man Down” situation when Jenny in her competitive and aggressive bball spirit slipped on loose gravel and cut up her knee. Then we were forced to play glasses vs. no glasses, (Andrea and TC vs Keela and Cotton) The best game of all was when the kids took the hula-hoops and made a jumping game out of it, sort of a cross between twister and hopscotch. It was one of the funniest things we’d seen and the kids came up with it. They played together so well.
Thursday, July 7th, 2011
Today we await Team 3’s arrival. We have big things planned but first are heading to Bear Creek and Cherry Creek. The kids in Bear Creek are still minimal. A few were grounded because they were playing with glass and a boy, Stacy, was cut. In addition, we found out Nevyn was pretty badly burned by fireworks and had to go to the hospital in Rapid City. We don’t know really how bad it is, we heard it from the kids in a few different story lines. But, with the little angels we did have we played a scavenger hunt. They had so much fun running and finding things, i.e. a flower, a piece of garbage and throw it in the dumpster, a blue hula hoop, a friend who is five, etc. While we started playing baseball and catch while little Kobe had the time of his live on the swing set, a man pulled up to mow the field! Our phone calls to the tribal office worked and in no time Bear Creek will have one of the best programming areas in all of the communities. When we were telling the kids about the baseball field, Levi grabbed a helmet, bat and glove and said, “I’m a real baseball player!” They are so excited to play on their new field.
Cherry Creek- The battle vs the fireworks continues. Its really hot today so the kids are hard to find as it is and the added fireworks battle slims our numbers considerably. But, we still have a few kids to play with. They want to play ball tag which soon turns into a water fight. We played some basic baseball skills and hung out before we had to leave and get back to Dupree to welcome our next Team.
We met team 3 at the hotel and picked them up to bring them to a dinner we had arranged at the Ranch House consisting of Board Members, community members we hope to collaborate with and Sioux Y staff. With a great turn out of sixteen people we were able to close the place down with conversations and gratitude to each other making it a supreme welcome and setting up Team 3 with key people so they have tools to succeed. After, dinner we took a stroll down to Pioneer Hall where they were having a Grand Re-opening (after rebuilding from a tornado that devastated the town)celebration and serenaded the fine people of Dupree with some of our favorite Kareoke jams.
Friday, July 8th, 2011
We got in both vans with plans to head to all four communities. We left about 10:30 so we could get to Laplant by 11ish. We started by gathering up youth and jumping right into a “Track and Field” Day that we had organized. All seven of us manned a station from sprints, to jumping jacks to skee ball. Then we gave them star stickers for all the events they completed with the final event being a cross country running event. It went over super well and lasted just enough time for us to head to Swiftbird and stay on track. We ran the same event in Swiftbird and Bear Creek (in the new beautifully mowed field). We were very lucky in Swiftbird to have “Opening Ceremonies” of traditional Lakota songs and drum by Cotton, TC and Sage. The Lakota culture is very important to these youth and they are very open to talking about it. Then we made our way to Cherry Creek. Now, this is where the fun begins…
Driving down the lovely roads to Cherry Creek we blew a tire. Great. But, between seven capable adults we changed that tire and made our way to Cherry Creek on a donut. It was too late to try to get a new tire so we would have to first thing in the morning before heading home. It started to rain in Cherry Creek when we rolled in so the kids weren’t out and about as they usually are. We gathered up some and said our goodbyes as well as introduced Team 3 to key potential youth leaders like William and Chandler and then headed on our way back to town. We ended our day by having dinner with Mona at the Ranch House (again) and heading over to the Dupree Powwow. After the powwow we went back to the hotel, gathered our necessary things and prepared ourselves for the long trip home. We leave with this note….
Dear Cheyenne River Reservation,
You are beautiful. Your people, your culture and your lives are beautiful. The struggles that you have in your community are struggles that can and will be overcome. Your youth are so smart and open to so much learning. Keep teaching them your culture and your language. They are the future and they will listen. Your wisdom, generosity, bravery and respect will carry on through us as we return to our homes. We have grown as we hope your children have by this experience.
We hope to meet you again.
Your friends,
Andrea, Ashley and Jenny.
On this, our day of independence, we were invited by Mona to go to a Pow Wow in Iron Lightning. We brought camp registrations and promoted camp to the youth we saw. Also, ran into many of our youth from Bear Creek and Cherry Creek. While at the pow wow we were able to go to a ceremony and see a tradition that is usually saved for Memorial Day but because of the rain this year they were unable to get to the cemetery. After that, Mona brought us to try to dig up turnips. We walked around and collected sage but never found a turnip. We were told it was probably too late for them and the “tops had blown off.” Also, we met Emily who does the photography program at the Sioux Y and participated in a walk to prevent youth diabetes.
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011
Today we went to Bear Creek and stuck with our Food Pyramid programming. We started by shooting hoops and playing kickball and then moved into Food Group Bingo. We had fewer youth than usual because of the holiday weekend and many families went out of town. While playing kickball, many adults from the community came and watched what we were doing. This community definitely seems engaged with their youth. Food Pyramid Bingo was a hit! We played bingo and gave a small basketball as a prize that we had received from Tyson to give out. During bingo, Levi and Jenny played basketball, first to ten. Every time Jenny scored Levi would say, “Wait for me to score so we can win together!”
Cherry Creek- We arrived in Cherry Creek and had an instant battle against fireworks. The kids weren’t ready to play games because they had pockets full of bottle rockets. We did manage to get a baseball game going for a while and ended by playing basketball with the older boys. The younger boys practiced playing catch and the girls played Food Pyramid Bingo.
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011
Rain, rain go away come again another day! Today in Laplant it is raining fiercely. So, we programmed in the Boys and Girls Club and did painting. We made paper airplanes and then painted them and had a paper airplane contest of who could go the longest. Also, we painted insect themed paintings to hang on the wall. A few kids walked over to the school and shot baskets with Andrea. We tried to contact Deretta by stopping by her house. We had Mona call last week and let her know that we would be stopping by today. She never answered.
Swiftbird- The rain is gone and the kids are ready to play. They see the van and come running out like moths to a flame. Everything is still wet so we sit outside the community building, under the “garage”, play with chalk, and make friendship bracelets. All of the kids are covered head to toe in mud from a mud fight and all are embracing making the bracelets from the little boys to the older girls. It was fun to see all the kids exchange bracelets. Then we played basketball, until the unfortunate “Man Down” situation when Jenny in her competitive and aggressive bball spirit slipped on loose gravel and cut up her knee. Then we were forced to play glasses vs. no glasses, (Andrea and TC vs Keela and Cotton) The best game of all was when the kids took the hula-hoops and made a jumping game out of it, sort of a cross between twister and hopscotch. It was one of the funniest things we’d seen and the kids came up with it. They played together so well.
Thursday, July 7th, 2011
Today we await Team 3’s arrival. We have big things planned but first are heading to Bear Creek and Cherry Creek. The kids in Bear Creek are still minimal. A few were grounded because they were playing with glass and a boy, Stacy, was cut. In addition, we found out Nevyn was pretty badly burned by fireworks and had to go to the hospital in Rapid City. We don’t know really how bad it is, we heard it from the kids in a few different story lines. But, with the little angels we did have we played a scavenger hunt. They had so much fun running and finding things, i.e. a flower, a piece of garbage and throw it in the dumpster, a blue hula hoop, a friend who is five, etc. While we started playing baseball and catch while little Kobe had the time of his live on the swing set, a man pulled up to mow the field! Our phone calls to the tribal office worked and in no time Bear Creek will have one of the best programming areas in all of the communities. When we were telling the kids about the baseball field, Levi grabbed a helmet, bat and glove and said, “I’m a real baseball player!” They are so excited to play on their new field.
Cherry Creek- The battle vs the fireworks continues. Its really hot today so the kids are hard to find as it is and the added fireworks battle slims our numbers considerably. But, we still have a few kids to play with. They want to play ball tag which soon turns into a water fight. We played some basic baseball skills and hung out before we had to leave and get back to Dupree to welcome our next Team.
We met team 3 at the hotel and picked them up to bring them to a dinner we had arranged at the Ranch House consisting of Board Members, community members we hope to collaborate with and Sioux Y staff. With a great turn out of sixteen people we were able to close the place down with conversations and gratitude to each other making it a supreme welcome and setting up Team 3 with key people so they have tools to succeed. After, dinner we took a stroll down to Pioneer Hall where they were having a Grand Re-opening (after rebuilding from a tornado that devastated the town)celebration and serenaded the fine people of Dupree with some of our favorite Kareoke jams.
Friday, July 8th, 2011
We got in both vans with plans to head to all four communities. We left about 10:30 so we could get to Laplant by 11ish. We started by gathering up youth and jumping right into a “Track and Field” Day that we had organized. All seven of us manned a station from sprints, to jumping jacks to skee ball. Then we gave them star stickers for all the events they completed with the final event being a cross country running event. It went over super well and lasted just enough time for us to head to Swiftbird and stay on track. We ran the same event in Swiftbird and Bear Creek (in the new beautifully mowed field). We were very lucky in Swiftbird to have “Opening Ceremonies” of traditional Lakota songs and drum by Cotton, TC and Sage. The Lakota culture is very important to these youth and they are very open to talking about it. Then we made our way to Cherry Creek. Now, this is where the fun begins…
Driving down the lovely roads to Cherry Creek we blew a tire. Great. But, between seven capable adults we changed that tire and made our way to Cherry Creek on a donut. It was too late to try to get a new tire so we would have to first thing in the morning before heading home. It started to rain in Cherry Creek when we rolled in so the kids weren’t out and about as they usually are. We gathered up some and said our goodbyes as well as introduced Team 3 to key potential youth leaders like William and Chandler and then headed on our way back to town. We ended our day by having dinner with Mona at the Ranch House (again) and heading over to the Dupree Powwow. After the powwow we went back to the hotel, gathered our necessary things and prepared ourselves for the long trip home. We leave with this note….
Dear Cheyenne River Reservation,
You are beautiful. Your people, your culture and your lives are beautiful. The struggles that you have in your community are struggles that can and will be overcome. Your youth are so smart and open to so much learning. Keep teaching them your culture and your language. They are the future and they will listen. Your wisdom, generosity, bravery and respect will carry on through us as we return to our homes. We have grown as we hope your children have by this experience.
We hope to meet you again.
Your friends,
Andrea, Ashley and Jenny.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Team 2 Week 1 Journal
Day 1: June 25th, 2011
Four detours, a make shift road through the flooded plains and multiple road construction no passing zones makes ten hours and the arrival of team two to Eagle Butte, SD. We arrived with big welcomes from Team 1 and the exciting news that we had to get back in the car and head to Cherry Creek for a Pow-wow. A pow-wow was the best way to start our trip and allowed us to meet a big group of youth from Cherry Creek and gave us the opportunity to participate in a cultural tradition. “The YMCA can keep a beat” is what we heard as we fancy danced with the youth around the pow wow grounds. We spent some time talking with an elder in Cherry Creek named Delores, who team one was unable to connect with until this evening. She is respected in the community and wants to be at programming on Tuesday to teach the youth traditional bead working. We also met June, who has made her home open to us for restrooms and yard for programming.
Day 2: June 26th, 2011
We met Carol and Mona at breakfast in Dupree to talk about the wonderful work of Team 1 and talk about our upcoming weeks. After breakfast, we ran to the Sioux Y to check out the equipment and location. Team 1 printed off registrations and camp flyers for us to promote camp while were in the communities. Then we headed back to give a final farewell to team one. Good bye Team one! You set the bar high! Except…
Roaches, Roaches everywhere. After moving from the first room to the suite that team one occupied, which was pretty awesome with a sofa, two sinks and a bit of extra room to veg out we completely unpacked and we shuffled yet again to two new rooms so that the suite could be bombed. Being confined to one side of the hotel (due to our encounter with roaches and the hotels need to contain us) we got our rooms unpacked and were able to set up our plan for the week.
Program Goals- Divide program times into sections and establish “routine.” Day one and two evaluate and take notes on who is participating and possibility for baseball teams.
Day 3: June 27th, 2011
La Plant- We took off about 10:00am to get to La Plant early to meet with Teresa, the new Youth Director at the Boys and Girls Club. We spent the beginning of our time rounding up youth and ended up with about 18 to start our program. Team one did a great job hyping up baseball. We warmed up with a few laps around the bases and playing catch with explanations about how important it is to warm up to avoid injury. The youth were all pretty young so we had to use the tee for hitting. Per the request of the youth, we played boys vs. girls (which was great for camaraderie/teamwork) and ended up playing the whole time. A few kids trickled off and played with hula hoops. We were able to explain positions, and constantly be talking about how to play the game. The youth were engaged and we were able to take advantage of coachable moments and give positive feedback. As we were cleaning up and about to leave, a truck with “Summer Smiles” Day camp staff and other youth stopped by and picked up kids to go play at the Community Center. We found out this group will be coming into La Plant everyday from 2:00-5:30. We are planning on adjusting our program time to be done by the time the Summer Smiles group comes. We also will be bringing Ricki, a staff from the Sioux Y, on Monday and Wednesdays to La Plant and Swiftbird to learn more about programming from us and help to build relationships.
Swiftbird- We arrived in Swiftbird at about 2:45 pm and immediately started looking for youth. Most of the kids in the community were picked up that morning by a woman named Joni to go swimming in Eagle Butte. They were just getting back when we arrived. Joni is a women who works for a program called Youth Diabetes Prevention. We exchanged information so we can communicate and collaborate. She will be bringing kids from La Plant during our scheduled time on Wednesday so we will see how we can collaborate or what options we have. We picked up a few boxes of water bottles from the Sioux Y and are planning on bringing them to the communities. We’ll fill them with water, write their names on them and then collect them every day. This helps us keep attendance, learn names, keeps the youth hydrated and promotes healthy living as the youth are excited to fill their new water bottle with water from our cooler instead of bringing pop to programming.
We started with baseball again and most of the youth besides two older boys got a little distracted. The kids in Swiftbird are younger ranging from 4-13, making the potential for a baseball team pretty low. We moved on to other programming and the group naturally split to make bracelets and the rest to play basketball. “Today is a good day!!…We got to go swimming and now YOU GUYS ARE HERE!”-Ashton, Age 7. At about 4:00 pm a few of the kids noticed a van, “the Bible people are here” and they ran off to participate with another group. The Big Apple Adventures and Bible Camp is a group from Alabama that is doing program from 4-5:30. They are only here for this week so we’ll adjust our time so the kids get as much fun in their day as they can fit!
Day 4: June 28th, 2011
Bear Creek- We arrived in Bear Creek at about 11:00 on Tuesday. We checked out the community center and programming space. The community building is great but still needs some clean up. It was recently infested by mice and rats and some of the elders in the community are trying to clean it up. The playground and the “field” were not mowed and we walked over to contact the guy with the mower. He did not answer his door. We did some door knocking and stopped at Kracie’s house (Brayley’s mom) and the kids told us that most of the youth went to their grandmas house for the day. The kids in Bear Creek are very young. Our oldest, Nevyn, is ten years old. We did a lot of different programming but because of the ages we weren’t able to play a lot of baseball. We had five kids, played basketball, baseball, and made bracelets on the playground. So far, the potential for a team here seems very slim besides Nevyn who is very athletic and loves baseball and basketball.
Cherry Creek- Our team was excited to get to Cherry Creek so that we could see some of the youth that we met at the pow wow a few nights before. Cherry Creek has a great ball field next to the community building with indoor basketball courts that the Mennonites have the keys for. They are the house with the volleyball court on the edge of the community. Cherry Creek is a bigger community and we were able to get fifteen youth ranging in age from 5-19 to come and hang out. They played ball beautifully together with older kids helping younger kids and everyone just playing, not getting too competitive, and giving fair chances to hit/field/etc. The potential for a team here is much higher. It was really fun to play with “older” kids. These same older kids would be great to bring to camp for a day if you have someone who is lifeguard certified (which we do not). Transportation can be arranged through Carol at the Y and she need as much notice as possible but at least three days. We have permission slips and flyers to hand out and talk about camp. After a GREAT game of softball with positive competition and equal hitting and fielding time (which we did not have to facilitate and they did on their own) we took a group of older kids and played some street ball. The younger kids about seven or eight of them, went with Ashley, made bracelets, and beaded. Fun Fact: Kids in Cherry Creek (and other communities) have a choice of which community/school they would like to attend and many have to be up at 6:00 am to get on the bus and do not return from school until late. In addition, they have options to move into “dorms” where they stay during the school week because the distance is so far. We did run out of water and it was wretchedly hot out but Makia invited us into her house to fill up our jugs. There are minimal places to get water and use the restroom so plan accordingly.
Day 5: June 29th, 2011
La Plant- Today we met Ricki, a staff from the Sioux Y at our hotel to bring with to programming. She will be coming with on Monday’s and Wednesday’s to learn programming so that they can continue similar programming through the school year. This is very exciting as our work out on the reservation is reaching a new level… not only are we connecting with youth in communities that the Sioux Y can not always travel to but we are now helping to train the programming staff so our work out here can be sustained after we return to MN in August. We reached La Plant and met again with Theresa then walked to get kids. A similar amount of youth showed up, about 18 and they were given lunch (sponsored by Simply Smiles) and we began to play baseball. A small group of girls went and made bracelets with Jenny. More information on Simply Smiles is that they are a group of 30+ volunteers staying at the church across the street from the La Plant School. They are here to build houses on the families lands so that they do not have to live in the rental/tribal houses in the community. The younger volunteers run the Day Camp in La Plant and pick up the kids everyday at from 2:30- 5:30 pm. They are doing a lot of programming similar to ours but also do community dinners, movies, and other cool stuff. We worked it out with them so that we can program 12-3 and they come 3-6. We believe that Doretta is working with Simply Smiles and have set up a meeting with her to say hello next Wednesday. It is very important that we remain neutral with Theresa and Doretta and stay out of any issues they may have.
Swiftbird- We met Joni (youth diabetes prevention program YDPP)at Swiftbird and she brought us water, fruit and yogurt to give to the kids. She informed us that we could fill out a request form and have healthy snacks at all of our communities. All we need to do is stop by their office, located behind the Tribal Wellness Center, and fill out the form. Someone running the YDPP is a board member and big supporter of the Y so she said our request will most likely be granted. We started programming with some baseball but the kids lost interest relatively quickly due to the heat. The community building was mowed so we were able to use that area and Jenni (community contact member) has the key to open it up everyday. We gave the kids as many pieces of fruit as they could eat and some of them had 3 or 4 apples each. By now it was 100 degrees outside and HUMID so we decided we needed to have a water balloon game. While filling up water balloons and “snooping” in the community building/GED building we found a box full of dish soap bottles with no caps. We filled those up and had a huge water fight then ended with a yogurt snack. We opted to leave Swiftbird a little early so that the Bible School people could have a bit of programming time since it was their last day and our programming times overlapped. This allowed us to go see Camp Marrowbone in action. Camp Marrowbone had about 10 youth enrolled for the week. They stay in teepees and eat outside. It is a small and beautiful camp with so much potential. The staff are great and stay right on the ground in the teepees with the youth. They have a swimming dock that was purchased by the tribe and an arts and crafts house. We were able to sit on the dock for a little bit and even do some swimming (in our clothes). It is camp at its very best. Be sure to make time to check it out!
Day 6: June 30th, 2011
Bear Creek- Today in Bear Creek we shot baskets with Ethan (10 yrs) until other youth returned from swimming in Eagle Butte and would be back around 1pm. When the kids returned we decided to do some nutrition tests to finish where Team 1 left off. We completed the nutrition test, went over the answers and then organized a “Food Group Relay”. The youth were actually very engaged and all of them participated. Ashley had some food cut outs from some curriculum so we timed them and had them run, pick up a food and then drop it in the correct food group hula hoop. After, for a job well done, we gave out some stickers and the leftover yogurts from Swiftbird the day before. We need to contact Doug Dupree from the Housing Authority to try to mow the playground and field. Our programming has been at the playground and in the street until then.
Cherry Creek- After Bear Creek, we stopped in Dupree to pick up Sam, another staff from the Sioux Y. Ashley knew Sam already, as her team connected with Sam last year on one of their days at the Sioux Y and appointed her as a great potential leader in Dupree. It was great to see that she was now employed by the Sioux Y and would be coming out with us to Cheery Creek every Thursday to learn programming from us. We had some great conversations with Sam on the way to Cherry Creek about her upbringing through the Y, her struggles with college and her life on the reservation. She is an excellent staff to coach and mentor. She talked about a photographer named Emily that has been coming to the Y since 2005 and teaches lessons on photography. Emily has been an influence on her life and helped keep her in school, brought her to New York, and was a constant in her life, so much so that Sam named her daughter Emily after this important woman in her life. When we got to Cherry Creek, we met a group of about 15 youth that quickly grew to 24. We played baseball and made bracelets again. The kids are starting to expect baseball as a standard when we come.
Driving back we “debriefed” with Sam. We asked Sam what she thought of program and what she could see as possible things to bring back to the Sioux Y. She replied, “It’s really good to see the staff participate and have fun in the active activities. Our staff always start playing but then quit as soon as the kids get a little bored. You guys keep playing and encourage the kids to play more.” Sam wants to sit down with us and talk about more programming options regarding nutrition, healthy living and keeping active. Ashley and Sam made a plan to meet next week to make copies or curriculum and start compiling active games, nutrition worksheets and healthy living activities. On our way back to the hotel that night, we talked about how great it would be bring some Sioux Y staff out to the Twin Cities for them to job shadow at different branches/camps and bring that back to the reservation (similar to what we do with our exchange staff from Japan and Africa).
Day 7: July 1, 2011
This morning we had a meeting with Tyson from the Youth Affairs Coordinator about how we could partner with the baseball that he is already doing in Eagle Butte. We found out that he is actually the person that suggested baseball to the Sioux Y for programming. He has a lot of stuff going on with his Baseball camps coming to an end this week and now turning his focus to culture camps for the next few weeks, “Bringing back the Lakota way of life.” He has a budget that allows for transportation and programming supplies. This program runs Monday, Wednesday, Friday with different cultural activities like setting up teepees, digging turnips, painting teepees, and learning about the Lakota culture from various elders in the community. Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays they will be allowing youth to create beadwork or other arts and crafts and allowing them to sell them to earn money on Fridays. We will be distributing flyers in our communities as well as in Iron Lightning during their pow wow on Monday to promote registration in our communities for these upcoming opportunities for youth. He is also doing a Fitness Challenge program for families. They call it FIT, Families Interacting Together, which would be a great partnership opportunity for the Sioux Y. All of this programming will be going on while Team 3 is here.
We asked him about the feasibility of getting an intercommunity Baseball Tournament going and how we could do it together or what we should do. He said we could get a group from the communities we program with and arrange transportation to create a “Sioux Y” vs. Eagle Butte game at the fields of Eagle Butte. Due to the wide range of ages in each community our suggestion for a tournament/games would be to A) get the older boys from Cherry Creek, Bear Creek, and Swiftbird together to create a “Sioux YMCA team” and bus them to Eagle Butte for the game/tournament. Or B) have a Community Baseball Day, make flyers and open up multiple game times for different age groups and even adults. (Option B could be held at the Cherry Creek Field or even La Plant (if mowed).
Tyson also invited us to talk about the programming we do on the Radio Talk Show that is on the reservation next Thursday at the Lakota Technologies Institute. The talk show host is Ilene Briks and is trying to get a talk show in all of the communities. We are setting it up for next Thursday when Team 3 arrives as well as set up a dinner with Carol, Mona and some of the board members to welcome them. We also had Mona call Doug Dupree about mowing in Bear Creek. Now, off to Deadwood to visit the resting place of Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok.
Four detours, a make shift road through the flooded plains and multiple road construction no passing zones makes ten hours and the arrival of team two to Eagle Butte, SD. We arrived with big welcomes from Team 1 and the exciting news that we had to get back in the car and head to Cherry Creek for a Pow-wow. A pow-wow was the best way to start our trip and allowed us to meet a big group of youth from Cherry Creek and gave us the opportunity to participate in a cultural tradition. “The YMCA can keep a beat” is what we heard as we fancy danced with the youth around the pow wow grounds. We spent some time talking with an elder in Cherry Creek named Delores, who team one was unable to connect with until this evening. She is respected in the community and wants to be at programming on Tuesday to teach the youth traditional bead working. We also met June, who has made her home open to us for restrooms and yard for programming.
Day 2: June 26th, 2011
We met Carol and Mona at breakfast in Dupree to talk about the wonderful work of Team 1 and talk about our upcoming weeks. After breakfast, we ran to the Sioux Y to check out the equipment and location. Team 1 printed off registrations and camp flyers for us to promote camp while were in the communities. Then we headed back to give a final farewell to team one. Good bye Team one! You set the bar high! Except…
Roaches, Roaches everywhere. After moving from the first room to the suite that team one occupied, which was pretty awesome with a sofa, two sinks and a bit of extra room to veg out we completely unpacked and we shuffled yet again to two new rooms so that the suite could be bombed. Being confined to one side of the hotel (due to our encounter with roaches and the hotels need to contain us) we got our rooms unpacked and were able to set up our plan for the week.
Program Goals- Divide program times into sections and establish “routine.” Day one and two evaluate and take notes on who is participating and possibility for baseball teams.
Day 3: June 27th, 2011
La Plant- We took off about 10:00am to get to La Plant early to meet with Teresa, the new Youth Director at the Boys and Girls Club. We spent the beginning of our time rounding up youth and ended up with about 18 to start our program. Team one did a great job hyping up baseball. We warmed up with a few laps around the bases and playing catch with explanations about how important it is to warm up to avoid injury. The youth were all pretty young so we had to use the tee for hitting. Per the request of the youth, we played boys vs. girls (which was great for camaraderie/teamwork) and ended up playing the whole time. A few kids trickled off and played with hula hoops. We were able to explain positions, and constantly be talking about how to play the game. The youth were engaged and we were able to take advantage of coachable moments and give positive feedback. As we were cleaning up and about to leave, a truck with “Summer Smiles” Day camp staff and other youth stopped by and picked up kids to go play at the Community Center. We found out this group will be coming into La Plant everyday from 2:00-5:30. We are planning on adjusting our program time to be done by the time the Summer Smiles group comes. We also will be bringing Ricki, a staff from the Sioux Y, on Monday and Wednesdays to La Plant and Swiftbird to learn more about programming from us and help to build relationships.
Swiftbird- We arrived in Swiftbird at about 2:45 pm and immediately started looking for youth. Most of the kids in the community were picked up that morning by a woman named Joni to go swimming in Eagle Butte. They were just getting back when we arrived. Joni is a women who works for a program called Youth Diabetes Prevention. We exchanged information so we can communicate and collaborate. She will be bringing kids from La Plant during our scheduled time on Wednesday so we will see how we can collaborate or what options we have. We picked up a few boxes of water bottles from the Sioux Y and are planning on bringing them to the communities. We’ll fill them with water, write their names on them and then collect them every day. This helps us keep attendance, learn names, keeps the youth hydrated and promotes healthy living as the youth are excited to fill their new water bottle with water from our cooler instead of bringing pop to programming.
We started with baseball again and most of the youth besides two older boys got a little distracted. The kids in Swiftbird are younger ranging from 4-13, making the potential for a baseball team pretty low. We moved on to other programming and the group naturally split to make bracelets and the rest to play basketball. “Today is a good day!!…We got to go swimming and now YOU GUYS ARE HERE!”-Ashton, Age 7. At about 4:00 pm a few of the kids noticed a van, “the Bible people are here” and they ran off to participate with another group. The Big Apple Adventures and Bible Camp is a group from Alabama that is doing program from 4-5:30. They are only here for this week so we’ll adjust our time so the kids get as much fun in their day as they can fit!
Day 4: June 28th, 2011
Bear Creek- We arrived in Bear Creek at about 11:00 on Tuesday. We checked out the community center and programming space. The community building is great but still needs some clean up. It was recently infested by mice and rats and some of the elders in the community are trying to clean it up. The playground and the “field” were not mowed and we walked over to contact the guy with the mower. He did not answer his door. We did some door knocking and stopped at Kracie’s house (Brayley’s mom) and the kids told us that most of the youth went to their grandmas house for the day. The kids in Bear Creek are very young. Our oldest, Nevyn, is ten years old. We did a lot of different programming but because of the ages we weren’t able to play a lot of baseball. We had five kids, played basketball, baseball, and made bracelets on the playground. So far, the potential for a team here seems very slim besides Nevyn who is very athletic and loves baseball and basketball.
Cherry Creek- Our team was excited to get to Cherry Creek so that we could see some of the youth that we met at the pow wow a few nights before. Cherry Creek has a great ball field next to the community building with indoor basketball courts that the Mennonites have the keys for. They are the house with the volleyball court on the edge of the community. Cherry Creek is a bigger community and we were able to get fifteen youth ranging in age from 5-19 to come and hang out. They played ball beautifully together with older kids helping younger kids and everyone just playing, not getting too competitive, and giving fair chances to hit/field/etc. The potential for a team here is much higher. It was really fun to play with “older” kids. These same older kids would be great to bring to camp for a day if you have someone who is lifeguard certified (which we do not). Transportation can be arranged through Carol at the Y and she need as much notice as possible but at least three days. We have permission slips and flyers to hand out and talk about camp. After a GREAT game of softball with positive competition and equal hitting and fielding time (which we did not have to facilitate and they did on their own) we took a group of older kids and played some street ball. The younger kids about seven or eight of them, went with Ashley, made bracelets, and beaded. Fun Fact: Kids in Cherry Creek (and other communities) have a choice of which community/school they would like to attend and many have to be up at 6:00 am to get on the bus and do not return from school until late. In addition, they have options to move into “dorms” where they stay during the school week because the distance is so far. We did run out of water and it was wretchedly hot out but Makia invited us into her house to fill up our jugs. There are minimal places to get water and use the restroom so plan accordingly.
Day 5: June 29th, 2011
La Plant- Today we met Ricki, a staff from the Sioux Y at our hotel to bring with to programming. She will be coming with on Monday’s and Wednesday’s to learn programming so that they can continue similar programming through the school year. This is very exciting as our work out on the reservation is reaching a new level… not only are we connecting with youth in communities that the Sioux Y can not always travel to but we are now helping to train the programming staff so our work out here can be sustained after we return to MN in August. We reached La Plant and met again with Theresa then walked to get kids. A similar amount of youth showed up, about 18 and they were given lunch (sponsored by Simply Smiles) and we began to play baseball. A small group of girls went and made bracelets with Jenny. More information on Simply Smiles is that they are a group of 30+ volunteers staying at the church across the street from the La Plant School. They are here to build houses on the families lands so that they do not have to live in the rental/tribal houses in the community. The younger volunteers run the Day Camp in La Plant and pick up the kids everyday at from 2:30- 5:30 pm. They are doing a lot of programming similar to ours but also do community dinners, movies, and other cool stuff. We worked it out with them so that we can program 12-3 and they come 3-6. We believe that Doretta is working with Simply Smiles and have set up a meeting with her to say hello next Wednesday. It is very important that we remain neutral with Theresa and Doretta and stay out of any issues they may have.
Swiftbird- We met Joni (youth diabetes prevention program YDPP)at Swiftbird and she brought us water, fruit and yogurt to give to the kids. She informed us that we could fill out a request form and have healthy snacks at all of our communities. All we need to do is stop by their office, located behind the Tribal Wellness Center, and fill out the form. Someone running the YDPP is a board member and big supporter of the Y so she said our request will most likely be granted. We started programming with some baseball but the kids lost interest relatively quickly due to the heat. The community building was mowed so we were able to use that area and Jenni (community contact member) has the key to open it up everyday. We gave the kids as many pieces of fruit as they could eat and some of them had 3 or 4 apples each. By now it was 100 degrees outside and HUMID so we decided we needed to have a water balloon game. While filling up water balloons and “snooping” in the community building/GED building we found a box full of dish soap bottles with no caps. We filled those up and had a huge water fight then ended with a yogurt snack. We opted to leave Swiftbird a little early so that the Bible School people could have a bit of programming time since it was their last day and our programming times overlapped. This allowed us to go see Camp Marrowbone in action. Camp Marrowbone had about 10 youth enrolled for the week. They stay in teepees and eat outside. It is a small and beautiful camp with so much potential. The staff are great and stay right on the ground in the teepees with the youth. They have a swimming dock that was purchased by the tribe and an arts and crafts house. We were able to sit on the dock for a little bit and even do some swimming (in our clothes). It is camp at its very best. Be sure to make time to check it out!
Day 6: June 30th, 2011
Bear Creek- Today in Bear Creek we shot baskets with Ethan (10 yrs) until other youth returned from swimming in Eagle Butte and would be back around 1pm. When the kids returned we decided to do some nutrition tests to finish where Team 1 left off. We completed the nutrition test, went over the answers and then organized a “Food Group Relay”. The youth were actually very engaged and all of them participated. Ashley had some food cut outs from some curriculum so we timed them and had them run, pick up a food and then drop it in the correct food group hula hoop. After, for a job well done, we gave out some stickers and the leftover yogurts from Swiftbird the day before. We need to contact Doug Dupree from the Housing Authority to try to mow the playground and field. Our programming has been at the playground and in the street until then.
Cherry Creek- After Bear Creek, we stopped in Dupree to pick up Sam, another staff from the Sioux Y. Ashley knew Sam already, as her team connected with Sam last year on one of their days at the Sioux Y and appointed her as a great potential leader in Dupree. It was great to see that she was now employed by the Sioux Y and would be coming out with us to Cheery Creek every Thursday to learn programming from us. We had some great conversations with Sam on the way to Cherry Creek about her upbringing through the Y, her struggles with college and her life on the reservation. She is an excellent staff to coach and mentor. She talked about a photographer named Emily that has been coming to the Y since 2005 and teaches lessons on photography. Emily has been an influence on her life and helped keep her in school, brought her to New York, and was a constant in her life, so much so that Sam named her daughter Emily after this important woman in her life. When we got to Cherry Creek, we met a group of about 15 youth that quickly grew to 24. We played baseball and made bracelets again. The kids are starting to expect baseball as a standard when we come.
Driving back we “debriefed” with Sam. We asked Sam what she thought of program and what she could see as possible things to bring back to the Sioux Y. She replied, “It’s really good to see the staff participate and have fun in the active activities. Our staff always start playing but then quit as soon as the kids get a little bored. You guys keep playing and encourage the kids to play more.” Sam wants to sit down with us and talk about more programming options regarding nutrition, healthy living and keeping active. Ashley and Sam made a plan to meet next week to make copies or curriculum and start compiling active games, nutrition worksheets and healthy living activities. On our way back to the hotel that night, we talked about how great it would be bring some Sioux Y staff out to the Twin Cities for them to job shadow at different branches/camps and bring that back to the reservation (similar to what we do with our exchange staff from Japan and Africa).
Day 7: July 1, 2011
This morning we had a meeting with Tyson from the Youth Affairs Coordinator about how we could partner with the baseball that he is already doing in Eagle Butte. We found out that he is actually the person that suggested baseball to the Sioux Y for programming. He has a lot of stuff going on with his Baseball camps coming to an end this week and now turning his focus to culture camps for the next few weeks, “Bringing back the Lakota way of life.” He has a budget that allows for transportation and programming supplies. This program runs Monday, Wednesday, Friday with different cultural activities like setting up teepees, digging turnips, painting teepees, and learning about the Lakota culture from various elders in the community. Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays they will be allowing youth to create beadwork or other arts and crafts and allowing them to sell them to earn money on Fridays. We will be distributing flyers in our communities as well as in Iron Lightning during their pow wow on Monday to promote registration in our communities for these upcoming opportunities for youth. He is also doing a Fitness Challenge program for families. They call it FIT, Families Interacting Together, which would be a great partnership opportunity for the Sioux Y. All of this programming will be going on while Team 3 is here.
We asked him about the feasibility of getting an intercommunity Baseball Tournament going and how we could do it together or what we should do. He said we could get a group from the communities we program with and arrange transportation to create a “Sioux Y” vs. Eagle Butte game at the fields of Eagle Butte. Due to the wide range of ages in each community our suggestion for a tournament/games would be to A) get the older boys from Cherry Creek, Bear Creek, and Swiftbird together to create a “Sioux YMCA team” and bus them to Eagle Butte for the game/tournament. Or B) have a Community Baseball Day, make flyers and open up multiple game times for different age groups and even adults. (Option B could be held at the Cherry Creek Field or even La Plant (if mowed).
Tyson also invited us to talk about the programming we do on the Radio Talk Show that is on the reservation next Thursday at the Lakota Technologies Institute. The talk show host is Ilene Briks and is trying to get a talk show in all of the communities. We are setting it up for next Thursday when Team 3 arrives as well as set up a dinner with Carol, Mona and some of the board members to welcome them. We also had Mona call Doug Dupree about mowing in Bear Creek. Now, off to Deadwood to visit the resting place of Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok.
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