This week:
Backpacks for Pine Ridge
MySpace page
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota is one of the most beautiful places in America. It is also one of the poorest. The median income on the reservation is just $2,600 a year. The unemployment rate is a shocking 85%. Sadly, it is the children and teenagers who are the most vulnerable victims of such poverty. Among schools on the Pine Ridge Reservation, the drop-out rate is 70%.
Since 2004, a group from Winton Rd. Church of God in Fairfield, Ohio, has been going to the reservation and giving out backpacks filled with school supplies to the children in the village of Allen. Their goal is to expand this backpack project so that they can provide a backpack filled with school supplies to every child on the reservation. Giving a child a backpack of school supplies does two things: It provides much needed school supplies and it encourages children to stay in school and get an education.
Just $15.00 can provide one child on the reservation with a backpack and school supplies.
If you'd like to help you can do so in the following ways:
- Pray! Pray for the ministry, the leaders of this ministry, those donating their money and time and the children and families receiving these backpacks
- Donate money for backpacks and school supplies.
- Sponsor a team member
- Go on a trip (see the requirements)
Learn more about their specific trips on their other blog Pine Ridge Mission Trips.
5 comments:
Thanks for the shout out. We appreciate it so much!
Tiffany,
Thank you so much for featuring Backpacks for Pine Ridge in your mag. A slight typo must have gotten through as our church is located in Ohio and the Pine Ridge Reservation is in South Dakota.
The kids get excited when they get the backpacks. You can see some of them wearing them while they are playing around the village.
Once again thanks!
Woops! Very sorry about the mistake. We have corrected it in the blog though so that anyone who reads it won't be confused in case they don't read the comments as wel.
Thanks for the heads up & it is our pleasure to highlight what you guys are doing. Feel free to send us more updates from time to time!!
Tiffany
I've seen this Pine Ridge backpack ministry in person. It is a tangible expression of love to a people desperately in need of it. Thank you for showcasing this ministry!
I agree. The backpack ministry is great - perhaps a way to redudce the drop-out reate of near 70%. As an additional measure, we need to restructure school to the way of the land and a good focus is Alternative Technologies and Energy. See http://grizzlysmith.com for more information in thyis approach.
Blessings
David 'Grizzly' Smith
Post a Comment