Final Report from Pine Ridge (SD) Projects, Summer 2009

Friends, 

The AFSC-IMYM Joint Service Project, aka Western Quaker Workcamps, made its final trip to Pine Ridge this summer. We did two trips in July, staying at the Kennedey Hall in Wanblee on each project. Eleanor Charging Crow and Ruth Brown hosted us again. 

The first group worked mostly with Pinky Clifford over in Manderson. We painted Elson’s garage, painted a deck and did quite a bit of other work on Tom Casey’s house, rebuilt a horse shade a storm knocked down and did some other work for a family rebuilding a home after their trailer burned down. They are living in the one room that was added to the trailer for more space and a camper while they rebuild. 

The second group worked more in Wanblee, We painted a bedroom for Eva, cleaned up and mowed the cemetery and city park, helped build a couple of new outhouses and dug the holes for the High Horse family. We did some mowing out on their land and we helped cover their newly rebuilt sweat lodges in preparation for their family sundance. 

Both groups also wrestled with the meaning of culture, community structures, racism and privilege. We saw how scarcity of tools, skills and cash affected our work days. We experienced the state of the school in Wanblee, compared to the schools in our communities. We experienced the generosity of those we went to help. And we saw how Friends are uniquely placed to be able to help in ways that other churches can’t. 

I feel that what the JSP has done on Pine Ridge is notable, and I want to thank the Intermountain Yearly Meeting and the American Friends Service Committee for supporting this work for the last 19 years. More than a thousand participants, mostly youth, were introduced to another culture on one of our projects and maybe thousands more were introduced to Friends and the AFSC through this work. 

I hope you agree that this is historic and valuable work, even if it is time to find a new way to approach it. I am asking you to make a donation now to the AFSC-IMYM JSP, before the end of the fiscal year in September, to ensure that we  fulfill our budget projection for this final year. You can mail your check to my house at 2852 W. Gamez Road, Benson, AZ 85602 or directly to the regional AFSC office in Des Moines. 

Thank you for your interest and support, 

Mike Gray