Q-C student spearheads effort to donate 40 cooking stoves
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By Kay Luna | Tuesday, April 29, 2008 |
She had a simple goal for her school project.
All Scott Community College student Jennifer Nesahkluah wanted to do was educate people about her American Indian heritage — and maybe raise enough money to buy a single woodstove for a needy Sioux Indian family.
She did that, and then some.
With donations from two businesses and help from a not-for-profit charity, the 33-year-old Davenport honors student recently led the charge that provided 40 new woodstoves for several families at South Dakota reservations.
“I know each one of those stoves, in each household that got one, there are at least two or three other families that will benefit from that heat,” Nesahkluah said. “Often, one house holds two or three families, and the houses are so dilapidated it’s hard to keep the heat in.”
Although the stoves were delivered in December, after Nesahkluah’s Native American Cultural Education Week was held at the college in September, the needy families impacted by the project are still enjoying the benefits.
In fact, Richard Boyden, who leads the not-for-profit Operation Morning Star initiative meant to help impoverished families living on reservations, said efforts such as Nesahkluah’s are, sadly, not common.
Boyden said he gets too few offers to sponsor specific needy families, whom he shares details about with beneficiaries so they know exactly where their money is going.
“Jennifer is a very unique woman who has what the American Indians would say is a ‘red heart,’ which is a heart of flesh,” he said. “She has one of the spiritual attributes the Lakota (Sioux) see as part of their way of life, as having compassion and caring for their people. … If I had 100 groups like that, that would do the same with food and fundraising, then a lot of things could get done.”
The Davenport student said she planned the college’s education week last fall as a project for her honors independent study program, choosing an American Indian focus to bring a different culture’s perspective to campus.
The Oklahoma native also wanted to honor her own American Indian heritage as a Kiowa-apache, also known as Plains Apache. She works as a cultural educator and eventually wants to teach American Indian studies.
Her event raised $1,400, but Nesahkluah decided she wanted to do more.
She raised enough money to buy 14 woodstoves and then contacted Boyden through his organization’s Web site. He was able to work with others, such as Randy Stires with Victorian Sales, to donate an additional 21 stoves.
Meanwhile, Paul Davis, pastor with South Chrysler Restoration Congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ, The Son of God, also donated six additional stoves and the piping for all 40 units.
Those stoves were delivered this winter to four Sioux reservations in South Dakota. They went to members of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the Community of Wanblee, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe from two different communities — the Crow Creek Tribe and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe communities of Parmalee — Nesahkluah said.
Many families there live in profound poverty, with soaring electricity, propane and food bills, so they were extremely thankful for the help, Boyden said.
Phyllis DeSersa, who lives on one of the reservations impacted by the project, said she and her mother hand-picked the needy families who received the woodstoves and then helped deliver them.
She said the need is great in her community, and she praised Boyden’s program as well as Nesahkluah’s project for lessening the load. But she stressed the continuing needs of her people, including one specific family of three who cannot afford to pay their electric bill.
“Our tribe is in the red and a lot of people are having troubles with electricity and propane,” she said.
Kay Luna can be contacted at (563) 383-2323 or kluna@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
HOW TO HELP
To learn more about Operation Morning Star, which helps link donations with specific needy American Indian families living on reservations, go online to operationmorningstar.org.
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