A Family in Need of Christmas Gifts

The missionary asked if our church could provide a family in the village with Christmas gifts this year. She is asking each church that goes there for workcamps to take a family and give them Christmas gifts.

Here are the ages, etc.

• Hazel, the grandmother
  likes bath items
  Already Purchased - earrings, bath soap set
  
  
• Marie - the mother
  Likes anything for her house, earrings, bath items,
  Favorite colors are marroon and hunter green
  Already Purchased - Winter Coat, flower arrangement, bath soap set
  
  
• Charlie the father
  Likes tools and movies, gloves, cologne, hair clippers
  Size 3 or 4 X shirt
  Already Purchased - Watch, flannel shirt, hair clippers
  
  
• Arlo - age 11
  Likes football, head and wrist bands, pants size 14 regular, man's size large shirts
  Favorite color - blue
  Already Purchased - football, basketball, wrist bands, blue shirt
  
  
• Michael - age 8
  Likes Spongebob,
  Man's shirt size large or XLarge
  Favorite colors - yellow and green
  Already Purchased - Spongebob dominos & Bingo game, game, green shirt
  
  
• Everet (Bubba) - age 7
  Likes "Transformers"
  Pants size 8 Regular
  Favorite color - red
  Already Purchased - Trouble game, game, red shirt
  
  
• Aleaha - age 6
  Likes horses and dogs
  Favorite color - pink and purple
  Already Purchased - Gap hoodie sweatshirt, my little pony, pink running set

All of the children like art supplies, games, and sports.

If you have purchased something for this family, let Amber know and it will be posted here so we don't duplicate items.

Please do not send used items.

See Amber for the address

Backpacks

I've created a new site in hopes of expanding the backpack project. I would love to see us expand this to other villages on the rez. If you have a web site or blog and would be so kind as to put the image link on it to help get the word out, that would be awesome! Just shoot me an email at TheMatt25Project@aol.com and I'll send you the html code. It will look like this (Cathy you can click on it to go to the site)


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EXCITING News From The Rez

In the post below you will find the Jan. Newsletter. I will try to get the Feb. Newsletter posted tomorrow.

I also received a letter from Shelly detailing some of their needs and how we can best help them. There have been some folks at church who have offered used clothes, toys, etc. and I have had to turn these down because there was not a good way to give them out and because the missionaries discouraged us from doing a lot of that kind of thing.

Well, there is good news! Shelly is a lady on the move and she has created a "store" in part of the pain building where they can keep goods for the people to come and get what they need. This way seems to work better for everyone. She has outlined some things that are always needed and appreciated which will help us give some guidance to those who want to help the Lakota people.

John and I will be in touch with Matthew 25 Ministries to see if they are willing to supply any of these needs. If so, we will be taking as much as we possibly can with us this summer. Apart from Matthew 25 Ministries though, anyone can donate any of the following at any time and we will take them to the rez when we go.

Here is the list:

For the People

• Blankets
• hats
• gloves
• diapers
• baby products (powder, baby shampoo, lotion, desitin)
• small diaper bags
• shampoo
• dish soap
• laundry soap
• toothpaste
• deodorant
• combs
• electric heaters (when they run out of propane which is the main heat source, they often go days without heat)

For the Church

• paper towels
• toilet paper
• cleaning supplies
• copy paper
• colored copy paper

For the Kid's Play Area/Sunday School

• Any kind of girl play area things, stove, vacuum cleaner,
• anything to play "store" with
• Boys play area rugs with car tracks on them
• Lincoln longs
• Legos
• Puzzles - 100 pieces or smaller
• fun foam
• construction paper
• markers
• poster paint in the big bottles
• any kind of craft items

In addition, they are also in need of a good VCR/DVD player. They are doing "Dinner and Movie Nights" with the kids and their DVD player is broken. They also use this in their youth meetings for the DVD series they are using. The church at Wounded Knee is also in need of a DVD player.

Another cool thing that Shelly is doing is making care packages if personal care items and taking them to the jail in Martin and Kyle. She also takes the children to visit nursing homes - the elders love it and it is good for the kids to be involved in giving of themselves.

On The Rez: Chores

While we are on the rez each person will have a turn at the various chores. Chore assignments will be in the crew booklet you will receive when we leave. Please refer to it each day to see where you are supposed to be. You are responsible to be where you need to be at any given time.

Kitchen Duty
Help prepare, serve and clean up after each meal. Take out trash.

Bathroom Duty
Clean the toliet, sink, shower stalls, and mop the floor. Take out trash.

Van Clean-Up
Sweep out the vans at the end of the day. Throw away trash, clean windshields if necessary.

Grounds
Make sure all trash is picked up and garbage is taken out each day.