Lakxota Kxoyag was established in 1991 to give assistance to the small Lakxota communities of Bridger and Cherry Creek on the Cheyenne River Lakxota (Sioux) Reservation, in South Dakota. We coordinate with representatives in the communities to establish what the needs are for the community and then try to find individuals or groups who are willing to give assistance.
Originally we started out in our own community in Colorado. Then in the Fall of 1995 began using internet resources to help us establish contacts with people from all over North America. The response has been overwhelming and very heart-warming, and not just from North America but all over the world!
During the Holiday Season of 1995, Lakxota Kxoyag collected enough toys, clothing and gifts for all the children in the Bridger community with the assistance of individuals from Texas, Minnesota, Boston, and even Toronto. The children in the community had a wonderful winter celebration. They were so happy to find these gifts awaiting them.
In 1996, we established an internet "Angel Tree" so that individuals could "take" names of children and elders from the "tree" and sponsor them individually. This project was a huge success. All the names were chosen within two weeks! The sponsors were so kind and happy to be able to sponsor the children and elders. Some have formed fast friendships with their sponsorees.
During the 1997 Holiday Season, we expanded to include the communities of Faith and Red Scaffold. All in all, it was a successful project with the exception that many names were left on the tree. We continued the tree into the New Year for the month of January in hopes that more names will be chosen and many were. We also worked out some of the administrative problems that happened.
The 1998 Holiday was much like the 1997 Season where not every person was chosen so in 1999 we decided to scale back in numbers. We also did not divide the lists up by community as in the past giving others who would like to be put on the list a chance to be on it. This proved to be successful and the children found gifts under their trees that year from their wonderful sponsors.
With the loss of our dear friend, Marvin Holy in September 2000, the initial decision was to not have an Angel Tree. Veronica needed to focus on her children and all of them needed to grieve their loss of a dear husband and father. Josee Bald Eagle and Jodene Uses Many took up the challenge to distribute the applications and get them back in time for the Angel Tree to run. Thank you Josee and Jodene for stepping forward and helping out the Bridger and Takini communities this year! The 2000 Angel Tree was in memory of Marvin and will continue in his memory as long as we have kind hearted people on the reservation who undertake this huge task and the wonderful sponsors who come back every year to support this project as well as new sponsors who find us.
The 2001 holidays were even better than previous holidays. Veronica and Josee worked hard with the community to get applications from 85 children and elders. Each person on the tree found a sponsor. Thanks so much to all those returning sponsors who have been with us from the beginning! We feel like old friends...
The 2002 and 2003 holidays were hard. With the economy of the country being in such a bad state, many of our regular sponsors could not help during these years because they had lost their jobs. Their stories were sad. We did have some heroes that helped get the names chosen by pounding the internet doors of friends and family, and we say "THANK YOU" to them, if it weren't for you many of the children would have been left on the tree with no sponsor.
The 2004 Holiday Season was another tough one. Veronica Holy was still dealing with the loss of Marvin and Ruth Cameron had become ill and had lost her job. Initially there had been a decision not to have the tree but at the last minute, Josee Bald Eagle stepped in and help coordinate the applications on the reservations. Because of the late start, many children were left on the tree and did not receive sponsors. Then, thanks to the generosity of Bilo Farmer, from the Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Non-Violence in Boulder, Colorado, a donation of toys was received and are in the process of being delivered to those children who did not have a sponsor at the holiday season.
The 2005 Holiday Season - we expanded the tree to include the communities of Eagle Butte on the Cheyenne River Reservation and the small community of Oglala on the Pine Ridge Reservation. As we had seen in the past when expanding the list, many children were left without sponsors. It was sad and many of our regular sponsors tried to take more children and find other sponsors but there were still children left on the list. But for those children who had sponsors, the holidays were that much more brighter for them - thank you sponsors!
In 2006, we are dropped back again to the Takini School area only - our original community. This decision was made due to the health of one of our organizers. Ruth went through major surgery in late October and the fact that so many children were left unsponsored in 2005. With glad hearts, all the children and adults found a sponsor. It was a very cold season so the gifts from sponsors were more than welcome in the community.
The 2007, 2008, and 2009 Holiday Seasons found many sponsors suffering from the tough economy. Even though, many still found some way to help by either sponsoring themselves and/or finding others to help. Thanks you everyone for all your help!
This year, in 2010, we will again work to find sponsors for the Takini School area children, elders, and adults with special needs. We will also have children from Eagle Butte. Even though the economy is even more dire than the past years, we hope you all can help sponsor this year.
Each summer Lakxota Kxoyag collected school supplies for the children. Since the "Angel Tree" was so successful for the holidays we tried it for 1997 "school supply buying season" in July 1997. The response was slower than the Holiday Tree but each child eventually received a sponsor. During the 1998 season, donators contacted Veronica Holy at Takini School directly and sent donations to her. She then distributed them out to the children, starting with the most needy. Every student received something. Unfortunately, the school supply tree has been discontinued due to lack of interest from sponsors. However, Veronica still collects school supplies every summer to distribute in the fall and so far this has been a real boost to those parents who can not afford to purchase school supplies for their children.
Lakxota Kxoyag is always trying to establish new ideas and ways that we can support these communities. If you have any suggestions or ideas, or would like more information and/or to make a contribution, please contact us!
Thank you for stopping by to find out more information about us. We hope that you can find it in your heart to donate something to this worthy cause and to let others know what we are trying to do. Please come back again as we will continually change and update this page.
WOPILA YE! MITAKUYE PI!
Updated 1 February 2010