St. Joseph’s Indian School is excited to begin a new effort in supporting Native American families, starting with the littlest members.
It comes in the form of something every new parent needs: a diaper bag. These bags are given to parents living on reservations and include a soft blanket, board books and informational pamphlets. Parents receive these items during family counselor visits in their communities and visits to campus by the families. Basically, anywhere St. Joseph’s sees a need, these items are given out.
The information we are striving to share centers around developmental milestones for children and support services in local communities. Parents are provided with information about tummy time, physical development, the importance of play, speech and language development, and local phone lists.
Our phone lists include numbers for poison control, medical facilities, social services, local family programs, pharmacy, elementary and middle school, daycare and Head Start programs. We provided specific information for resources in individual communities to help parents make local connections during this exciting time with their newborns.
“We want to offer our support when a family recognizes a concern and assist in linking-up with resources in their communities,” said Robyn, St. Joseph’s Counseling Services Director. “Supporting and providing guidance during critical developmental milestones increases access to needed services and helps put the child on a healthy path for the future.”
St. Joseph’s is excited about this opportunity to partner again with our families in their reservation communities!
Pilamaya – thank you – for supporting St. Joseph’s and making programs like this possible!
How do I donate?
Hi, Bill! Thanks for asking. To make a donation, you can go to our website stjo.org and click the Donate button in the top right corner, or click here: https://give.stjo.org/site/Donation2?df_id=6740&6740.donation=form1&autologin=true&s_src=tnd&_ga=2.184406895.837538467.1534187241-1320477078.1502137783
We appreciate your support and willingness to help Lakota children at St. Joseph’s and their families.
I would like to make hats and scarves for the younger students. These would be bright colored, hand crocheted. Let me know if this would be useful, and approx. how many would be needed.
Wow Thank you! We are happy to accept hats, scarves and any other items you are able to send. You can find a list of our most needed items at http://www.stjo.org/nonmonetary. Please know the children and I appreciate your kindness and generosity very much. Our non-postal (FedEx, UPS) shipping address is: St. Joseph’s Indian School, 220 North Main St., Chamberlain, SD 57325. We have approx. 200 students at our school, but we don’t expect you to make 200 (your poor hands!), but anything you’d like to make we can put to good use.