St. Joseph's Indian School

All’s quiet at St. Joseph’s Indian School

Good day from St. Joseph’s Indian School!

Fr. Anthony, St. Joseph's Chaplain — Fr. Anthony, St. Joseph’s Chaplain

Things are quiet on St. Joseph’s campus; summer programs have ended and there are no Lakota students on campus, if only for a few weeks. Our facilities crew is finishing up a variety of projects, getting the campus in shape for the new school year which starts August 10.

This year, we’re very excited to have our seniors in high school participate in a new independent living program. Students will have more responsibilities and more freedom to help prepare them for their next step in life – college, tech school, the military or the workforce.

Next week, we’ll be starting to hit the bricks for the upcoming school year. New staff will be on campus to begin their orientation and training. The first week in August, all staff return. Our students will come in on August 9 and classes will begin August 10. Our high school students, who attend Chamberlain Public High School, will begin sports practices. The new school year is almost here!

As mentioned last week, I am in Colorado for my niece’s wedding. It all turned out well and most of my family was able to attend. My brothers and I went golfing. I had some good shots and interesting putts, but I know how Tiger feels concerning his British Open experience. The altitude in Colorado Springs, at the base of Pike’s Peak, does affect you. I would tee the ball up and then have to pause a moment to give my head the chance to clear.

Leaving Colorado, I am heading across Wyoming to Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park. I will also visit to the Little Big Horn battlefield and then Devil’s Tower. I’m also going to try and work in a trip to a Minuteman Missile Site near Wall, South Dakota before reaching Chamberlain. One of my brothers, now retired, is going to join me.

I hope that any of you who are taking vacation trips will also have a great time and safe travels. Perhaps some of you are saving your vacation to come out to our annual powwow on September 19. We would love to have you visit St. Joseph’s Indian School!

May God continue to bless and reward you for your generosity towards the ministry taking place at St. Joseph’s Indian School.

God bless,

Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ

Chaplain

Summer programs wrap up at St. Joseph’s Indian School

Good day from St. Joseph’s Indian School!

The weather has continued to make for an interesting summer in central South Dakota. Last Sunday, several areas around us hit 100+ degrees. Added to the heat was smog from the fires burning in Canada. Though it has been hot, the landscape looks beautiful from all the rain we have been blessed with. Green is still the predominate color. Hopefully, we’ll continue to receive rain so the crops and grass flourish.
The campus is quiet now as the summer programs for our Lakota (Sioux) students are coming to an end. The younger students’ home finished this past Wednesday, and the high school home will end on Friday.
Next on the agenda will be orientation for St. Joseph’s new staff starting July 27. All staff will gather the week of August 3 for various meetings. The students will return August 9 and classes begin on August 10! Where has the summer gone?
Last weekend was special for some of those working in extended ministries supported by St. Joseph’s.
On Sunday, there was a special Mass in Marty, South Dakota to honor the Native American ministry in the Sioux Falls Diocese (which is celebrating its 125th anniversary). At the Mass, Deacon Steven McLaughlin gave an address. St. Joseph’s provided some transportation for parishioners from St. Joseph’s parish in Fort Thompson, South Dakota, which is staffed by members of the Priests of the Sacred Heart. That is the parish Deacon Steven is assigned to, but he also works at the other six parishes on the Crow Creek and Lower Brule Indian Reservations.
On Monday I was at a board meeting in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, where we have the women’s shelter and the youth residence. At the end of the meeting, Mr. John Lemke was honored for his 21 years of service as a board member. He is still active in the ministry as the treasurer.
I’ll be heading out this week to take part in my niece’s wedding in Colorado Springs this coming weekend. Sounds like most of my brothers and sisters are going to make it with their families, so it will be a mini-family reunion as well.
I hope you all have a great week. As a way of saying thanks for your generosity and many kindnesses, you will be remembered in our Monthly Novena of Masses, the 11th through the 19th.
Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ
Chaplain

Fr. Anthony, Fr. Joe and Mike were present when John received his award for years of service. — Fr. Anthony is pictures with Fr. Joseph Dean, SCJ pastor of the SCJ team covering the six parishes, Mr. Lemke, and Mr. Mike Tyrell, St. Joseph’s President.

CAUTION: Our spontaneity is showing!

The thesaurus offers such synonyms to spontaneity as naturalness,

freedom and impulsiveness. What a way to describe the summer break home at St. Joseph’s Indian School!

The structure of time is different. Routines are missing but not missed. There is plenty of unscheduled time to fill with spontaneous adventure: riding bikes and then ditching them and running into the woods to build (or add to) teepee-like forts – one for the boys and one for the girls. Finding a dead bird while playing outdoors becomes a search for the perfect burial spot complete with prayer and a homemade headstone. Walking to town to go swimming may include rolling down grassy hills at Barger Park or stopping at the Derby for a cookie. For now, there is no “have to.”

One of the children’s favorite things to do (still) is to go out to the new playground at St. Joseph’s. One recent afternoon, there was a noticeable shift in mood on the playground.

It could have been because of sun shining too brightly… or just being tired. Instead of mirth and mischief there were complaints and grouchiness. The decision to move on from the park was simple. On to the next thing!

Except no one could agree on anything… We moved to a grassy area and just sat. We talked about what they were experiencing and the next moment throwing handfuls of grass in random directions. “Random” meaning in my direction…

I was covered in green and laughter! Then Scott, one of St. Joseph’s Family Service Counselors, appeared and invited us to be part of a prayer circle with the high school students. Within moments, the children went from feeling restless, to rolling around in the grass, to actively praying. No planning necessary.

I am partial to spontaneity and the idea of being open to “Divine Appointments.” One afternoon a student, I’ll call him R, appeared to be very unhappy. I asked him if he would be willing to help carry some things back to another home.

“No!”

His response seemed more like a test than just a “no.”

I turned away and then heard a quieter “Ok – sure.” I must have passed the test.

So I gathered up the supplies while R enlisted the help of his younger brother A. I let them lead the way, which seemed important, even though I would have preferred staying away from the mosquito-infested grass. Moving quickly, wanting to complete this chore and move on to the next unplanned activity, I almost missed our divine appointment.

“LOOK CATHY!”

A baby bird was perched on the back of the bench. I turned and saw R and the bird, starting at each other with no more than two feet between them.

Why isn’t this bird flying away?

Something important was happening.

A and I stopped at a distance and watched in awe at the connection happening between R and this delicate-looking bird.

“Look we are both the same!” exclaimed R.

Both R and the bird had a bit of white hair on top of their dark heads. The boy and the bird seemed taken with each other.

Then, perhaps because of the awkward load we were carrying, all of us started walking again. I wish we hadn’t. A spell seemed to have broken. The bird continued to watch as R walked away.

He wondered out loud if the bird would still be there after we finished. It was. This time A cautiously approached and the bird quickly flew away.

Something then dawned on R and a smile brightened his face. He turned to face me, his gaze saying “See I am special. This bird that looks like me told me so.”

A tear fell as the purity of this moment hit hard. It transformed this child with his very bad mood, into feeling something very extraordinary.

To have correctly experienced this natural, unplanned and unprompted event, you kind of had to be there. It loses something in the written delivery. Thinking of it, even now, brings up emotion. I hope R clings to this spontaneous and significant moment forever…

He really is exceptional. A bird that looks like him told him so.

Cathy

Houseparent

In the summer break home at St. Joseph’s, there’s free time for ice cream breaks and relaxation. — The Lakota children in the summer break home enjoy a spontaneous stop for ice cream on a warm afternoon.

An action-packed Fourth of July

Good day from St. Joseph’s Indian School!

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable 4^th of July. The Chamberlain-Oacoma area was jammed with a lot of visitors, taking in the festivities and enjoying the Missouri River. The day began with something for the young and the young at heart – a 5K obstacle course/inflatable run. Participants had to run the course and climb over, under or through various inflatable obstacles and then keep going to the next one.

The parade was well-attended and began with the VFW honor guard presenting the colors, followed by a National Guard truck filled with veterans. The spectator’s warm applause welcomed them.

Some of the cars that would take part in the Show & Shine classic car rally also took part in the parade — several Mustangs and Stingrays. Local businesses had floats expressing Independence Day greetings and most threw candy to the children.

Participants had to run the obstacle course, climbing over, under or through various inflatables. — Independence Day celebrations in Chamberlain began with something for the young and the young at heart – a 5K obstacle course/inflatable run.

There were lawn mower racers from Pukwana, South Dakota and several motorcycles, which reminded people this year is the 75^th anniversary of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. They are predicting nearly a million people for the week-long celebration in August!

In the afternoon there was a rough stock rodeo that featured saddle bronc, bareback and bull riding. The Lakota boys and girls in St. Joseph’s summer break home enjoyed a portion of the rodeo, but the muggy weather got to them and they headed back to cool off in the air-conditioning.

After a rest, they were ready to go again when the ‘Rock the Bluffs’ fireworks lit up the sky later that night. It was beautiful watching the fireworks explode over the Missouri River. They brought many ooohs and aaahs from those watching and even inspired Mother Nature to take part. As the fireworks show came close to its endings she decided

One float in the parade had a “Summer fun” theme, complete with squirt guns to cool off the crowd. — Chamberlain’s Fourth of July parade included all kinds of floats from the community.

to impress the spectators with a thunder and lightning display. The brief rain caused many to head for shelter, but when the official show was over, those who brought their own fireworks began shooting them to continue the celebration.

Mother Nature put on another show the next day when severe weather was in the area again. As it came across southern South Dakota, it took a little jog to the northeast and put Chamberlain in the crosshairs. Reports indicated a possible tornado with the radar showing some circular movement, but there was no report of anything touching down. Thank goodness! We dealt with high winds, lightening and rain for about an hour on Sunday evening. A few more branches were down on campus Monday morning, but nothing serious like the previous weekend.

Congratulations to the USA women’s soccer for bringing home the World Cup. It was an amazing game!

I hope your 4^th of July was memorable as well!

Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ

Chaplain

Working in the summer break home at St. Joseph’s Indian School

Greetings! My name is Bette. My husband Mike and I have recently moved to South Dakota to work as houseparents for St. Joseph’s Indian School. It has been a joy working

Bette and her husband Mike recently moved to Chamberlain to be houseparents at St. Joseph’s Indian School. — Bette and one of the summer students at the local library.

here in the summer break home. The students attend school for a few hours each morning and then our afternoons are filled with many fun activities.

We have students in our break home who will be in the second grade through ninth grade next year. Some of the younger students have enjoyed weaving potholders and some of the older students have learned how to make knitted hats using a round loom. Everyone has enjoyed making muffins and sugar cookies from scratch.

One student recently celebrated a birthday, so we had the joy of giving her a party complete with cupcakes and candles and party games. We also made homemade ice cream by shaking cream, sugar and vanilla in a baggie surrounded by ice.

We love celebrating summer birthdays! — Happy birthday Aralyn!

Some of the students guessed we were making cheese, but we kept it a secret to the end. We shook the bags for about 10 minutes – there were a lot of sore arms, but it was worth it when they got to taste the final results!

In the past few weeks, we have gone to the movies, had a picnic, gone bowling and, of course, out to Dairy Queen and McDonald’s for ice cream on a warm day. There are a lot of activities planned for the Fourth of July including a parade, car show and rodeo here in town. Next week, there will be a special party to celebrate the last day of school (I know the students will feel sad and need some cheering up – ha ha!).

The students have also attended our local library’s summer reading program. This year they have a super hero theme. One student was overheard saying this was “way cool”

as he designed his very own super hero shield and decorated it with stickers. They got to perform superhero dances, listen to stories and make special masks as well.

One very busy spot has been our Chamberlain Community Pool. It received a face lift this spring with the addition of a 100 foot curvy slide and a water basketball hoop. It has kept our kids very happy on warm days!

There is a playground right next to the pool, so the students have the best of both worlds. When we are not at the pool, students can often be found riding their bikes around campus or using a scooter or two.

Students created 200 luminary bags for the Relay for Life. — Students worked hard to design luminary bags for the local Relay for Life.

Our students truly have warm, giving hearts and have embraced the idea of helping with our local Relay for Life this year. We are assisting with the decoration of the paper bag luminaires that will light the pathway during the Relay.

The students listened to a story that was written by a young child diagnosed with cancer to gain a better understanding as well as increased empathy for those undergoing treatment.

Mike and I have been proud of the amount of care and attention that each bag has received. The kids really want to do a great job in making these special for the recipients. We have about 200 bags to decorate and are almost finished.

Thank you for allowing me to share some of the activities that have gone on here in the summer! The summer break home has been an eventful place filled with wonderful memories of a summer spent with beautiful kids.

Bette

Houseparent

Cleaning up after the storm at St. Joseph’s

Good day from St. Joseph’s Indian School!

After all the wild weather last weekend, things have calmed down a bit. Branches keep coming down here and there around campus, but the majority of damage has been cleaned up by our grounds crew along with help of other St. Joseph’s maintenance staff. It was really a team effort as electric saws, manual trimmers and hand-powered rakes were used to repair what Mother Nature tore apart. There was some minor structural damage, but nothing of a serious nature. We are grateful, but it is a shame that so many trees were damaged or lost completely. Several tree stumps still need to be removed and there will be

a lot of replanting to come. We received word from our fellow SCJs (Priests of the Sacred Heart) on the Lower Brule Indian Reservation that they too had high winds which brought down some trees. Thankfully, no buildings or cars were hit and everyone is safe.

Several trees were lost, but we’re thankful that no one was injured in last week’s storms. — Several trees were damaged or destroyed completely in last week’s storms.

You can tell the travel season is well underway by looking at the number of cars, tour buses, campers and RV’s in the parking lot at the Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center. I can see the parking lot from my office window and it is interesting to see visitors from all over the country stopping in to learn about the Lakota (Sioux) culture and walk through the new alumni and historical center that gives a brief overlook of St. Joseph’s history. If you would like to about others’ experiences to help you decide if your travel plans include a visit to St. Joseph’s Indian School, you can check us out on TripAdvisor.

The pool in our rec center is undergoing some repair. It is such a blessing and provides so many good things for our students. It is good exercise during the long South Dakota winter, helps fight childhood obesity, enables water safety and swimming lessons

St. Joseph’s pool provides exercise and lots of fun for the Lakota children. — The pool is such a blessing to St. Joseph’s students, and does so many good things for them!

to be conducted; and provides the opportunity for laughter, fun, friendships and fond memories to be established. The pool is also a benefit we can share with our staff and their families, as well as the local community. Stay tuned for details and updates!

A few weeks ago, the Chamberlain Junior Achievement program held its annual golf tournament hosting 16 teams. Participants helped raise over $3,000 which will go toward the various programs sponsored by Junior Achievement. I’m happy to announce the St. Joseph’s team won the event with an 18 under par score of 54 over 18 holes. Congratulations!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Independence Day weekend. If you are using fireworks, please stay safe and enjoy your local festivities.

Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ

Chaplain

What do you do all summer at St. Joseph’s?

It is a universal understanding that people who work at schools should get the summers off. Well I am here to tell you this is a myth! Folks I talk to always ask what I do with

Frank W. 7-8th Residential Coordinator — Frank W.
7-8th Residential Coordinator

summers off… and then become perplexed when I tell them that, at St. Joseph’s Indian School, I work all summer.

This is when the questions comes out: What do you do all summer? I usually answer “not much” with a sly smile on my face.

The campus is different type of busy from June to August. Between Rising Eagle Day Camp in June, high school students working summer jobs and going to camps, the summer home for grades 1-8, interviewing potential houseparents and planning programing for the next school year, we tend to keep pretty busy. I think there are more kids on campus during June than during a month during the regular school year!

There are approximately 14 Lakota students in grades 1-8 who stay on campus until mid-July. — Students in St. Joseph’s summer program recently had a field trip to the local airport.

In the organized chaos that is summer, I help supervise the summer home with the other Residential Coordinators. We have approximately 14 Lakota students in grades 1-8 who stay on campus until mid-July. There are several different reasons for students to stay on campus in the summer home, but all come with their parent or guardian’s request and approval. The kids have a great time over the summer with extra trips, daily visits to the Chamberlain pool and community service projects. The hard part is that they have to attend school Monday through Friday, 9am to noon.

For our high school students, a major part of their summer being able to work in various jobs on campus. We have junior houseparents who went through an interview process and earned a spot working in the summer home. Junior houseparents help with supervision of the students, preparing meals, and even some paperwork. Students earn valuable work experience and get to see the other side of the fence of living in a St. Joseph’s home!

Another part of what I do in the summer is work with other administrators to plan for next year. Decisions need to be made about programing, policies and updating rules. This is a really boring process, but it’s important to ensure everything on campus runs smoothly next year.

The last big piece of summer at St. Joseph’s is interviewing and hiring new houseparents. Our Human Resource Department works hard at recruiting, screening and bringing in potential houseparents for interviews. This is a lengthy process, but necessary to ensure we find the right people to care for the children in their campus homes.

St. Joseph’s has junior houseparents who went through an interview process and earned a spot working in the summer home. — RJ, a 2015 graduate, is working with summer school teachers in the mornings and as a junior houseparent in the afternoons.

When summer starts to wind down in July and the summer kids leave for home, campus becomes really creepy quiet! I use the word “creepy” because, without the laughter and noise of the kids, campus just doesn’t feel right. The kids are definitely the heart and soul of our campus life and are duly missed when they are not here.

As staff, we appreciate the down time, but the creepy quiet also reminds us why we are here, and renews our faith and belief in the mission of St. Joseph’s Indian School.

So folks, that is what happens on campus in the summer!

What I do is small piece in the bigger puzzle of St. Joseph’s. Our development office, maintenance crew, rec staff and Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center staff work hard all summer doing their part to keep campus running, make repairs and welcome visitors.

We only have seven weeks until new staff training starts. And the kids come back for the new school year just two weeks after that!

Please pray for our staff to receive rest and renewal on their time off and pray for students to have safe and happy summer. As always, thank you for your support! Without your generosity, we could not continue the work we do to help the Lakota (Sioux) children. Thank you!

Frank W.

7-8^th Residential Coordinator

A stormy weekend at St. Joseph’s Indian School

Good afternoon from a noisy St. Joseph’s Indian School! I thought it was going to be a peaceful weekend, but Mother Nature stepped in and changed everyone’s plans. Friday

night, we had wind gusts up to 100 mph as a severe thunderstorm came through. The morning light revealed lots of branches down, several trees snapped in half and even some blown over completely — one toppled just outside my office window! Thankfully, there did not seem to be any structural damage, and all our students and staff were safe. The winds returned once again in the wee hours of Monday morning, which brought down even more trees and branches.

We are very grateful that none of our students or staff were hurt either day. Today, our maintenance crew is busy trimming branches and trees all over campus to clear our streets and sidewalks. We also lost power, which caused a late start for staff this morning. The damage is going to take several days to clean up.

There was lots of damage in Chamberlain with trees being uprooted during both of the storms, tree branches all over and electrical poles broken. One home suffered a tree falling against the house and damaging the porch.

Trees around St. Joseph’s campus were damaged in severe thunderstorms over the weekend. — Two weekend storms uprooted a tree outside my office and caused other damage around St. Joseph’s campus.

The Sunday paper out of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, had a front page article on the impact of the storm in our area. It seemed several trailers and campers were overturned in the Fort Thompson area which resulted in the tragic death of an individual who was a relative of one of our staff’s family. The Red Cross moved in quickly to get a shelter open which provided support and food.

Across the Missouri River from Fort Thompson, Lower Brule also suffered some damage as roofs on the courthouse, Boys & Girls Club and several other buildings were severely damaged. Power was knocked out west of the Missouri River for more than 100 miles, with many people still not having their power restored yet today.

Our prayers are with all those cleaning up and recovering from the storms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks to all those who attended our most recent donor luncheon in New York and Brooklyn! Camron (a 2015 eighth grade graduate) and Tayvin (an incoming eighth

While in New York for a donor event, the Lakota students got to take in the sites. — Camron and Tayvin at the American Museum of Natural History.

grader) enjoyed their opportunity to meet so many members of their tiyospaye – extended family. The boys mentioned they were happy to have the chance to visit the 9/11 museum, the American Museum of Natural History and the Statue of Liberty.

It’s always wonderful to meet so many people who care about the Lakota (Sioux) children, but please remember to RSVP so we know you’re coming. The number on Saturday caught our team off guard with more people showing up than had registered for the event.

We hope you can join us for an upcoming luncheon!

San Diego, California in August;
Dallas, Texas in October;
Lauderdale, Florida in January 2016;
Scranton, Pennsylvania in April 2016
Denver, Colorado in June2016.

For additional information or to register, please contact us at 1-800-584-9200.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! I’m heading out now to see how the clean-up is going around campus.

God bless,

Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ

Chaplain

Sharing the gift of reading on St. Joseph’s Bookmobile

My name is Odis, and I am a houseparent for fourth to sixth grade

Odis, St. Joseph's Houseparent — Odis, St. Joseph’s Houseparent

boys at St Joseph’s Indian School. This summer I am working on St. Joseph’s bookmobile for the third time. We have spent two weeks traveling to Indian reservations around South Dakota delivering books in our bookmobile for children and adults. This year I am working with a Seth, a volunteer from Wake Forest University in North Carolina.

Sometimes working the bookmobile you have time to set up your table before the kids get to the van and sometimes you don’t. Sometimes, kids are lined up waiting for us!

You need all kinds of skills on the bookmobile, including bike mechanics! — In Parmelee, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Seth did some impromptu bike repair for a boy.

And it’s not as simple as just letting kids choose a book. You have to have all kinds of skills, like working on the children’s bikes while they are looking for a Captain Underpants book. This happened to us in Parmelee when Seth had to do some impromptu bike repair for a boy. I was happy Seth was good at that kind of thing.

He was also good at making peace with the local dogs in the

communities we visited. We brought along some dog treats, which just lasted a couple stops as the kids started passing them out to the dogs as well.

Each summer, St. Joseph’s bookmobile travels to reservation communities in South Dakota. — St. Joseph’s bookmobile visits communities on South Dakota reservations.

The most popular author with the men who come looking for something to read is Louis L’Amour. They really enjoy any western. We were grateful to have grandmothers pick up books for grandkids. We could really tell by the amount of time a parent or guardian looked for that “perfect book” how well they knew their child’s reading habits.

Thank you to all the donors who send books each year! I want you to know we treat your gently used books with care. There are many people on the reservations here in

Lakota (Sioux) children choose books to take home. — Thank you for sharing your gently used books!

South Dakota who love your books and do not have access to a bookstore or library, so the books you so generously send are much appreciated. Thank you!

God bless,

Odis

Collaboration near & far for St. Joseph’s Indian School

Good day to you all!

I hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoyed Flag Day on Sunday. It was a quiet weekend at St. Joseph’s Indian School; the summer break home went to Sioux Falls for an outing and most of the high school students were also away.

Last week, St. Joseph’s hosted SCJ Schools in Collaboration. The SCJ community operates elementary schools and parishes in Mississippi, Texas, Wisconsin and South Dakota. The principals and one teacher from each school gathered to share ideas and plan for the future. Francis Whitebird, a Lakota language expert and the husband of St. Joseph’s principal, gave a presentation on Lakota spirituality.

Discussions were also held on ways to develop lesson plans to share the charism of our SCJ community established by our founder, Fr. Leo John Dehon, SCJ. He had a deep interest in education and we try to continue in his footsteps.

Friday, June 12 was the Feast of the Sacred Heart. To conclude Schools in Collaboration, we held a joint prayer service via Skype with an SCJ high school program in Germany. Their choir led the singing and our group did the readings. Each school also contributed a prayer of the faithful.

Some of St. Joseph’s high school students were able to participate in the prayer service from Germany! Adrian, Jacob, Danielle and Martina are currently staying with local families in Handrup. Their chaperones, Aaron and Melissa, are staying with the SCJ community. Everyone is having a wonderful time seeing sites and learning about one another.

St. Joseph’s recently hosted SCJ Schools in Collaboration with principals and teachers from Mississippi, Texas, Wisconsin and South Dakota. — The principals and one teacher from each SCJ school attended Schools in Collaboration. Also pictured are Mark Peters from Director of Peace and Justice, and David Schimmel, Director of Dehonian Associates.

To complete the exchange, St. Joseph’s will host the German students in September. They will attend our powwow and visit South Dakota’s famous Black Hills, learning about life for St. Joseph’s students and Native American culture.

This past Saturday was the 130^th birthday celebration of Gann Valley, South Dakota – the county seat of neighboring Buffalo County. It is the smallest county seat in the country, having a population of just 12. But it grew 30-fold for the day!

There was a parade complete with a 1903 Ford, antique tractors, the Shriners and the lawnmower racers even made an appearance. Lawnmower races are a big time event in Pukwana, South Dakota – another neighboring town.

The parade was further enhanced by the presence of the Kyle Evans Memorial Trail Ride, which began in Wessington Springs on Thursday and arrived at Gann Valley just as the parade was ready to kick off. There must have been 20 wagons and over 200 riders of all ages.

After the parade, the day was spent enjoying various games and activities. One event was the buffalo chip throwing. You were able to get in some practice since they had parking in one of the pastures near downtown where you could pick up some ‘chips’ and practice a toss or two as you made your way to the parade. Another highlight of the day was introducing those families who have been in the Gann Valley area for over 100 years. The day ended with a complimentary dinner (350 plates were prepared) and a dance in the evening.

We hope you have a relaxing and enjoyable week! You and your intentions are remembered in our prayers. We’ll be finishing this month’s novena for our benefactors on June 19.

God bless you always,

Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ

Chaplain