Reflecting on the Road

In big cities, people face the challenge of being stuck in traffic jams. A 15-mile trip home may turn into a two-hour ordeal. We don’t have that kind of problem in South Dakota, but do have to go long distances between towns. Last week, I had a 4 ½ hour round trip to see my spiritual director.

When the weather is good, the driving itself – with open roads and big sky – is a stress free time for prayer and reflection. Looking back and reviewing the past month, I remembered the people, places and events through which I’ve encountered God. The act of giving thanks regularly like that helps me keep focused and remember what life is about.

Today was a transition from lofty spiritual goals to mundane tasks like laundry, homily preparation and answering mail.

On Saturdays, I usually sort the mail myself. I give thanks for the people who generously support us; I pause a moment to look at the names and lift up a prayer. Today, I also noticed several colleges reaching out to our Native American high school students.

When I was in high school, mailboxes were filled with thick and colorful catalogues to attract attention to a particular school. Times have changed, however, and now I see more postcards that direct our Lakota students to an interactive web site. We at St. Joseph’s are also making efforts to print fewer materials and have more information available online.

However they may receive the information, our students are excited that universities think them potential candidates.  Our high school support staff will guide them through the application process as they begin to dream where the future might take them.

New thrift store open for business

St. Joseph’s Thrift Store staff has been working with our Facilities Crew since September 2012 on the remodel of a downtown Chamberlain building built in the 1900’s – formerly a grocery store.

St. Joseph’s Indian School purchased the building in the summer of 2012 with the intention of remodeling the building for a new Thrift Store and center to process in-kind donations.

We started moving in to the new building March 1!

We were grateful our move only took a week. The store opened to the public again on March 11, though there is still some exterior work to be finished once the weather warms up.

We first considered the project because of the lack of storage on campus for the donated items our benefactors so generously send. As we move forward, the plan is to have all donated goods delivered to the new In-Kind Processing Center, which is located downtown in the back part of the new Thrift Store.

Donated goods are sorted into many different categories. The main three are:

  • Campus use
  • Thrift Store
  • Mission Run

First, we make sure the needs of the Lakota students are met. They have first pick of all donated clothing and other items.  If we’re not able to use a particular item on campus (such as baby clothes), then it will go to the thrift store or a reservation outreach. After a certain amount of time, items we have not been able to use are packed up and sent to an outreach on an Indian Reservation near us.

As this project comes to an end, the staff here at the Thrift Store and the processing center would like to thank the Facilities Staff for all the hard work and organization they put into this project.  They have helped make this transition an easy one!

St. Joseph’s new Thrift Store is located on Main Street in Chamberlain, South Dakota.
A mock up of what the storefront will look like when it is 100% complete.

A Tradition of Love & Care

The SCJ Founder, Fr. Leo John Dehon was born March 14 in 1843. On this date last week I sent out an email note to St. Joseph’s staff thanking them for carrying on his tradition of love and caring.

Fr. Dehon used to have many short prayers during the day, before or after events in a busy life, to keep him centered. One of my favorites is always, “Jesus, make my heart like yours.” No matter how hectic life gets, we can always build such prayer and centering moments into our lives. Several staff emailed back that was a good reminder and just what they needed at the time they read and reflected upon it.

We hosted a group of education majors from Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, South Dakota. Some were helping with classroom instruction and activities. Another was working with our special education teacher learning the ins and outs of testing and assessment. She found it helpful to test out the theories they learned in class with real, hands-on life experiences. When these students go back to school, they’ll have a fresh round of questions for their instructors as they take up the challenges of such a worthy profession.

Preparing eighth graders for graduation

We are looking forward to graduation for our eighth grade class in a couple of months. I am proud to say that I have had many of these Lakota students since they were in their younger elementary years at St. Joseph’s Indian School.

St. Joseph’s eighth grade graduates receive a small medicine wheel and feather as a gift.
The Lakota eighth graders craft small medicine wheels, which are a gift to their classmates at graduation.

This time of year, I have the honor of helping them to prepare their class banner, make their medicine wheels (which are used in the graduation ceremony) and prepare them for life after St. Joseph’s.

Each class of Lakota eighth graders creates a banner to commemorate their class.
After graduation, eighth grader banners hang in St. Joseph’s Rec Center.

One of the more enjoyable items I share with them is giving them their eighth grade portfolio.  This portfolio encompasses all of their works from the time they entered my Native American Studies room until they graduate.  It is so fun to hand back papers and watch them look through their past years of learning!  I can hear them sharing their drawings and writings with each other.  The giggles and smiles reinforce the reason I have them create the portfolios.

The students made their personal portfolio out of brown paper bag and yarn.  They are modeled after the par fleche containers Lakota/Dakota/Nakota (Sioux) people used long ago.   The containers from long ago were made of rawhide and sinew.  Today, we make them in a much more inexpensive, modern way.

In the past, the par fleche was decorated with tribal designs specific to one’s tribe and tiyospaye – extended family.  This made it easy to return a lost container to its rightful owner, much like luggage tags today.  The par fleche carries meaning and a lot of knowledge of each St. Joseph’s student.

Can the school year be almost over?

The Lakota (Sioux) girls in the William Home have had a great year!
The girls in the William Home have walked over 1,000 miles since the start of the year!

Greetings from the staff and students of the William Home (4th-5th grade girls)!

It is amazing how fast this school year has gone at St. Joseph’s.  We have been able to accomplish so many things and are working hard to finish up the school year with many positive memories.  The Lakota (Sioux) girls in our home have been so busy this year with basketball, Dancing Dolls, cheerleading and gymnastics as their extracurricular activities.

We have completed our walking program for the year and it is safe to say that we far exceeded our goal!  We put up a map to track our walk with a goal of walking to the hometowns of each girl in our home, which would have been just over 15,000 laps in the gym (750 miles).  We are happy to say that our final total is over 20,000 laps, or 1000 miles!

Recently, we were able to travel to the Lower Brule Indian Reservation to attend mass and then serve treats afterwards.  The girls have always enjoyed doing this and, of course, love to show off their cooking abilities. We still have the circus coming up, as well as our home trip that will take us to Rapid City, South Dakota, to the water park.

One of our big highlights of the year will come soon when we start moving back in to the newly renovated William Home.  All of us are excited to see the new home, although the fifth graders are a little bummed they will only be in the new home for a short time.

As always, with a school year winding down, you think about all the memories you have made with those fifth graders and will miss them when they move up. Thank you to everyone for helping to make this a wonderful and memorable year in the William Home!

Lakota Students Give To Others

The Lakota children practice generosity by giving food to the poor.
St. Joseph’s fourth and fifth graders delivered food and toiletries to St. James to share with those in need.

During Catholic Schools Week in January, St. Joseph’s fourth and fifth grade students collected food and toiletries for St. James Catholic Church.  The church has a pantry that is open to the Chamberlain community.  Tubs were placed around campus to collect a variety of useful items.  Many students also brought items they picked up.

At the end of the week, all fourth and fifth graders went to St. James to deliver the goods in person.  We collected four tubs of toiletries and food items!

We got to see the pantry and Fr. Guy explained to the students how it works.  Fr. Guy was very grateful for the donation.  St. Joseph’s students were excited about the project and hope to do it again sometime.

Statistics tell us we feel happier or better about ourselves when we are able to give to others.  I feel projects like these give our Native American students the opportunities to get such a feeling.  Many were excited to go with their houseparents or counselors to pick out items to put in the tubs.

Fr. Guy’s excitement about our gifts made it even better!

I hope each of you who are benefactors feel the same joy in giving to the Lakota (Sioux) children.  Like Fr. Guy, we are very thankful and I hope you get a sense of how excited we are by your generosity.  In this season that expresses the kindest and biggest gift of all, Christ’s sacrifice, may we all be motivated to give of ourselves for others.

Witnessing History

The Lakota children witnessed history as a new Pope was named on March 13, 2013.
St. Joseph’s second graders used a Promethean Board to watch the announcement of the new Pope.

I’d just come back to the office after lunch yesterday when I heard rumors of white smoke coming from the Vatican. I called St. Joseph’s principal, Kathleen, to let her know. With the Promethean Boards we have in many of the classrooms, teachers can transfer images and programs from their computer to the big screen, so students got to watch the unfolding announcement live. I visited several of the classrooms, and the kids had tons of questions.

“Why the smoke?” – so I explained the voting process.
“Who are those people in the funny uniforms?” – and we learned about the Swiss Guard.
“When are you going to become Pope?” – I took a pass on that one.
And, as curiosity and impatience both grew, “What is the pope doing now and when is he going to come out?”

I enjoyed sharing this special moment in history with our Lakota students. People have been asking me about my first impressions of the new Pope Francis. I am encouraged that he has a reputation for reaching out to the poor in his diocese in Argentina. Choosing the name Francis raises the hope that he will be able to lead followers to strengthen and rebuild the church where it is broken, work for peace in our troubled world, and reach out with greater charity to those in need.

A visit from Fr. Bob, fellow SCJ

Sunday
Fr. Bob, a member of our Priests of the Sacred Heart religious order, arrived at St. Joseph’s Indian School from Chicago yesterday. Seven inches of heavy wet snow fell on campus Saturday, and Fr. Bob couldn’t make it up the hill to our house! We had to park the car down below and carry suitcases up the hill. One of the houseparents came into morning mass and joked, “Did you pray for this?”
Actually, I have been praying for the moisture we badly need. So many people who work the land have been suffering from drought. Once I heard a native South Dakotan remark that, in other areas, weather forecasters talk of the threat of snow or rain, but here in South Dakota we talk about the promise of snow and rain. We are glad to receive whatever comes! Today the sun came out, the roads started melting, and it was much easier to get around.
After mass, we joined the Afra Home (1st – 3rd grade girls) for weekend brunch to give Fr. Bob a sense of how our Native American students live. Third grader Mariah was a good tour guide as she showed off the home and told Fr. Bob about student activities.
The William Home (4th-5th grade girls) is nearby. Since both homes had many students checked out to go home for the weekend, the two homes joined one another for the meal. Some of the William Home girls started out in Afra, and always enjoy coming back to check in with their former houseparents. The two homes try to do occasional activities together, especially so sisters and cousins can spend quality time together. The older girls enjoy spending time with the younger ones. The tables were filled with conversation and laughter.
Monday
Sunday evening and Monday, the SCJs gathered for our Lenten Recollection time. We were joined by the priests who work on nearby Indian Reservations – Lower Brule and Crow Creek – and here locally in Chamberlain. Fr. Bob’s reflections centered around the Earth, our relationship with creation, and our call to be God’s stewards. Life at St. Joseph’s features constant activity, but Bob’s presence reminded us that we all need to slow down and try to listen for God’s direction and guidance.
After we finished, I went downtown to check on the opening of our new Thrift Store. Chantelle, our manager, said that curious folks had stopped in all day. Some just wanted to see how the former grocery store had been transformed, but once inside, they decided to pick up a few clothes or knick-knacks.
Lena, one of our sophomores was tending the cash register and getting on-the-job experience dealing with the public and earning some spending money. The new store has room to set up nicer displays; the objects near the entry caught people’s eye and needed to be rearranged at first, and restocked by the end of the day.

Meeting the new crew

Our world is changing so much. People are relying less on mail and more on other forms of communication. To meet future needs, we are opening an office in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Staff at our Donor Care Center will spend much of their time on the phones with our donors and on line responding to the many questions we get via email.
The new crew finished up a week of training last Friday, and I stopped by to meet and greet each of them. To each person I met, I simply said, “Tell me a little about yourself.”
It’s amazing all the directions they took from there and what I learned about folks! Some folks talked more about family, others more about their work experiences. Everyone talked about how it meant a lot to them to be working with a charity like St. Joseph’s Indian School, that has such a positive impact on children in need, and to be part of a bigger outreach to make a difference to families on Indian reservations.
We had a nice leisurely soup and sandwich lunch together before everyone had to go back to work. Maybe you’ll be getting a call from them to say ‘thanks for your help’ sometime soon!

Time flies when you’re having fun!

I can’t believe March is here already and we have started the fourth quarter at St. Joseph’s Indian School. WOW, time really flies when we are having so much fun!
We had a lot of fun when we celebrated Read Across America Day on March 1.

The Lakota students and Fr. Steve read in the hallway to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday.
Fr. Steve joined the Lakota children for reading.

The Lakota students loved the time they were able to spend reading to each other and to Fr. Steve in the school hallways. They also enjoyed ice cream treats at the end of the day.

The Lakota students had lots of fun reading to each other.
We had so much fun celebrating Read Across America Day!

Our eighth grade girls were able to miss a day of school last week and attend GEMS (Girls Engineering Math and Science) in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. They enjoyed not being in school for a day, but the real enjoyment was being able to attend a session on makeup. Imagine that with teenage girls! They also were able to visit other booths related to engineering and science.

Our Native American girls in eighth grade learned about careers in math and science.
Our eighth-grade girls attended GEMS and learned about GIS mapping.

Staff and students are gearing up for St. Joseph’s Spring Break which will start on March 22. We are looking forward to having an educational morning at the Recreation Center doing a Science/Weather program called Tornado Alley, which features a 3D movie! This will be a great start to Spring Break.

When the students return on Easter Monday, they will return to an Easter Egg hunt for the younger students (Grade 1-5) and the older students (Grades 6-8) will have a picnic dinner in the Fisher Home driveway, weather permitting. Considering our weather the past few weekends has been snow and rain, we will hope and pray for better weather on Easter weekend.

The staff would like to thank all of our donors for the help, support and encouragement that our students receive throughout the year.
“Experience Jesus’ presence each moment. Pray as you enter each place, welcoming Christ to touch and to heal. Embrace God and the way God touches your life again and again.”