Most of you know about the Christ Church American Indian Ministry Shoe Box Project, the objective of which is to send Christmas gift boxes to as many American Indian children on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota as possible. In past years we have shipped a few dozen boxes via UPS, but we have not always been sure of where they ended up and who got them. This year, however, thanks to the help of you all and many others, including the Episcopal Canterbury people and local Lutheran churches we gathered 314 gift boxes in all! Because of the money and effort invested, Rieky and I got to thinking that we had to do everything we could to make sure these gifts get to the children there. So we made a rather impromptu decision to drive out there to South Dakota to deliver them personally! (Gallery of our pictures at the end of this page.)

The day before, we rented a U-Haul trailer and packed it with the gifts from the church. That night we packed the RV with survival supplies and put it down at the end of our driveway, because snow was predicted.

First day (Monday, December 5):
Up early, walked through the woods in the dark to the RV. We traveled from Virginia, through West Virginia, Ohio, and into Indiana. Camped near Crawfordsville, just West of Indianapolis.

Second day (Tuesday, December 6):
Through the rest of Indiana, and Illinois, and crossed into Davenport, Iowa, at 4:00 PM, where we stopped and enjoyed a view of the Mississippi River. Late that afternoon in Iowa we hit a snow storm and passed lots of cars and trucks that slid off the road, stuck in snow drifts and worse. We saw some tractor-trailers broken in two and some cars completely crushed from rolling over. We stopped at a roadside café and sat next to a coffee-klatch among some old men. We overheard their matter-of-fact conversation about one of their friends who went off the road in a snowstorm the previous week and froze to death before they found him. As we were leaving, they asked if we were from out of state, and why anyone would come to South Dakota in the winter. One of them said "they must be coming here to get away from the Antarctic", at which they all had a good laugh.

Through Des Moines and turned North. On that second night, we had trouble finding an open campground. Stopped at an RV dealer along the road, just as they were closing. They looked at us and said, 'you want to do what? You must be crazy to want to camp out in weather like this'. They called around for us and found just one campground open. It was already dark and the campground was a couple of hours away, but it was in the right direction, so we went and we did find it - Clear Lake State Park campground, near Mason City, Iowa. There was no attendant or ranger or anyone else there; it was only technically "open". The entrance road was snowy and icy, but we got in. It was 20 degrees below zero and it was hard to keep warm that night, despite a high pile of blankets. Everything in the camper froze (except, ironically, the contents of the fridge). In the morning, the RV wouldn't start. The battery was frozen. We called for help on the cellphone and a guy in a wrecker came out and stayed with us until we got it started. It took him 4 hours and he charged us only $35.00! What a saint.

Third day (Wednesday, December 7):
Up into Minnesota and turned West into South Dakota. Still very cold and could not find any open campgrounds. We were told that camping is just not that popular in South Dakota during the winter; hmmm. So that night we sat a little motel room in remote South Dakota, and watched a public TV program featuring Andre Rieux and people from Rieky's home-town region singing Christmas carols in Dutch!

Thanks to all our friends who kept watch over us via cellphone and to Debby and Bob for taking our nightly reports when cellphone contact was possible.

Fourth day (Thursday, December 8):
By late morning, we went through the awesome Badlands and took lots of pictures. We were at the Oglala Lakota College just outside Kyle, SD, on the Pine Ridge Reservation by early afternoon. The college now houses the administrative office for the Head Start Program, providing it with a supporting infrastructure that offers much stability for the future. The buildings on the small campus of the college were all very colorful and artistic on the exterior. The college administration building was specially designed by an architect. The large meetings areas and the stairways around them were circular and all walls were hung with stunning artwork. One whole side of the building exterior was shaped and painted as a huge piece of Native art.

We were given a friendly and enthusiastic welcome by everyone, especially by Shawna Pourier, head of the Head Start Program for the whole reservation. We met the college President, Thomas Shortbull, who was previously a South Dakota state senator. He told us a great deal about the college and the relationship with the Head Start Program, and he gave us some prints of art work his father, an established artist, had done. As a gift of honor, we gave him a bright red felt bag of sage, tobacco, and sweetgrass that Rieky had sewed together and fastened with a leather thong. We thought it a modest gift, but he seemed to think much of it. Marilyn Pourier, head of development for the college and who has many interesting family and historical connections to important Indian people and events, gave us a tour of the campus. Then we went back to the Head Start office, where it took us two full hours to unpack and sort the gift boxes you sent with us. That evening drove to Rapid City, SD, returned the rental trailer, bought lots of food to give families on the reservation, and stayed the night in a motel.

Fifth day (Friday, December 9):
We got up early and drove back to the Oglala Lakota College, where the Head Start Program held an all-staff meeting, including everyone who worked for the Head Start Program - teachers, assistants, volunteer helpers, and bus drivers. Over 100 people gathered in the large circular meeting room, mainly to deal with administrative issues, paperwork, etc. The meeting was also a great opportunity for us to meet everyone in the program, and give them the gift boxes for their children. After we all ate a buffet meal together, Rieky and I went back to the Head Start office and took up our posts to hand out the gifts to the teachers. The teachers were accompanied by helpers who helped carry out large containers of gift boxes, to take them back in their school buses to the individual schools in Kyle, Pine Ridge, Wounded Knee, Manderson, Martin, Oglala, Porcupine, Allen, and Wanblee.

As the teachers stepped forward, Rieky and I worked like dervishes to fill their big boxes with gifts, according to the number of boys and girls on their lists. Several of the teachers said that this will be the only Christmas gifts these children will get and that many of these children last year got no gifts at all for Christmas.

As we got near the end, there was a lull and we counted only 18 gift boxes remaining. We got a very bad feeling about not having enough gifts to go around and wondered how we would deal with that. The last teacher came by and, we're not making this up, that teacher needed exactly 18 gifts! What Providence! We sat down on the floor absolutely amazed and rejoiced with our empty pile. So, to everyone who helped with this project in any way, we say: Every single gift we gathered, wrapped, and packed was important; every single thing you all did to help made a difference! No shortfall and nothing wasted!

At the end of the afternoon, we said our fond goodbyes and set out in the evening to visit a couple of families. The first home we visited was in Oglala, that of Annabelle Between Lodges, who is raising nine grandchildren by herself, and who was a recipient of some of the beds from our Bed Project. When we arrived, the children came out to the camper to greet us and were dancing with happiness to see us. Fortunately, we had set aside a number of gifts boxes for ages outside the Head Start range, so the children were even happier when we brought in gifts for all, including a quilt (from the Lutheran ladies) and another colorful honor gift of sage, tobacco, and sweetgrass (again, most appreciated) for Annabelle. Plus we gave them a Christmas turkey and bags of potatoes, oranges, apples, etc. Although I took some pictures, it is difficult to capture the moment when they had the gifts lined up on the sofa and all had such happy smiles on their faces. We spent some joyful time with Annabelle and her family that night.

Annabelle took Rieky aside and, with tears, told her that just that afternoon she had sat down all the children and told them there was no money for gifts or special food on Christmas. The children were used to this kind of thing and were accepting of it, but it made Annabelle sad that she couldn't do more for them at Christmas. Then, we (and you!) arrived and, to her, it was a Christmas miracle. I think she will never forget your generosity!

Next we drove to Manderson to the house of Rebecca Spencer, a visit we had arranged with her daughter, Roberta Spencer, who has helped us many times with the logistics of our Bed Project and other work on the reservation. Rebecca has over 150 children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren! An endless "bucket brigade" of children of all ages helped us bring in many gift boxes, and bunches of Christmas food. Inside, we were greeted by an amazing sight: Rebecca sat in her wheel chair in the center, surrounded by at least 60 of her family. Her house is quite small and we literally filled the house, standing side by side. The evening was animated with loud onversation, shouting, laughter, and squealing children. We obviously didn't have enough gifts for all the children, but they promised to share the contents of the gift boxes and we opened a huge bag of oranges so all the children could have at least one orange in their hands. We formally presented the sage, tobacco, and sweetgrass to Rebecca, as a gift of honor and respect from Christ Church American Indian Ministry.

We were struck by how happy these children were to get one shoe box of inexpensive gifts. It was as though it confirmed that someone thought they were worth something. It brought us face-to-face with the reality of how many blessings we all have back here at home. Most importantly, we realized that, although these households were bereft of many material things we all take for granted and the people did not expect to have gifts for Christmas, in no way did this mean that they would not have Christmas! These families were devout Christians doing the best they could under the circumstances, and their homes were happy and full of love and the Christmas spirit.

The distance between towns on the reservation meant long miles of driving between homes, so we didn't finish until late and it was after midnight before we made our way to the nearest motel, just outside the reservation.

The trip home was mostly uneventful, except for the park ranger in Kentucky who said his name was Santa and who had the most beautiful and Santa-like long white hair and beard (his own). We arrived home just in time for the snow and ice storm here in Virginia. In all, we drove 3762 miles and played over a dozen CDs of Christmas music at least twice.

See the Picture Gallery of our South Dakota Adventure