Consider donating some money to Pretty Bird Woman House
Jackie Brown Otter created The Pretty Bird Woman House after the brutal rape and murder of her sister, whose Lakota name means Pretty Bird Woman.
PBWH provides emergency shelter, advocacy support, and educational programs for women on the Standing Rock reservation who have been victims of domestic violence or sexual assault. It opened on January 5, 2005.
Recently, the Pretty Bird Woman House was forced to move out of its original location after a number of break-ins through the exterior walls left it in such bad condition that the women could not safely remain there. The staff are now sending women to 2 other shelters off the reservation, which reduces their ability to serve Standing Rock’s women and strains the resources of the other shelters.
PBWH really needs a permanent house for the shelter. There
happens to be a house for sale near a police station. The purpose of this fund drive is to raise enough money to buy it or another suitable one in a safe location. Won’t you help?
They’ve put a bid on the house, but need money for the deposit and for the security systems they need to help prevent the same thing happening again.
You can pay by credit card at the link above, or send a check to the following address:
Pretty Bird Woman House
P.O. Box 596
McLaughlin, SD 57642
H/T: Julia.
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A painless way to donate: sign up at igive ( http://www.igive.com ), and a percentage of your online purchases will be given to pretty bird woman house (or any other organization you designate.)
Download the igive window, and it all happens automatically (the site also lists discounts and coupons foryour purchases on dozens of sites) and they’re the top sites, you’d use anyway.
I painlessly gave $62, just in the last two weeks, doing my normal Christmas and business shopping.
Zuzu, you and Julia must be reading minds because Pretty Bird Woman House is kicking off what we hope is the last leg of this fundraiser on Wednesday… we are hoping to get a whole bunch of blogs to FP this… care to do a repeat on Wed?
And thank you so much for this. If anyone doubts if this has an impact this is what happens when you give:
That’s what happened when the progressive blogs stepped in and helped last time. This time, we buy the building, get Pretty Bird Woman House a permanent home and access to the grants and funding to make them a permanent shelter for the women of the Standing Rock reservation.
Thank you.
In case you haven’t checked the PBWH blog, today I posted this letter from the shelter’s board of directors. If you are ever wondering whether you make a difference in the world by giving money and raising consciousness about this cause, make sure you read all the way until the end of this letter. Thanks so much for supporting this at Feministe.
Hi Betsy,
I just feel as if we, as a B.O.D, have been so remiss in not expressing our wonder and awe at what the good folks out there have done and are doing for Pretty Bird Woman House.
Last spring when Norman Bier stood up on behalf of the women of Standing Rock and set up the Chip In Site, we talked and talked about writing a letter. And now, you and your friends are doing the same so we can have a Shelter! It really does take one’s breath away….truly!
Two of us live about 100 miles from McLaughlin and when we do gather at the Office their for our Meetings, we have so much to ponder and look at. We’ve worked long and hard to develop and set into place all of our Policies/Procedures, etc. and all of the other every day things that come up and need to be dealt with. We are working very hard to make sure we dot every i and cross every t!!!
I think one of the biggest problems is that there are not words to truly convey how we feel. I remember one day last spring, while we were having a Meeting, Georgia brought the mail and handed each of us a stack, telling us to start opening it. Betsy, in less than 10 minutes, I was holding a little under $15,000 in my hand! For Pretty Bird Woman House! I couldn’t speak; we just looked at one another and cried.
Our vision, our dreams for the women of Standing Rock….it’s happening and it is happening because of folks the likes of yourself, Norman, your colleagues, and all of the caring folks out there who believe and want to make a difference in the world.
I think of those 61 courageous women from Standing Rock, as well as the women from Alaska and Oklahoma who came forward to Amnesty International with their stories. What they did was so very brave and risky. We know that many of them had never ever told their stories before, some of them were Elders in their 60’s and 70’s!
What I’m saying is the actions of all of you, once you read the A.I. Report, tells women and their children….”we believe you and you don’t have to live that way. You have a right to be safe and we’re going to help you be safe.” Too many times, women are doubted and not believed.
So, to each and every one of you, thank you for believing and standing beside each one of us!
Working to end violence against women and children, I am
Respectfully,
Shirley Erhart
Rural Outreach Advocate/CISS
B.O.D. Member/PBWH
P.S. Isn’t our Georgia just a gem? I consider it a gift to have her in my life…..
I am blessed to call her a Sister
Wandered over from Feministing. Thanks for posting this! I’ve been trying to spread the word about PBWH ever since I first heard about them. Such a worthy group, and it’s rare to see your donation money immedeately doing so much good. They even posted pictures of the house on their blog, so you can see exactly what you’re contributing to. :-)
Ily
theonepercentclub.blogspot.com
Don’t forget to post something tomorrow! We have sixteen blogs who are posting for the last leg of our fundraising drive for PBWH! Please join in!
Thanks!
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