Vol. 18, No. 14	Dec. 10, 1998

Employee extends helping hands year-round

Shirley Pharis Stotko has adopted a South Dakota reservation.

"My father was a Cherokee from Oklahoma who left the reservation at the age of 12 and never looked back, so I don't know anything about his origins. But, I have always been interested in Native American news, issues and organizations," she said.

"While browsing on the Internet about three years ago, I ran across a woman named Black Eagle discussing the plight of the Sioux Native Americans on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The winters there are bitterly cold, and many people live in unheated homes with no insulation. There was a need for warm clothing and bedding for survival." Stotko said.

Stotko talked to her daughter, Michele Leigh Bennett, and the two contacted Black Eagle and said they wanted to help. Black Eagle, in turn, put them in touch with her brother, Gerald Ice, on the reservation.

Bennett sent out a notice at her workplace at Light Industries in Maryland, and invited the Maryland Department of Natural Resources employees to participate, and Stotko invited her coworkers to help if they wished. The College School on campus also contributed used children's clothing.

"There was a surprising interest, and the response was tremendous," she said.

In 1995, Stotko packed 113 computer-sized boxes to send to Pine Ridge Reservation. After calls to several shipping companies, she contacted United Van Lines, which agreed to ship the boxes at a fair cost.

That year, when the boxes arrived, Ice held a bonfire and "give-away" ceremony, a sharing tradition of the Native Americans, for the people living on the reservation at Wounded Knee. Ice was thrilled to be able to do this and distributed all the clothing and bedding, saving none for himself, Stotko said.

Since that first satisfying experience, Stotko has kept the project going. She starts asking for contributions in April when people begin to put away their cold weather clothing. "We could not do this without the help of other people coming together to assist those in need," she said.

This year, on the advice of her contacts in South Dakota, the clothing was designated for homeless Native Americans in Rapid City. Gray Buffalo, aka Rick Quinn, runs an organization known as the Seventh Circle to help Native Americans. Involved in the local community, he is aware of who is in need, and he has worked out an efficient system for distributing the clothes and bedding, Stotko said.

"We collected 120 boxes this year, and I had to convert my front porch into a storeroom," Stotko said. Among the items shipped were 429 coats, snowsuits and jackets, 626 pairs of jeans, pants and sweatpants and 1,146 shirts and sweatshirts.

This year, Stoko received an exciting surprise. Three women in the School of Education bought her a plane ticket so she could visit South Dakota herself.

The boxes already had been shipped but she carried an additional suitcase crammed with children's mittens and hats as an extra bonus.

Wherever Stotko went in South Dakota there was need. "There is no industry on the reservation, so there are few jobs and this has been the case for generations. Native Americans who are employed off the reservation are mostly in service jobs, but there are shops that feature native crafts that are works of art," she said.

She visited Gray Buffalo's home and later drove to Pine Ridge. There she visited Al Dreamer, who runs a soup kitchen in a trailer.

The soup kitchen is reminiscent of the stone soup story. In the story, the hero puts a stone in a pot of water, and everyone contributes whatever they have-onions, potatoes, carrots-and a nourishing soup emerges for everyone. In the same spirit, the people who are served by the soup kitchen bring cans of vegetables or staples to contribute to the common meal since Dreamer receives no funding and has few resources of his own, Stotko said. One large contribution was a side of beef from a local rancher which was very welcome.

As the holidays approach, Stotko sent Dreamer a money order to buy food to brighten the season for those he serves.

"I talked to him on the phone, and he is very grateful. In fact, he invited me to the nation's powwow held in South Dakota next summer. It's one of the largest in the nation, and someday I hope to attend," Stotko said.

-Sue Swyers Moncure
Photo by Robert Cohen