Volunteer with CRYP
This Spring!
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CRYP is actively seeking volunteers to work in our Cokata Wiconi teen center and The Main youth center.
If you are interested in applying for our volunteer program, please visit our website and click on the volunteer link for more information.
You also can read our recent article about our volunteer program here.
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| Sponsor Enrichment Activities for CRYP Youth
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The Main youth center and Cokata Wiconi teen center are looking for sponsors to support art and athletic enrichment activities for our after-school and summer programs.
CRYP works hard to introduce the youth who attend our centers to the fundamentals of a healthy lifestyle. As part of these efforts, we will be offering weeklong lacrosse workshops in the upcoming months for both children and teens. In order to hold these classes, we will need to purchase lacrosse balls, sticks, padding, and goal sets.
The art program at CRYP is also looking to expand in the upcoming months. We are looking to introduce kids to many different forms of artistic expression, including graffiti art, pottery, and painting. To allow the kids to experiment with these new art forms, we will have many diverse needs including canvases, paint, paint brushes, clay, glazing supplies, pottery supplies, acrylic paint, spray paint, exterior paint, and sealant.
We are actively looking for people willing to make monetary or in-kind donations to fulfill these needs. You can donate online by clicking the link below or by mailing donations to the Cheyenne River Youth Project, P.O. Box 410, Eagle Butte, SD 57625.
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Sponsor a Birthday Cake at The Main!
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Few days in a child's life are as precious as his or her birthday. Unfortunately, for far too many underprivileged children, that day passes with little celebration - if any at all. CRYP wants to make sure that the young children who attend The Main youth center have the birthday festivities they deserve.
Each month, The Main hosts a birthday party for the children whose birthdays fall during that month. To offset the cost of each party, CRYP seeks monthly sponsors to contribute $40 for the birthday cake. Please consider sponsoring a birthday cake this year! Every dollar makes such a difference in the lives of Cheyenne River's children.
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Meet Our
Board of Directors
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PRESIDENT
Jeremy Patterson
VICE PRESIDENT
Karla Abbott
SECRETARY/TREASURER
Jeffrey Meyer
DIRECTORS
Guthrie Ducheneaux
Peggy Gallipo
Lonnie Heier
For more info and bios, click
here!
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Support CRYP When You Shop Online!
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What if CRYP earned a donation every time you searched the Internet? Or, what if a percentage of every online purchase you made supported our cause?
Amazon, for example, will donate 0.5% of your purchase price to CRYP when you shop at smile.amazon.com. To make shopping even easier, you can add the AmazonSmile 1 Button to your web browser.
Then there are GoodSearch and GoodShop.
GoodSearch.com is a Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations add up.
GoodShop.com is an online shopping mall that donates up to 30% of each purchase to your favorite cause. Hundreds of great stores have teamed up with GoodShop so that every time you place an order, you'll be supporting your favorite cause.
And, if you download the
"GoodSearch - Cheyenne River Youth Project - CRYP toolbar," our cause will earn money every time you shop and search online EVEN if you forget to go to the GoodShop or GoodSearch sites first! Click here to add the toolbar.
While you're online, you even can make a secure donation with your Capital One credit card. Simply click here. You even can add an easy-to-use widget for future contributions.
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| Needs List |
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CRYP relies on in-kind donations as well as funding to continue our mission. If you'd like to help, please check out our
Needs List. You also may contact us at (605) 964-8200 if you'd like a copy of our most up-to-date list and price quotes for particular needs. Thank you for your support!
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| Our Mission |
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The Cheyenne River Youth Project is dedicated to providing the youth of the Cheyenne River reservation with access to a vibrant and secure future through a variety of culturally sensitive and enduring programs, projects and facilities, ensuring strong, self-sufficient families and communities.
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CRYP Takes Part in 7th Annual Texas A&M University History Conference
Earlier this month, Cheyenne River Youth Project® staff members traveled from South Dakota to Bryan, Texas, for the 7th annual HGSO/PAT History Conference at Texas A&M University. The theme for this year's conference was "Community. Culture. Conflict," and CRYP Executive Director Julie Garreau was a featured speaker during the two-day event.
Designed for undergraduate and graduate students to present their research, the conference drew nearly 70 participants from universities in and outside of Texas, according to Brooke Linsenbardt, Texas A&M PhD student and conference co-organizer. She said the organizers sought to do something a little different this year, and that's where CRYP came in.
"We specifically wanted to be more interdisciplinary and bring in a third speaker who is not part of the academy - not a historian at a university," she explained. "We all believe that history is important to people in the present, and sometimes, historians forget this. People who engage with communities in the present time are doing very important work, and we wanted to create that bridge between the academy and the communities."
For Garreau, the conference presented an important opportunity to raise awareness. Learn more
here.
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Introducing Our April Cohort of
Teen Wellness Interns!
On Wednesday, April 6, CRYP welcomed its
spring cohort of teen wellness interns, who will spend the month focusing on how to nurture healthy minds and bodies. These teen internships are a critical component of CRYP's ongoing holistic wellness initiatives, which incorporate physical fitness, nutrition, diabetes prevention, healthy lifestyle choices and, perhaps most importantly, Lakota values and traditions.
"Our Lakota culture is a critical piece of our wholeness," said Julie Garreau, CRYP's executive director. "Strengthening the connection our kids have to their traditional values and native wisdom builds an enduring foundation for lasting holistic wellness, for themselves and for our community."
This April wellness interns are: Jacine Carter, 18; Ladonna Chasing Hawk, 14; Derreck Eagle, 16; Alexis Fiddler, 13; Randi Little Star, 14; Lucia Lone Eagle, 14; Marckis Red Dog, 13; Dessa Scares the Hawk, 13; and Jaymalee Turning Heart, 15. Through their four-week internships, the nine teens will participate in classes, special trainings, youth mentorship and planning special events. The internships will last until the end of the month, and those teens who have completed 60 hours by April 30 will earn stipends of $500.
As part of the wellness internship program, the teens will implement three community events: the Color Run on April 16, a Cooking with Commodities class on April 20, and the Community Fitness Challenge on April 23.
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Teens Learn to About "Cooking with Commodities" at Cokata Wiconi
In keeping with its ongoing commitment to holistic youth wellness, CRYP is developing engaging new programming that it hopes will inspire young people on the remote Cheyenne River Lakota reservation to live healthier, more vibrant lives. For example, teens recently took part in an ambitious "
Cooking with Commodities" class at the Cokata Wiconi (Center of Life) teen center.
"Our children aren't going to be able to make better choices when it comes to their nutrition and physical activity if we don't show them how," said Tammy Eagle Hunter, CRYP's executive director. "We need to demonstrate how to make those choices, and how to incorporate good decision-making into daily life."
Through "Cooking with Commodities," teen chefs learned how to create a healthy meal with the commodity foods Cheyenne River families typically receive. The class took place on Wednesday, March 23, in CRYP's Keya (Turtle) Cafe.
Additional cooking classes are planned for the coming weeks and months, including a series of June workshops with Sean Sherman, an Oglala Lakota chef from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, who has garnered nationwide acclaim through his Minnesota-based business, The Sioux Chef.
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CRYP Launches Spring Bike Club for 4- to 12-Year-Olds at The Main
Also as part of its spring wellness programming, CRYP launched its Spring Bike Club on Monday, April 18. The club is designed for the 4- to 12-year-olds who attend programs at The Main; participants will meet for one hour every Monday through May 20.
"We'll be providing bikes, helmets and pads for all the kids," said Tammy Eagle Hunter, CRYP's youth programs director. "Kasten Carter, one of our youth programs assistant at The Main, will lead the club."
 That's particularly special for the staff, since Carter attended The Main as a child and aspired to work there someday.
"It's wonderful to see our kids become leaders in their community," noted Julie Garreau, CRYP's executive director. "Kasten has taken a great interest in our youngest participants and is eager to help develop programming that keeps them active and fosters a lifelong love of outdoor recreation.
"We're deeply grateful to the support we've received from the NB3 Foundation, the N7 Fund, Diabetes Action and Research (DARE) and the Wellmark Foundation," she continued. "These incredible organizations have made it possible for us to pursue comprehensive wellness programming here on Cheyenne River, and it's making a real difference in the lives of our children."
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It's Time for the Book2Movie Club!
On Tuesday, April 5, CRYP kicked off its seven-week Spring Book2Movie Club at the Cokata Wiconi ("Center of Life") teen center and The Main youth center. Club members will meet in the Cokata Wiconi and Main libraries every Tuesday and Thursday in April, May and June.
Participants ages 13-18 will read three fiction novels from a selection of banned books that were made into movies, while children ages 4-12 will read two popular children's books that also became films (staff members will help the youngest children). Each book will conclude with a special finale celebration.
On deck for the teens: Sherman Alexie's "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian," Stephen Chbosky's "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," Alice Walker's "The Color Purple," and Roald Dahl's "The BFG." At The Main, younger children will enjoy Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book" as staff members read the books aloud.
"Hopefully, we have chosen titles that will give our teens and younger children wonderful opportunities to engage in conversations that feel relevant to them," said Tammy Eagle Hunter, CRYP's youth programs director. "And, to nurture a love of reading that will last a lifetime."
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April CRYP Hall of Fame:
Sapphire Lucero
When CRYP opened the doors to its Cokata Wiconi (Center of Life) teen center 10 years ago, staff members envisioned that the 26,000-square-foot facility would become a true center of life in the Cheyenne River community. And, they hoped teens would use the center and its offerings to find their true passions, their authentic voices and a variety of healthy, culturally relevant ways to move effectively toward achieving their dreams.
That's exactly what Cokata Wiconi has done for young people like Sapphire Lucero, 14. Sapphire has been attending CRYP programs and events since 2012; and, while she enjoys hanging out with friends in the teen center and the Keya Cafe, she also has become an accomplished teen art intern.
"I wanted to get better at art," she explains. "I thought this would be a great opportunity."
Learn more about Sapphire's story here!
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Order "Home: Cheyenne River Lakota Nation" Today!
"Home: Cheyenne River Lakota Nation" is a unique coffeetable book. Not only does it share the Cheyenne River reservation's landscapes, flora and fauna, communities, traditions and residents to a larger audience, it also incorporates thought-provoking poems, essays and memories from local young people.
Best of all, 100 percent of the proceeds from book sales benefit the 27-year-old, not-for-profit Cheyenne River Youth Project® in Eagle Butte.
To order books, click
here
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Be sure to also click "See all 3 formats and editions" and then the arrow next to "hardcover" - three versions are available, from 8x10 to 11x13, in hardcover and paperback. To order more than 10 copies, please contact the creative team at
[email protected], as discounts may be available for large orders.
For more details about the project, and to order fine-art prints (100% of proceeds also benefit CRYP), visit cheyenneriverfineart.com and click "Photography."
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WE NEED YOU!
Volunteer Positions Available Immediately
Most people may not be aware that CRYP relies heavily on volunteers to keep its doors open, its programs running, and its services flowing to the Cheyenne River community. While we do expect to welcome volunteers to our Eagle Butte campus once summer arrives, we continue to face a critical volunteer shortage during the spring months.
Please learn more about our volunteer program, and how to apply,
here!
The youth project welcomes individuals and groups for short- and long-term stays.
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Thank you so much for your interest in our youth project, and for your ongoing support as we pursue our mission in the community.
To learn more about the Cheyenne River Youth Project and its programs, and for information about making donations and volunteering, call (605) 964-8200 or visit
www.lakotayouth.org. And, to stay up to date on the latest CRYP news and events, follow the youth project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Sincerely,
All of us at the
Cheyenne River Youth Project
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