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In This Issue
Keya Gift Shop Online: OCTOBER SPECIAL!
Volunteer with CRYP
CRYP's Sponsor Enrichment Activities
Sponsor a Birthday Cake at The Main
Meet Our Board of Directors
Support CRYP with Amazon Smile, GoodSearch & GoodShop, and Capital One
CRYP Needs: In-Kind Donations
Our Mission
CRYP Launches 2019 Wo Otúh'an Wi Toy Drive
Enter to Win a Lakota Star Quilt
Three Teens Embark on Lakota Arts Fellowship
Kids Earn "Main Bucks" in Innovative New Program
Volunteer Spotlight: Emma Kalff
Bonus Volunteer Spotlight: Lindsey Kircher
Quick Links
  News
   
WE'RE EXTENDING OUR CURRENT SPECIAL THROUGH OCT. 31:

Our tan CRYP crewneck sweatshirts are available for 40% off! Visit our online store and look for the green "sale" icon.


CRYP is proud to make select items from the Keya (Turtle) Gift Shop available online, and proceeds benefit the nonprofit organization's youth programming and family services.

By supporting the Keya Gift Shop, you're also supporting  local artists and craftspeople; our youth artists, who are learning how their creative passions might translate to possible career opportunities; and our teen interns, who work in our gift shop every day, developing valuable skills in customer service, financial literacy and business management.
   

CRYP is actively seeking volunteers to work at our Eagle Butte campus. 

 

If you are interested in applying for our volunteer program, please click here to learn more!

 

And to meet a few of our former volunteers, check out our Volunteer Spotlight.

 

 

Sponsor Enrichment Activities for CRYP Youth

 

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. 

 

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.  

 

If you'd like to see a Needs List for our enrichment programs, please contact us at (605) 964-8200 or send us an email at lakotayouth@gmail.com

 

 


Sponsor a Birthday Cake at The Main!
Main Birthday Party 1
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.



Meet Our
Board of Directors
PRESIDENT
Jeremy Patterson

VICE PRESIDENT
Karla Abbott

SECRETARY/TREASURER
Jeffrey Meyer

DIRECTORS
Kibbe Conti
Peggy Gallipo
Lonnie Heier

For more info and bios, click here!

Support CRYP When You Shop Online!
What if CRYP earned a donation every time you searched the Internet or made an online purchase?

Amazon 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.

In-Kind Donations
Three girls

CRYP relies on in-kind donations as well as funding to continue our mission. If you'd like to help, please click here and scroll down to "In Kind Donations," where you'll find links to our Amazon wish lists. 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!
Our Mission


Spanish Class at The Main
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.
 
Join Our Mailing List
October 2019 News
 
CRYP Officially Launches 
Wo Otúh'an Wi Toy Drive for 2019

Cheyenne River Youth Project - Christmas 2018
Cheyenne River Youth Project - Christmas 2018

In just two months, the Cheyenne River Youth Project will bring Santa Claus to South Dakota's Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, where he will deliver thousands of personalized Christmas gifts to more than 1,700 children from 20 communities. Time is short for such a herculean undertaking, and CRYP is already working hard on its 2019 Wo Otúh'an Wi Toy Drive.



The grassroots, nonprofit youth organization has held this toy drive for 30 years and is now serving its second generation of Lakota children. Although the name of the long-running, deeply beloved program is new, however, its heart remains the same. 

"Wo Otúh'an Wi means 'the moon of giving away presents,'" said Julie Garreau, CRYP's executive director. "It captures the spirit of the Christmas season, and of Santa Claus, in a way that also resonates with traditional Lakota values. And at its heart, the  toy drive is about generosity, and taking care of our community.

Christmas Toy Drive 7

"In the last few years, we've worked hard to incorporate more Lakota language, culture and life ways into all of our programs," she continued. "We've discovered that giving Lakota names to our programs is yet another way to strengthen the connection our young people have with their culture."

CRYP is currently seeking organizational partners and individual supporters around the country to help fulfill the many hundreds of "Dear Santa" letters that will flood into CRYP headquarters in the weeks to come. Learn more about how you can help!



Enter to Win a Lakota Star Quilt & Support the Wo Otúh'an Wi Toy Drive
 
CRYP has launched its annual star quilt raffle, which will help support the annual Wo Otúh'an Wi Toy Drive on South Dakota's remote Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. The toy drive, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, serves more than 1,700 children in 20 communities.

Tickets are now on sale, and the 2019 raffle will run through the end of the day on Sunday, Dec. 22. The drawing will take place on Christmas Day, and CRYP staff will announce the lucky winner on Friday, Dec. 27. 

"This year's quilt has been christened 'Winter Solstice,'" said Julie Garreau, CRYP's executive director. "Hand-crafted by Cheyenne River tribal member Bonnie LeBeaux, it's simply breathtaking. It reflects the many moods of our prairie winter, and holds the promise of the returning of the light ."

The inaugural cohort of Lakota Arts Fellows in CRYP's Waniyetu Wowapi (Winter Count) Art Park. They are, L-R, Roberta High Elk, Kailey Carter, and Emanuel Semon.

Three Teens Embark on Inaugural
Lakota Arts Fellowship at CRYP

On Oct. 1, CRYP officially launched the Lakota Arts Fellowship, the latest offering in its Waniyetu Wowapi (Winter Count) Lakota Youth Arts & Culture Institute. That evening, the inaugural cohort of three Lakota Arts Fellows met with South Dakota Art Council artist-in residence Hector Curriel for a workshop in CRYP's Cokata Wiconi (Center of Life) art studio.

The fall 2019 cohort of Lakota Arts Fellows includes Emanuel Semon, 17, Roberta High Elk, 16, and Kailey Carter, 15.

The Lakota Arts Fellowship is a nine-month program that offers exciting opportunities for teens on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation who have indicated they are interested in pursuing careers in the arts. To be a fellow, young people must complete multiple rounds of CRYP's teen art internships.

"We want to see a real commitment to arts education and evolving skill sets," said Tyler Read, CRYP's art director. "We partner each fellow with a mentor, and we provide training on how to go into the arts as a dedicated student and, ultimately, as a professional."

Learn more about Hector Curriel and Jenny Menzel, CRYP's fall artists-in-residence, here.


Kids Earn "Main Bucks" in Innovative New CRYP Youth Program

CRYP has introduced a new initiative at its Eagle Butte campus designed specifically for the 4- to 12-year-olds who attend programming at "The Main" youth center. Christened Main Bucks, this initiative is designed to empower these younger children, teach important life skills, and perhaps best of all, add an extra dose of fun and excitement to each week.

Here's how it works: The children earn Main Bucks throughout the week based on their behavior and the completion of specific tasks. Then, on Fridays at 6 p.m., they're allowed to go shopping at The Main Store, where they can spend their Main Bucks on toys, books and other items ranging from $1 to $10 - in Main Bucks currency, of course. 

Learn more about this innovative new program here!


And for more about how we're keeping our kids and teens busy this fall at The Main and Cokata Wiconi, check this out!

Volunteer Spotlight:
Emma Kalff 

My  name is Emma Kalff. I'm 26 years old, and I grew up in Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia. I was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and my parents moved to the United States shortly after my birth. My grandparents on my mother's side both came from Dutch farming families.
I graduated from Boston University in 2015 with a degree in sociology, and for the past few years, I've been working as a painter. I'm currently traveling across the United States, making and selling paintings. I'm very interested in people, and a lot of my work as a painter is about the daily lives of people across this country. 

While I'm traveling, I work on farms in exchange for room and board. I found out about CRYP through a website called www.wwooofusa.org, which lists all of the farms across the country that offer work in exchange for a place to sleep and three meals a day. 

Through farm work, I've been learning how to grow produce; when I settle down, I want to be able to grow my own food. I thought working at CRYP would help me to continue on that journey. 
 


Bonus Volunteer Spotlight:
Lindsey Kircher

My name is Lindsey Kircher. I am 22 years old. I grew up in McLean, Virginia, and I graduated from Penn State University in May 2019.
 
In spring 2016, during my freshman year of college, I took a class called "Exploring Indigenous Ways of Knowing in the Great Lakes Region"... This was a very transformative and eye-opening experience for me. The following fall, the No Dakota Access Pipeline Movement began on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Some of my close friends and I became involved with raising awareness about the movement on the Penn State campus. We attended protests in Washington DC, spoke on the local radio station, and held coat drives and other benefit events on campus. That semester we also met with Penn State diversity representatives to recognize Indigenous Peoples Day on our official calendar. 

I first heard about the Cheyenne River Youth Project through a member of the art community at Penn State who had previously volunteered with CRYP. I became interested in volunteering as well, as a way to continue supporting indigenous communities and working as an ally. It is exciting to be a part of all the different programs at CRYP that strengthen the community and provide diverse opportunities for the youth of Cheyenne River. 


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 CRYP and its programs, 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