How CRYP is Focusing on Resilience and Recovery

CRYP's social enterprises are a vital part of our organization. When you purchase items from our Keya Gift Shop online, for example, those proceeds directly benefit our kids - and right now, as we weather the Covid-19 crisis, your purchases will help us buy food for our daily meal program, continue internship programs for our teens, offer takeout meals for our community, and more.

START SHOPPING NOW

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.

Volunteer with CRYP This Year!

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!

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

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

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.

April 2020 News

Focusing on Resilience and Recovery While Facing a New Normal

Dear Friends,

We're all facing a new normal with the Covid-19 crisis, and for most of us, the last few weeks have been a blur of activity as we try to find a way to cope, and deal with our own stress and grief.

On a daily basis, however, the CRYP staff also is confronted with our community's unique challenges. For us, we cannot simply react to this new normal - sending people home and doing Zoom meetings, example. Too many of our kids do not have reliable Internet access for learning. Too many do not have food security. And too many are, quite simply, not safer at home.

So we need to be proactive, because our kids need us to be here for them. My hope is that, as we continue to learn from this crisis on a daily basis, our organization becomes even stronger and more adaptable.

In this edition of our e-newsletter, you'll learn more about how we're looking forward, from our ongoing social enterprise through the Keya Gift Shop and Keya Cafe, to our Sack Meal Program and teen internships. Every dollar you contribute to CRYP directly supports these programs, and directly supports Cheyenne River's children.

And, there will be more good news in the weeks to come that we're eager to share with you. During these difficult times, CRYP is focusing on resilience and recovery, because our community needs to do more than survive. It must find a way to thrive.

Philámayeye.

Thank You for your ongoing friendship and support. It means the world to us.

Julie Garreau

Executive Director

We Love Our CRYP Staff!

Hats off to our CRYP staff, who do so much for our kids - and whose dedication has not wavered in the face of Covid-19.

"I'm in awe of my staff, which is hustling every day to meet challenges head-on. We will continue in this effort as long as we have the resources, or until there is no longer a need."

- Julie Garreau

Art interns continue work in the Waniyetu Wowapi Art Park, while adhering to social distancing protocols.

Internship Programs Continue at CRYP

CRYP has seen a lot of ups and downs in its nearly 32-year history, including the Great Recession. Now it's facing what might be its biggest challenge yet: the global Covid-19 pandemic.

Yet this grassroots, nonprofit youth organization is meeting that challenge head-on. Not only is CRYP finding new, creating ways to continue serving the Cheyenne River community, it is offering modified internship programming for local teens.

"Right now, we're continuing to welcome our teen interns to Cokata Wiconi (Center of Life) for education and instruction," said Julie Garreau, CRYP's executive director. "Our cohorts are less than 10 kids each, and we have plenty of space, so we can adhere to social distancing guidelines while providing key pieces of our internship training. We also follow rigorous hygiene protocols to ensure the safety of our staff and our young people."

The Native Wellness interns are currently in the middle of their program, while the Art interns have completed theirs. CRYP staff already is recruiting to fill the spring Indigenous Cooking Internship Program and Art Internship Program; each program has room for six teen interns.

Learn more here!

Local Children Receive Daily Evening Meals Through Sack Meal Program

Although the Cheyenne River Youth Project had to close its facilities last month to help combat the spread of Covid-19, the nonprofit youth organization didn't stop seeking new, creative ways to continue serving its community. In fact, the staff immediately devised a new program to maintain its connection with Cheyenne River's children.

For the duration of the Covid-19 crisis, CRYP will be distributing nutritious, balanced meals at "The Main" youth center, which normally provides programs, special events, meals and snacks for 4- to 12-year-olds. Children may come at 5-5:30 p.m. daily to receive their sack meals.

"Our mission in this community hasn't changed with Covid-19; in fact, pursuing that mission has become even more urgent, because our kids have relied on us to be there for them for more than 30 years," said Julie Garreau, CRYP's executive director. "They rely on us, and as Jerica Widow, our youth programs director, has said to me, 'We are their normal.' With this crisis, they have lost everything that's normal - and for far too many, they've also lost safe spaces, positive role models, and even food security.

"At the very least, we want to make sure they are able to access a healthy, hearty meal each day," she continued. "And we want to maintain our connection with them, because they've lost so much. They cannot lose us, as well."

Learn more here.

A heartfelt thank you to our local Dairy Queen in Eagle Butte and its proprietors, Lonnie and Jackie Heier, who helped us get the food items we're not able to find in stores right now. We're also grateful to our friends and supporters who are donating to CRYP to help us cover costs, as we're spending $1,000 to $1,500 every couple of weeks to make sure our children can eat.

Keya Cafe & Coffee Shop Switches to Takeout Only

Not only did CRYP close both of its youth centers and its Family Services program last month in response to the Covid-19 crisis, it also shifted its Keya Cafe & Coffee Shop operations to takeout only.

"We wish to respect the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Chairman Harold Frazier's guidance, as well as the State of South Dakota's efforts to encourage social distancing through the closure of our public schools and cancellation of large public gatherings," said Julie Garreau, CRYP's executive director.

At CRYP's Keya Cafe & Coffeeshop, all dine-in restaurant service is suspended, and the staff is focusing on providing takeout meals. To help protect the community from the spread of Covid-19, staff members have heightened all hygiene protocols, which includes sanitizing surfaces every 15 to 30 minutes.

"All of us at CRYP are continuing to stay educated on the spread of Covid-19, around the world and especially in South Dakota," Garreau said. We're committed to caring for our community in the best way we can, and we're grateful for this opportunity to continue to serve."

Volunteer Spotlight Video:
Meghan Tompkins

CRYP Stories of Generosity - Meghan Tompkins

This month, we have a second "CRYP Stories of Generosity" clip, featuring Meghan Tompkins, our former deputy director. Meghan worked with countless individual volunteers and full service groups during her time with us, and we're deeply grateful for her continuing dedication, support, and friendship. Wopila, Meghan!

Click here to learn more about volunteering with CRYP! And you can meet more of our volunteers here.

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