Areas of the rural Pine Ridge Reservation are currently flooded. Water levels are forcing some community members to evacuate, while some others are unable to leave their houses to get supplies like groceries and toiletries. Donations are being accepted in Rapid City.
Terra Houska heard from family and friends that many Pine Ridge locals need supplies. Houska put the word out on social media and donations came in.
“Non-perishable foods, diapers, feminine products, toiletries blankets. My aunt said they really need shovels and buckets also for the people whose homes and areas are being flooded.”
She carries some supplies across the wet concrete and loads them into car. An employee from the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribal President’s Office drives the donations to Pine Ridge. Houska says some items are coming from people in different states.
“I’ve had a lot of people contact me. I’ve even had somebody that ordered groceries online and then had them sent to my house. And then I have somebody from the tribe coming to pick up supplies that I’ve gathered so far.”
Houska says Pine Ridge is a tight knit community and that means people are doing what they can to help each other. She says she’s seen images of locals delivering supplies on horseback in areas cars can’t reach.
“It’s scary, it’s really scary especially since a lot of our people live so remotely to where it’s on a dirt road, its way far away. The elders and children really worry me because they can't just get up and walk through the water, they cant walk through a creek or anything so they need that extra help.”
Houska is accepting donations at the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's Health Board in Rapid City. She says monetary donations are being received through the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe’s Treasurer's office.