As the cold winds whip across the South Dakota Plains this winter, causing temperatures to drop below zero, people on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation struggle to stay warm. Many residents depend mainly on wood-burning stoves to heat their homes. Many source their own wood supply from wherever they can find it, but others are unable to do that, because of advanced age, ill health, or lack of transportation and equipment.
It is hard for most of us to imagine losing a family member or close friend to the cold. But every year, it happens on Pine Ridge, in spite of everyone’s best efforts to prevent it. For the Lakota people on Pine Ridge Reservation, having an adequate wood supply is a matter of life or death.
One Spirit recognized this need early on, and in 2013 stepped in to help the residents of Pine Ridge implement a wood program that would include providing people in need with wood for their homes in an emergency and train team members to inspect wood stoves to ensure they are in good enough repair to be burning wood. The wood program supplies the tools and equipment that workers need to search out and gather the hardwood that is best for home heating. Throughout the year, wood program team members make an effort to maintain their own supply of available wood, to ensure as quick a response as possible when requests come in.
A team member told us recently that emergency requests for wood sometimes come in directly from the people who need it, if they happen to know a wood program team member, or they from tribal officials who have gotten an emergency phone call about the situation. Either way, a call sets the wheels in motion to make sure wood is provided to people who need it as quickly as possible.
However, delivering a truckload of wood to one home can be a daylong effort for one person. Wood is delivered by the load using a pickup truck, which takes about a half hour to load and another to unload. But travel time on the Rez is usually significant, due to the distance between communities on the sparsely populated Reservation.
After the delivery, each team member inspects the wood stove at the residence, takes photos of it, and if necessary, takes appropriate action to make sure the stove is safe for burning wood, ensuring safe operations and reducing the risk of house fires.
The wood program volunteers' hard work, dedication, and care save lives and make a difference to those facing the harsh Midwest winters on Pine Ridge Reservation. And it is made possible by donations from our generous supporters.
Temperatures on Pine Ridge have fallen to as low as -21°F. Please consider making a donation today to help us keep the wood program running strong.
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