WHAT’S NEW AT NAHA?
For our 19th consecutive year, we earned our 4-star rating (100%) with Charity Navigator for demonstrating strong financial health and commitment to accountability, transparency and having a true impact on the people we help on a daily basis on the Reservations in South Dakota.
Check out NAHA’s Facebook and Instagram page as we will now be posting and engaging with our audience more than ever! Please share, like and spread the word. Spreading awareness is just as important as it reaches more people and educates those who might not realize how awful the conditions are on the Reservations in South Dakota. We appreciate your support.
At our recent board meeting, we discussed the possibility of having to purchase a new tractor trailer for the warehouse. It is getting to the point where the repairs are going to outweigh the value and we will need to get a replacement sooner than later. Keep an eye out for more information and if you would like to donate to help us purchase one, please put in the comment box, “For tractor trailer purchase” and we will make sure it goes to that fund.
We have already begun distributing products and food to the Reservations to help families get ready for winter with life-threatening weather and extreme temperatures, which are approaching quickly to their homes. The weather can be very unpredictable at times, for example, it will be 60 degrees and then the next day they get a blizzard. We recently obtained a truckload that had children’s school supplies, shoes, flooring, comforters/blankets, and other great items that they need. This is why we tell our donors that monetary donations truly make a difference and allow us to purchase full truckloads of food, diapers, bedding, personal and medical items at a fraction of the cost that you or I would pay in the store.
Last month we distributed toys to the children on the Reservations that we received from the Toys for Tots program through Good360, another non-profit that acquires donations through corporations such as Wal-Mart, Amazon, Eddie Bauer, NIKE, The Home Depot, etc. They sort the merchandise, load the trucks and ship it to our warehouse for a small fee. The children were so pleased to receive the toys that words can’t describe the joy and excitement they were feeling. This was an enormous achievement for the kids and NAHA. Since poverty has plagued the Reservations in South Dakota for many, many years, they don’t get to enjoy the materialistic items that other children get to enjoy.
NAHA delivered toys through the Toys for Tots Program to Manderson, SD on the Pine Ridge Reservation here recently. The elderly grandparents and mostly single parent families were allowed to receive the toy donations first at the event.
“We had requested toys and NAHA calls us up and asks if we would like to take some. The children were thrilled with what NAHA brought to us and it uplifted their spirits tremendously!”
-Lisa Looks Twice, Manderson, SD
Thanksgiving Turkeys
As we all know, Thanksgiving is about a month away, which means we are procuring funds to purchase turkeys and trimmings. Many families have experienced the same cruel situation every year, sitting down at their table on Thanksgiving Day with no food to share. I am afraid this will happen again this year which is why I am sending this urgent request to you and other compassionate supporters of NAHA to help purchase 1,500 turkeys and more, to families in need. For 30 years we have purchased and delivered turkeys to the Reservations and made Thanksgiving happy for thousands of Sioux families in need. We want to continue this good deed but we need the help and support of our kind and giving donors like you.
In the first days of the settlement of the United States, it is recorded that the Native Americans provided not only information to help the settlers thrive but also crops, items and other sources of food. They taught the settlers how to live and work on unknown land. This growing friendship made possible the first successful harvest the settlers experienced. Overjoyed, the settlers in 1621 celebrated for three days, inviting the Native Americans to dine with them at their table, thus creating the first Thanksgiving, a holiday that has continued in tradition for 400 years. The Native Americans provided food at the first Thanksgiving table, now it is our turn to provide food on their table.
It’s important that you respond both quickly and charitably for two reasons:
- Even though NAHA purchases turkeys in bulk, allowing us to stretch our dollars much farther than an individual could at a grocery store, it still takes a large sum of money to buy enough turkeys for every family.
- Buying that many turkeys and getting them to the families in remote parts of the Reservations we serve takes several weeks.
Your urgent response is greatly appreciated. Please donate whatever you can manage, to help purchase turkeys and make Thanksgiving 2023 a Happy Thanksgiving for families that constantly struggle to keep food on their tables. We want to help as many families as we can. Please donate today so we can get started on purchasing and delivering turkeys to the Reservations in South Dakota. From NAHA, we wish you and your family a joyous Thanksgiving Day!!!