 Diane Nelson, president of Rapid
City's Republican women, has worked with Angel tree for a few years. She
goes to Chuck Colson's Prison Ministries and asks for all the names of prisoners
who live on the SD Indian Reservations. Then she organizes gifts to be given
to their children.
It has been well received and has grown beyond
what she can do alone, so this year all the Republican women's groups got
together to have Christmas parties for the reservations.
 MLRW had 43 children to buy presents
for in Mission, SD. Lynne St Angelo, Marianne Goodis, Heather Hubbel and
Lora Hubbel went on Dec 10 to Mission, SD. We were loaded down with presents
and food. Thinking there was a time change past the river (not any more!)
we were 10 minutes late, but after calling around, 11 out of the 16 families
were there.
The children were a little shy but welcoming.
Heather asked one little girl what she got for a gift, "Nothing" was the
answer. Since Lynne had brought extra board games and jewelry a little 8
year old girl got presents she wasn't expecting.
 Another extra little boy with no present
got a small guitar - you should have seen his excitement - he almost looked
like he felt guilty getting a present! But then he had two little sisters,
who got a soft "praying" teddy bear, and the other got a snowsuit. While
visiting with people there Lynne found a girl about age 17 who is taking
care of 12 relatives.
She wants to find a job and needed interview
and work clothes. Lynne "just happened" to bring along clothes and jewelry
from her slender daughters, which fit this young lady well. We also gave
her family all the left over buns and barbeque - she was so happy to not
have to cook for a while.
Marianne expressed the need for continued interaction
with the people on the Reservations as many barriers need to be broken down.
Our Sioux Falls group had to leave right after the party and Diane Nelson
took the unclaimed gifts to the rightful owner.
 Next year we will plan on staying longer
so we can deliver these gifts if need be. After we got home, my oldest daughter
asked me if we had fun. Wanting to be honest, I hesitated. "Do you remember
when we planted your garden," I asked? She did. It was her first garden.
We recalled preparing the dirt and how it was
to find volunteer tomato, onion and mint plants that someone had planted
years before. Michelle and I reminisced about her excitement when real lettuce
and radishes came up.
She was even more incredulous that beans and
peppers developed from just one day of planting a small garden. At that point
I stopped and asked, "So was planting your garden fun?" Fun obviously wasn't
the right word. Was it rewarding? Interesting? Enjoyable? Hopeful? Yes, it
was all that and more.
 It may take time before we realize
the fruit of this garden we planted up in Mission - and we can't stop tending
it now. We will be hearing about the different fruits our planting produced
in the future and I will tell you as soon as I am informed. |
