 "Photo: VAL MENNING, THE VOLANTE, 2010")
When natural disasters across the globe cause food, water and shelter problems for people and families, it is easy to forget existing problems nearby, but a group of student athletes is committed to helping fellow South Dakotans.
Student athletes are coming together to collect shoes for people of all ages at the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation. The athletes are calling on fellow students as well as staff, faculty and community members to bring aid to the reservation and combining their efforts with the South Dakota Community Foundation, which is raising money for the tribe.
The Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, located in north central South Dakota, recently experienced shortages of electricity, heat and running water following the big snow storm in December.
The original storm caused tribe members to be snowed in and after subsequent storms in January, around 2,500 electrical poles and wires came down, said senior and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe member Keri Fischer. The reservation is currently in a state of emergency.
“People had to melt snow in order to get water,” Fischer said.
USD athletes in association with the Student Athlete Advisory Committee are conducting a campus and community-wide shoe drive, collecting shoes on behalf of the Sioux Tribe.
Senior and SAAC Co-President Danielle Dornbusch said the idea was born from a recent student learning trip to the Reservation.
During the trip, students saw the need for basic necessities, including shoes. After returning, they brought the need to the attentinon of SAAC.
Dornbusch said she wanted to get more athletes involved to help build up the SAAC program, and one way is by getting more students, the campus, the community and youth involved in events throughout the year.
“It’s a rebuilding thing,” Dornbusch said. “With the transfer from D-I to D-II, the last few years have been tough.”
So far, the shoe drive has raised more than 1,000 pairs of shoes for the Cheyenne River Reservation through donation boxes around the campus and community, and through a major shoe drive event at the USD versus Chicago State double-header last week at the DakotaDome.
“It’s something that I thought it would be easy for a lot of people to get involved in,” Dornbusch said. “It’s not a huge time commitment, not a huge money donation, and it will have a really great impact for the reservation.”
Dornbusch said efforts to help the reservation recently combined with a fundraising effort by the South Dakota Community Foundation. MSNB’s “Countdown with Keith Oberman” featured a segment on the USD student athletes’ endeavor to raise shoes for the reservation.
USD alum and executive director for the Foundation Bob Sutton said the Web site, razoo.com, began after the Jan. 22 ice storm as an effort to raise money to help the tribe out of the disaster. Two organizations, The Bush Foundation and The Northwest Area Foundation will both match $35,000 in 1:1 donations, Sutton said.
Contributions were trickling in at first, Sutton said. The Web site had around $7,000 and by the end of the night of the show airing, donations shot up to $100,000. Sutton said philanthropy opportunities such as the shoe drive and Web site raises the awareness of students and brings them to the attention of disasters around the globe, but it’s hard to see when it’s close to home.
“It’s sometimes harder to accept that we have disasters in our own backyard,” Sutton said.
USD Associate Athletic Director Jill Theeler said projects like these are essential because they allow students to take what they have learned at the university level and bring it to address problems that require attention at even broader levels.
“It’s about being a complete person and citizen when you step out of the university and become a part of the community you are going to live in,” Theeler said. “It’s important to understand our roles as citizens and humans.”
Sioux Falls resident Eric Sandhurst attended the men’s and women’s basketball games last Thursday and brought approximately 60 pairs of shoes from the Volunteers of America Thrift store where he volunteers.
Sandhurst said for students, philanthropy is an empathy thing. It makes students realize that a basic need such as footwear is needed in our own state, he said. It a good way for people to feel empathy and to share something they have.
“It’s about sharing the wealth we have, even if it’s just a pair of shoes,” Sandhurst said.
It’s not just adults and students getting involved, either. Students from Jolly Elementary School in Vermillion came together, competing as classes, to bring in pairs of shoes from home. The students there raised a total of 344 pairs of shoes.
Fifth-grade teacher Daniel Martel said his students brought in 175 shoes for the effort. He said the drive went really well and the kids were excited to compete against each other for a good cause. Many students didn’t even know where the reservation was, Martel said.
“It was a good learning experience,” Martel said. “It opened their eyes to the fact that there are kids their age in South Dakota who need help.”
St. Agnes Catholic School is also tallying shoes to donate to the reservation. Students across the grades, pre-school through fifth grade are involved in the shoe-drive effort.
St. Agnes principal Darla Hamm said the students are excited because they know the shoes are going to help other children their age here in their own state. She said the projet is great for the students to work on to help students in need.
“It’s a really great project and it’s a great thing for our kids to be able to help,” Hamm said. “So far, the shoes are taking over our hallways.”
Fischer presented at the basketball games last week and said the efforts of students and donations from across the country are humbling for her and the Tribe because everyone is coming together and it shows the support of America.
“We’re so thankful for the people donating their time and money to help pay for this disaster,” Fischer said.
The shoe drive and monetary drive will continue through mid-March.
After donations have stopped, a presentation of the check and shoes will be given to the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe, Dornbusch said.
Reach reporter Josie Clarey at Josie.Clarey@usd.edu.
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