ONE SPIRIT NATIVE FREE

Winters on the reservation can see temperatures dip to 40 degrees below zero. This should be functioning this year.Įvery winter on Pine Ridge Reservation, families and elders go without heat in their homes or warm themselves in front of an oven. We are planning now a food market that will include traditional foods, fresh meats and produce, and much needed household items. On a daily basis, we receive many urgent requests for food for elders, families and children. However that number continues to increase as more people request to become part of the program. Currently, more than 6000 people are fed each month. The workers are paid with food and are supplied with gas for the deliveries. The community workers typically dedicate two long days to complete deliveries, travelling hundreds of miles over unmaintained roads and even taking orders into the homes of elders and putting it away for them. Frozen meat, fruits and vegetables are supplied during theĮach month, ONE Spirit arranges for food to be transported to the Pine Ridge reservation where members of the Lakota community then unload the truck, sort the food into orders and personally deliver them throughout the reservation. Seasonal garden produce and freshly processed meats are obtained from Is both high quality and highly nutritional. Generosity of sponsors, the ONE Spirit food program delivers food that Vegetables and meat to families and elders in need. To learn more go to and the Lakota people are joining efforts to bring anĮnd to hunger and diet related disease by providing fresh fruit, Putting this program together is One Spirit, Trail Center Lodge, Visit Cook County, The Cook County Chamber of Commerce, Prosperity North, Sing Horse Trading Post, The Grand Marais YMCA, Grand Marais Public Library and the Allen Youth Center. The One Spirit employment program won’t be hiring or selecting candidates, but they will help employers find employees and vice versus. Skills they will be able to use to help better the economy on the Pine Ridge reservation.

We hope this will give these young adults opportunities to earn money and to have an adventure while learning important skills. Given how Cook County and Pine Ridge are separated by 664 miles, One Spirit will offer transportation support and organize activities to help the employees engage in activities, workshops and classes they may have interest in. The intention of the program is to put people together in a program that will provide benefits to both: seasonal employers in a region where jobseekers are anything but plentiful paired with young people from Pine Ridge Reservation where unemployment is consistently around 80 percent. The mission of One Spirit is to “help two groups of people: Employers of Cook County and young adults from Pine Ridge. The types of jobs advertised include lodging, front and back of the house restaurant work, retail-gift shop, recreation facilities, hospital work etc. The One Spirit website is very user friendly.

ONE SPIRIT NATIVE FREE

If you are looking for information and details about the program, check out the website and feel free to contact. While the website is still being worked on, it is now open.

Today a website is up and running for employers who can add content about job openings and post it on the website. With that, Hamilton began working with an organization called One Spirit to develop work programs in Cook County for young people from Pine Ridge. Putting two and two together, Hamilton realized that both Cook County employers and young people from Pine Ridge could each benefit if the two could join forces. Of the 3,143 counties in the U.S., Oglala Lakota County which is contained entirely within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, ranks as the poorest county in the country.

The per capita income for Native Americans living on Pine Ridge is $8,768. The unemployment rate in Pine Ridge is hovering around 80 percent in 2005 the Department of Interior listed the unemployment rate at 89 percent, which means there are a lot of folks living there who need jobs. Hamilton, the owner of Trail Center on the Gunflint Trail, has also spent the last few years working to improve the lives of the Lakota people who live on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Sarah Hamilton is a small busines owner in Cook County and like most-if not all-small business owners, she is often short on help when she needs it the most.

One spirit native