Help CRYP by Becoming a Toy Drive Donor or Volunteer!
The American actress and singer-songwriter Dale Evans perhaps said it best when she noted, “Christmas, my child, is love in action.” And nowhere else is that more true than on South Dakota’s remote, 2.8-million-acre Cheyenne River reservation where, each year, volunteers and donors from around the world come together to bring happiness, joy and magic to more than 1,100 children through the Cheyenne River Youth Project®’s annual Christmas Toy Drive.
While the Christmas season should be a glorious time for children everywhere, many Cheyenne River families find that their budgets simply cannot stretch to cover holiday gifts. Here, where the unemployment rate hovers around 75 percent, roughly 50 percent of households fall below the poverty level. Of the reservation’s two counties, Ziebach is the poorest in the United States, with Dewey in the top 10.
So, more than two decades ago, CRYP started assembling all the year’s toy donations so it could distribute them to local families on Christmas Day. As the annual effort grew, the not-for-profit youth organization began to solicit donations nationwide and even worldwide.
“The Christmas Toy Drive officially started in 1990, when we decided to pull together the toy donations we’d accumulated and distribute them to families in need,” recalled Julie Garreau, CRYP’s executive director. “About six or seven years later, it really exploded; we had to form our Family Services department in 2002 simply to manage the number of donations we were collecting.
“We’ve always wanted to use our resources to serve as many children as possible,” Garreau continued. “Our goal is to make sure every child on our reservation can enjoy the Christmas holiday, and to that end, we’ve been working very hard to increase the number of children served each year.”
Indeed, the Christmas Toy Drive has continued to grow. A few years ago, CRYP staff members decided they needed to invite families to pick up their gifts at the Cokata Wiconi Teen Center in Eagle Butte on Christmas Eve; they had so many families in so many reservation communities, they couldn’t possibly make all of the deliveries reservation-wide on Christmas Day.
“Last year, we were proud and happy to serve nearly 1,200 children in communities across the Cheyenne River reservation,” Garreau said. “Not only is the Christmas Toy Drive our longest-running program, it’s the one with the broadest reach. And we’re hoping to continue to expand that reach with every Christmas.”
Thanks to CRYP’s annual Christmas Toy Drive, each participating child receives one or two gifts from his or her Santa list, plus much-needed winter clothing. And with nearly 1,200 children eagerly waiting for Santa, that means CRYP staff and volunteers find themselves sorting, wrapping and distributing literally thousands of presents.
Although Halloween festivities are still ongoing, Cheyenne River’s families already are completing their special “Dear Santa” letters on behalf of their children. These letters let CRYP know which gifts are most wanted — and what sizes of clothing, shoes, hats, gloves and mittens are most needed. And as the letters flood into the CRYP offices, staff and volunteers are already working hard to solicit funds and in-kind donations from individuals and organizations around the world.
CRYP then matches the Santa lists with just the right gifts and delivers beautifully wrapped packages to eager children and their grateful families. To them, the annual Christmas Toy Drive means everything.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that many of these children would otherwise have nothing on Christmas morning,” Garreau observed. “For them, donors and volunteers are literally making Christmas happen. That knowledge inspires all of us, especially when we are working such long hours for days and even weeks prior to the holiday.”
And CRYP staff and volunteers do work around the clock to make sure each child’s Christmas wishes come true. On Christmas Eve, some families will come to the Cokata Wiconi Teen Center to meet Santa and Mrs. Claus and pick up their gifts; others will get an exciting home visit from Santa and the elves on Christmas Day. It’s a hard and fast deadline, and it absolutely must be met.
“It seems so hard to believe, that our Christmas Toy Drive is gearing up just as our local kids are getting ready to tour our annual haunted house at The Main,” Garreau said, laughing. “But we really do have to start this early. It takes so much time to coordinate efforts among our many partner organizations and supporters, to collect all the gift items and to sort and wrap all the packages for each family.”
This tremendous undertaking requires substantial resources as well as time. Garreau acknowledged that CRYP would not be able to provide a happy Christmas for so many children without the financial contributions, gift donations and volunteer time provided by supporters around the country, and even around the world.
Over the last decade, important Christmas Toy Drive partners have included Christian Relief Services Charities, Running Strong for American Indian Youth, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux (Dakota) Community, the St. Louis Chapter of CRYP and Fairview High School in Boulder, Colorado.
Then there are the volunteers. Some are members of the local community. Others are current and former CRYP volunteers who stay through Christmas or return especially for the holiday season to help sort and wrap packages and assist with distribution and delivery. They come from all corners of the United States and from as far away as England, Ireland and Germany.
If you would like to support CRYP’s Christmas Toy Drive this holiday season, please see the sidebars accompanying this article for detailed information. Every contribution, no matter the size, will ensure that Cheyenne River’s children receive what all children should have: a very merry Christmas.
“I always remind people, though, that they’re giving our children something much more important than toys,” Garreau noted. “You’re giving them a sense of normalcy, letting them know that they deserve this holiday, just like other kids. You’re giving them happiness, a feeling of being loved and treasured. And you’re giving them hope.”
To learn more about the Cheyenne River Youth Project® and its programs, and for information about making donations and volunteering, call (605) 964-8200 or visitwww.lakotayouth.org. And, to stay up to date on the latest CRYP news and events, visit the youth project’s Facebook “Cause” page. All Cause members will receive regular updates through Facebook.
The Cheyenne River Youth Project®, founded in 1988, is a grassroots, not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing the youth of the Cheyenne River reservation with access to a vibrant and secure future through a wide variety of culturally sensitive and enduring programs, projects and facilities that ensure strong, self-sufficient families and communities.
There are several ways to help CRYP with its 2011 Christmas Toy Drive:
Make a tax-deductible donation by sending cash, a check or a money order to: The Cheyenne River Youth Project, P.O. Box 410, Eagle Butte, SD 57625.
Make a tax-deductible donation via PayPal on the CRYP Web site at www.lakotayouth.org.
Donate a gift. Click here for the most-requested-gift list or, to request a specific “letter to Santa,” contact CRYP Family Services at (605) 964-8200 or via e-mail at familyservices@lakotayouth.org.
Donate gift cards, gift bags, wrapping paper, tissue paper, tape or anything else that might assist in toy-drive preparations.
Consider donating a Santa suit, as CRYP’s existing suits are getting somewhat dated.
Spread the word. If you have friends or family members who might like to make a donation, please let them know how they can help.
Click here for a list of the most-requested gift items.