It’s easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of the holidays, turning Christmas into a high-stress occasion. Yet this day should be so much more; as an anonymous sage once noted, “Rejoice in the spirit of Christmas which is Peace, the miracle of Christmas which is Hope, and the heart of Christmas which is Love.”
Real Christmas miracles can happen, bringing hope to those who need it most, particularly children. Look no farther than the remote Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in north-central South Dakota. While Christmas should be a glorious holiday for children everywhere, families here simply cannot stretch their budgets to cover holiday gifts. This is one of the poorest regions in the United States, with an unemployment rate hovering around 75 percent, and roughly 60 percent of households with children under the age of 18 falling below the poverty level.
That means far too many deserving children likely would have no Christmas at all, on a day that should be full of such shining promise — if it weren’t for the Cheyenne River Youth Project® in Eagle Butte. Last year, this grassroots, not-for-profit youth organization made sure that 1,200 children in 19 reservation communities received personalized gifts from their “Dear Santa” letters, as well as much-needed winter clothing. This year, it hopes to serve 1,500.
For a quarter century, CRYP has worked hard to bring Christmas to Cheyenne River. The journey starts each September and doesn’t finish until the end of the day on December 25, and this year’s journey has already begun. Once again, CRYP staff will reach out to partners around the world to marshal the resources they need to fulfill hundreds upon hundreds of “Dear Santa” letters. Colorado high school students will collect toys for weeks, and willingly sacrifice exam study time to load a 26-foot rental truck. That truck will be transformed into a contemporary Santa’s sleigh, heading out across the frozen prairie to Eagle Butte with its precious cargo.
Gifts will pour into Eagle Butte from every corner, along with volunteers. These volunteers will opt to miss the holidays with their own families so they can travel across the country, or even across an ocean, to help. Staff, volunteers, and dedicated community members will work side by side, around the clock, wrapping thousands of gifts to make sure Santa will fulfill countless Christmas wishes and make so many Christmas dreams come true.
The CRYP Christmas Toy Drive first took shape more than two decades ago, when the not-for-profit youth organization started assembling all the year’s toy donations so it could distribute them to local families on Christmas Day. As the annual effort grew, CRYP 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. “We hope to be there for every child who needs us during the Christmas holidays. Last year, we served approximately 1,200 children. This year, we’ve set the goal at 1,500, and we hope to see it continue to grow every year.”
And the Christmas Toy Drive has indeed been growing. A few years ago, CRYP staff members decided they needed to invite families to pick up their gifts at the Cokata Wiconi teen center 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.
“Not only is the Christmas Toy Drive our longest-running program, it’s the one with the broadest reach,” Garreau said. “It doesn’t matter where you live on Cheyenne River, or how remote your community is. We can make sure your kids have a happy Christmas.”
Thanks to the annual Christmas Toy Drive, each participating child receives one or two gifts from his or her “Dear Santa” list, plus winter clothing and shoes. As those “Dear Santa” letters flood into the CRYP offices, staff and volunteers will solicit funds and in-kind donations from individuals and organizations around the world. Then, they match the Santa lists with just the right gifts and prepare beautifully wrapped packages for Christmas Eve pickups, which give children an opportunity to meet Santa, and Christmas Day deliveries, when Santa, Mrs. Claus, and the elves make the rounds in person.
“For our kids, the donors and volunteers are literally making Christmas happen,” Garreau said. “That inspires all of us, especially when we are working such long hours for days and even weeks prior to the holiday.”
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 Spirit of Sovereignty Foundation; the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation; the St. Louis Chapter of CRYP; Fairview High School in Boulder, Colorado; and Fredericks Peebles & Morgan in Louisville, Colorado.
Bringing Christmas to so many hundreds of children on a reservation the size of Connecticut is nothing short of a miracle, one that changes lives — those of the excited children and their grateful families, and those of staff, volunteers, and supporters. It connects everyone it touches.
As Mother Theresa once said, “The miracle isn’t that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it.” CRYP hopes to share this miracle, and all of its love and joy, with you.
If you would like to support the Christmas Toy Drive this holiday season, please see our “How to Help” article for detailed information. Every contribution, no matter the size, will ensure that hope reigns supreme on Cheyenne River this holiday season.
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.