They are familiar figures on the 2.8-million-acre Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota’s remote West River country. They’re preparing healthy meals and snacks for young children and teens. They’re busy tending the 2-acre, naturally grown Winyan Toka Win garden and staffing the Farmers Market. They’re staying up late so kids can play basketball after curfew. They’re teaching special classes. They’re dancing in costume on Main Street to raise funds and awareness. They’re cleaning, organizing, fixing, creating, playing, comforting and laughing.
They are the Cheyenne River Youth Project volunteers, and they have been a critical part of our grassroots nonprofit since it began in an old bar on Main Street in 1988.
“In the beginning, we were an all-volunteer organization,” remembers Julie Garreau, CRYP’s executive director. “And while it’s true we’ve come a long way, growing from the old ‘Main’ to a 26,000-square-foot teen center and 5,000-foot youth center, we still couldn’t provide the programming and services our kids and families need if it weren’t for our volunteers.”
These service-minded men and women come from around the world and from all walks of life. Some are high school and college students who travel to South Dakota as part of an “alternative spring break program.” Some take time off from school and work to help with the annual Christmas Toy Drive each December. But others take an even longer hiatus, joining CRYP for several weeks, several months or even a year. The most popular service period for long-term volunteers, according to Garreau, is the summer.
“That’s when we attract volunteers of all ages who are looking for a unique summertime opportunity, one that provides elements of a cultural exchange within U.S. borders,” she says. “When you live and work at CRYP, you’ll spend most of your time serving children, teens and families in our community, and yes, you’ll work hard. But you’ll also have the chance to learn about and experience Lakota culture, meet some of our elders and hear our stories, help tend the earth through traditional native gardening practices and enjoy recreation in our beautiful prairie home.
“You may also find that you forge lasting friendships,” she adds. “In our nearly 25 years of life, we’ve seen volunteers return time and again, calling Cheyenne River their home away from home. Some have even joined us as staff members, and many remain in contact with the children they served.”
New York resident Laure Lachaud originally intended to volunteer with CRYP for three months. She ended up staying for nearly two years and has returned four more times to help with the three Christmas Toy Drives, four Passion for Fashion events, three Easter egg hunts, one Thanksgiving and numerous birthday parties.
“I’ve missed family’s and friends’ birthdays and holidays, I’ve spent thousands of dollars on airfare, and I haven’t regretted it for a second,” Lachaud says. “I’ve made so many different friends while working and volunteering at the project. I now have friends on several different continents, who speak several different languages, not to mention all the wonderful people I’ve met on the reservation.
“There’s a special bond people create when working together at CRYP,” she continues, “but my favorite memories will always involve the kids — playing with them, working with them. The kids are the real reason I keep coming back. Working with them, you just can’t help but love them.”
For Lachaud, the Christmas Toy Drive was a particular highlight.
“As someone who doesn’t celebrate Christmas, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it,” she reflects. “What CRYP does for the community and the children transcends all religions and cultures.”
Former volunteer Catherine Moore, who now works as an artist and art educator in Atlanta, Georgia, returned to CRYP many times over the years. She says South Dakota is a beautiful, unforgettable place to call home.
“Although temperatures are freezing cold in the winter and blistering hot in the summer, the extremes are what make this part of the country awe-inspiring,” she explains. “You literally can see the weather rolling in over the horizon of the ocean of land surrounding you. Montana may have won the title of Big Sky State, but you’ll wonder how after watching a thunderstorm in Eagle Butte.”
Moore also notes that you never know who you might meet at CRYP’s East Lincoln Street campus, which comprises the Cokata Wiconi teen center, The Main youth center and the Winyan Toka Win garden. While volunteering in summer 2006, she had the opportunity to meet Billy Mills, who won the gold medal in the 10,000-meter race at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.
“As a member of the Oglala Lakota nation, Mr. Mills serves as spokesperson for Running Strong for American Indian Youth, and he came to support the grand opening of the teen center,” she said. “In my experience volunteering in Eagle Butte, I didn’t just get to meet an Olympian; I also met volunteers from around the world, many of whom I still keep in touch with today.”
Howard Chen volunteered with CRYP from November 2011 to February 2012, and he says his experience at the youth project taught him about the unexpected power of empathy and giving.
“I often discovered that the smallest acts of kindness, such as giving a kid a cupcake that you spent time making, is the grandest of awards,” says Chen, who is currently studying planetary physics at Boston University. “”To see a little girl smile from such a tiny thing changed my perspective, my values; it made me discover the incredible power of compassion.
“After all, I believe that the beginnings of greatness come from the tiny, often imperceptible seeds of love and grace,” he adds. “The Cheyenne River Youth Project and the experience it gave me affirmed this belief.” Hallie Jackson came from Tennessee to volunteer for CRYP in summer 2012. She says the experience changed her life.
“I learned patience and how to improvise, sometimes on very little sleep,” she recalls. “I met amazing people, both kids and fellow volunteers, who I will remember for the rest of my life. It’s the most amazing thing to know that you have made a difference in someone’s life, but it’s an irreplaceable feeling to know that they have made an even bigger difference in yours. Working here in an opportunity of a lifetime, which no one should pass up.”
Not only do CRYP’s volunteers come from around the country, they hail from other countries as well. Alina Nagel first came to Eagle Butte in April 2008, shortly after she graduated from high school in Germany. She has returned several times. “What I learned during my summers on the reservation was to give — my time, my energy, my love,” she says. “To brighten up the lives of the amazing kids we work with. I remember the work being tough at times, but it was always worth it. It’s been almost three years since I last volunteered for CRYP, and I still miss spending time with the kids, playing, crafting, having dance parties; working with the outstanding staff; and meeting amazing people from all over the world.”
Holly Ramsey came to CRYP from New Zealand, volunteering for nine weeks during summer 2011. She says her highlights including mentoring children ages 4 to 18; seeing young people befriend different volunteers based on interests and personalities; planning and executing special activities and games; creatively devising healthy meal plans for often large numbers of kids; seeing the difference a simple program like Midnight Basketball can make in the community; participating in the youth and teen centers’ daily operations; sorting donations for Family Services; and caring for the garden, a sustainable food initiative that benefits the youth, their families and their community.
Ramsey says she also enjoyed meeting community members through CRYP events, chatting with locals in the local shops and spending free time with the other volunteers.
“I had a bunch of great bunch of other volunteers to spend time off with,” she says. “We celebrated birthdays, played cards, went out for meals, went to powwows and rodeos, and visited Rapid City, Sioux Falls and attractions in between,” she says. “I still keep in contact with some of the teens and volunteers.
“If you’re thinking of volunteering with CRYP, do it,” she continues. “It’s well worth it. Not every day will be easy, but the overall experience is enjoyable and rewarding — learning to appreciate the little things, getting to experience life through someone else’s eyes, and being able to help an organization with the good of the whole community at heart.”
Australian Kelly Ayre volunteered in 2012, and she says she was particularly interested in the family supplies and school supplies distributed through CRYP’s Family Services program. The program made such an impact on her that she took the concept back to Australia and started her own program within the library service to distribute school packs in remote Far North Queensland.
“There are approximately 80 students at Cillagoe School,” Ayre explains. “I distributed general school supplies to each student from Kindergarten to Year 10. In the future, I hope to distribute more focused supplies to the school.
“CRYP was inspirational,” she says. “The new ideas I was exposed to in my volunteer experience are invaluable. I care about (the staff) and fell in love with the kids, and I’m very grateful that I can implement some of CRYP’s ideas and benefit our indigenous kids over here.”