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On Wednesday, Sept. 27, approximately 200 members of the Cheyenne River community joined the Cheyenne River Youth Project’s staff and volunteers for CRYP’s 5th annual Harvest Festival Celebration. Not only did participants enjoy a beautiful, harvest-inspired meal, they were able to attend a special sneak-peek showing of a short documentary film titled “Lakota in America.”
Square Inc., a financial services and mobile payment company based in San Francisco, commissioned the project, which was produced by Even/Odd Films. “Lakota in America” tells the story of local teen Genevieve Iron Lightning, her involvement with CRYP and its innovative internship program, and life on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation.
Square and Even/Odd staff traveled to Eagle Butte to attend this special community event and film premiere, as did Square CEO (and founder) Jack Dorsey, who also is the CEO and co-founder of Twitter. After the film, Dorsey moderated a short Q&A panel with Julie Garreau, CRYP’s executive director, and Chris James, CEO of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development.
Garreau and her staff presented Dorsey with a star quilt handmade by community member Bonnie LeBeaux, and then they all joined Iron Lighting and the rest of the team for an honor line.
“Lakota in America” made its worldwide debut on Facebook Live and Twitter Live at 10 a.m. Pacific on Monday, Oct. 9. It’s now available online at https://squareup.com/dreams/lakota.