Pretty Bird Woman House needs a house — you can help

I have been following the story of Pretty Bird Woman House — a desperately needed shelter for battered women & children on the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota — since May of this year. I have always been an activist type who enjoys championing one cause or another, but due to a lack of funds I have to be very selective about where I donate money, which means that most of my pet causes have to make due with a contribution of my time. PBWH is the one charity I will donate to whether I can afford it or not — it's that important.

So much has been written online that I'll direct you to Daily Kos for the backstory, which I hope you'll take the time to read, but more urgently I want to call attention to the shelter's current campaign to raise funds for a new building (Chip In below). Please help if you can.

From the Pretty Bird Woman House blog:

The shelter is in dire straits right now. Its original building was rather run down but operable. However, this year there were so many burglaries in which people broke right through the walls that the building became so unsafe that they were forced to move out before they could find a new building.

Until they find a new house, Georgia Littleshield and her two staff are driving the women to 2 other shelters, one near the eastern edge of the Standing Rock Reservation and the other on the Cheyenne River Reservations. This strains the resources of the other shelters, and, due to the distances involved, limits the services that the PBWH staff can provide to the women of the reservation. The Standing Rock Tribal Council is now providing the shelter with free office space and storage, but PBWH really needs its own house in a safe location.

As you can see, the PBWH desperately needs a home of its own. A suitable house has become available across from a police station. Considering that there are only a few police officers patrolling an area the size of Connecticut, this would be the perfect location for the shelter.

We are asking for your donations to help the PBWH buy a new home and an electronic fencing and security system, which will finally ensure the safety of the women seeking emergency shelter. We will be kicking off a ChipIn fundraiser on October 31st. In the meantime, please feel free to send your checks directly to the shelter. The address is on the right side of this page.

Pretty Bird Woman House is a 501 (c)3 charitable organization, which means that your donations are fully tax deductible.

If you are uncomfortable with making an online Chip In donation, there is an address for sending a check by mail in the right sidebar of the PBWH blog.