Christmas in Hawai'i

Why Pretty Bird Woman House Needs You

First, a huge mahalo to everyone who donated to help buy a new house for the Pretty Bird Woman House. I am told that they received a lot of attention from this Web site, and I am deeply touched that your spirit of aloha spread to embrace these embattled women.

The goal for the purchase of a new house was met, and then some, thanks to all of you and thousands of other contributors across the nation. At last abused women will have a haven!

The Pretty Bird Woman House is a shelter for abused women on the South Dakota side of the Standing Rock Reservation. It opened in January of 2005. It is named after a woman who was kidnapped, raped and beaten to death. Jackie Brown Otter, her sister, envisioned a shelter, a place where threatened women could go. A base for the fight to prevent these crimes and when they occur, seek justice on behalf of the victim. She wanted to name this place with her sister's Lakota name: Pretty Bird Woman. Over the course of three years she and a small group of women struggled to make this happen. Then, in late 2004, the South Dakota Coalition Against Domestic Violence came through with a grant and hired Georgia Little Shield, a nurse with ten years experience in the domestic violence as Director of Pretty Bird Woman House.

For the past 2 years, it has been struggling financially. Part of this is because it is new, and part is because of the budget cuts that all human services organizations have experienced in recent years. The shelter was in danger of closing in May, but the netroots got together and chipped in so it could stay open until it received a 3-year Federal grant in the fall. That was an amazing story.

What then happened was that the building in which the shelter was housed was vandalized by thieves who smashed through the walls so often in the process of stealing everything that wasn't nailed down that it became unsafe for anyone to stay there. To add insult to injury, somebody torched the building the day after they moved out. So this is why Pretty Bird Woman House needed a new house. Please find it in your heart to help the women of the Standing Rock Reservation however you can. In addition to, or instead of, the Chip In contribution at their Web site, you can also purchase mugs, t-shirts and other items with the organization's lovely images on them, or you can contribute much needed material goods (they need warm clothing, diapers, etc. as well).

And if you shop online, you can even contribute all year long without spending a dime of your own money! You can discover details about that (it's sooo easy!) here: You shop, They win. Help Pretty Bird Woman House for FREE!

Mahalo for helping, and Mele Kalikimaka!

For information about this worthy cause and their desperate need,
please visit http://prettybirdwomanhouse.blogspot.com/

Pretty Bird Woman House is a 501 (c) 3 charitable organization

braddahs an' sistahs wen visit dis site.