National Volunteer Week 2022
YOU are Re-Member!
We are back to work with you — our volunteers — working alongside us. It’s oh-so-good to resume hosting groups and individuals to learn and serve here on the Pine Ridge Reservation. In short: We’re back to building things, and building relationships.
After more than two years of being shuttered to volunteers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we pause today to celebrate you, our Re-Member volunteers who make our work possible.
“Tens of millions of Americans collectively volunteer billions of hours of their time each year. This commitment to service represents the best of who we are as Americans. During National Volunteer Week, we recognize the contributions that our Nation’s volunteers make every day and encourage all Americans to discover their path to making a difference.”
We believe that in addition to providing direct, tangible support to the Oglala Lakota people through construction, firewood delivery, farming, and other projects, the strongest way to promote positive exchange in one of the poorest areas of the United States is to build relationships. Through relationship building, our volunteers become advocates to stand in solidarity with the Oglala Lakota people.
The volunteers who visit Re-Member to learn about the Oglala Lakota and make life better on the Pine Ridge Reservation come from a diversity of backgrounds. Most come as part of groups affiliated with high schools, colleges, churches, or other organizations, but some come by themselves or with a few friends or family members.
Volunteers from Vermont dig a hole to install an outhouse in the Porcupine community with Re-Member staff Sidney Jealous of Him and Will Paese providing supervision and encouragement
Many Re-Member volunteers return to Pine Ridge year after year, establishing lasting friendships with staff, other volunteers, and Native community members as they seek to heal the wounds of the past, to "Re-Member," by putting back together that which is broken, and build hope for the future.
“Because you’ve never really lived until you’ve done something for someone who can never repay you.”
Happy National Volunteer Week!