Sorry this took so long, it's been a more-than-usually hectic midwinter holidays season around here, plus I kept breaking my computers, and have only gotten one of them repaired, restored, and set back up in a much cleaner corner of my office only a day ago.
During the month of December, dairies such as navajo's You Can Help Lakotas... and Betson08's 'Tis the Season... brought attention to the needs of the Lakota people as Winter began. These are groups and projects that we as a community have helped in past, and certainly are worthy of our collective support throughout the year.
So I decided I would add my voice and support and cash to the general efforts to raise some funds to get safer heaters and propane delivered to families before Christmas, and to help Okiciyap's building project.
On Dec 13th, I wrote a diary Helping the Lakota People keep warm and healthy.... in which I asked people to buy propane and new propane heaters that the good people of St Francis Energy could distribute to their customers who needed propane and to replace dangerous old heaters that people could not afford to repair or replace. I also pointed to the Okiciyap organization efforts to build a food pantry and provide for young people activities, projects and services that would enrich their lives and give them a chance of building a healthier community for every generation.
I want to say thank you so much to everyone who rec'ed my dairy, promoted my diary in open threads and other diaries, who sent the link out to other people, who made donations to any of the projects and funds I was asking people to help out, and who gave me so much encouragement, and honored me by their support and their private messages.
So follow me beyond the Orange Squiggle to see the results of my personal fundraising efforts and what I discovered along the way....
As I wrote in that diary, I put up a challenge, asking for recs for the diary so that it would be seen by as many people as possible, saying I would donate another $150 propane delivery for every 120 recs I got.
I offered to buy a new Mr Big Buddy heater to be delivered to St Francis for every 6 heaters people bought, and asked people to send me a note if they did order a new heater.
I also pointed out the on-going effort for Okiciyap to create a food pantry and youth programs in the Cheyenne River area, which needs a structure to use for their mission. They have a good deal on a manufactured building, but need to raise $20K to complete the purchase and get the building moved and placed with foundations, utility hookups, etc.. I made a note of how much they had in their moving fund, and said that for every $500 that was donated in the following 24 hours, I would donate another $100.
As the day went on, people chimed in with their donations, their encouragement, their pledges. A couple of people offered to give gifts to the people who made contributions and bought heaters - (still have to sort all that out, please forgive for my delays! and drop me a note via kosmail if you were offering gifts or would like to receive a beautiful 2012 diary from the Museum of the American Indian or a hand-knitted scarf).
Others said that they were giving a donation in honor of a family member, or because they remembered their own hard times. Over and over again, people were full of kindness and, using that old word for that mystery of the spirit, agape. More than a few times, private messages to me were filled with so much hope and goodwill, I was given the gift of Yuletide's promise; that the Light was returning to a darkened world, and that together we would greet the rising Sun.
So here's my tally of my own personal fundraising efforts. I note that some of the donations, pledges and contributions were not made in public posts, some folks sent me private notes, others seemed to have anonymously gone ahead and made a donation to one of the projects without any public or private fanfare. Others pledged to make a donation in January, or when they could. So a bit of this is just an approximation based on my assumptions and private correspondence:
I got 162 recs on my diary! When you subtract 120 from 162, you get the sacred number of 42! Naturally, I could not let that sacred revelation go without honoring it, so St Francis Energy will be getting a total donation for the propane fund of $192 from me.
FIVE people sent new heaters to Sherry at St Francis Energy to use to replace broken and unsafe heaters for her customers. That's so close to my goal, I'm declaring that five is good enough for horseshoes and heaters, so I'll be ordering another heater to be shipped to St Francis Energy.
Some folks wrote that they were going to make donations of propane, or to Okiciyap in the New Year, and those donations will mean that there will be more propane, more funds available to Okiciyap as they work towards their goals. I estimate that more than $600 was pledged and will be given to these projects within the next month. I'm going to assume that half of that total will be going to Okiciyap and half to the propane funds at St Francis Energy.
Okiciyap's building project funds rose more than $1k in the 24 hours that followed. Certainly my diary was the not only impetus for people to donate to the project, but I'm taking full credit for it, will add in the $300 estimate of donations in January, and am sending Okiciyap a check for $250 to honor the Kos community.
In the hours and days that followed, other people wrote comments and dairies about the projects in the Lakota nations that we could help. And help we did.
The effort to raise $500 for a Christmas dinner for the Okiciyap community raised more than $1,200. That meant not only a bountiful dinner for one night, but that there was more food available to share in the month to come. People sent gifts and cash and gift cards for Georgia and Okiciyap to share with their community, and many people, not just children, had a little extra joy and treasure to brighten their winter.
Okiciyap's building fund has risen from a little less than $5K on Dec 13 to just over $9K as I write this diary. They still need $11k to meet their goal, and it would sure make me a happy NMRed to see that by the end of January they had the funds they need.
I took the public donations, added in the private messages, carried the one, multiplied by the unmeasurable human kindness of so many in our community and came up with a total that still astounds me. And I can't thank you all enough for the gifts you have given, the support you have expressed, and for the all the good deeds done through not just my diary, but the countless other efforts for so many projects we have supported to make life a little better for others. Whether that be helping a community member pay their rent, giving gift subscriptions to dKos, donating to so many good organizations, projects and people, with time, ideas, cash, support, gifts, dairies and comments, and most importantly, of yourselves; you reached out to others and offered your heart, your help, your Light.
And I am grateful as that Light shines upon us all.
A Hundred Thousand Blessings, and my unexpressible thanks to you all, my dear loving and beloved community.