As you may know, Okiciyap is a food pantry on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation supported by this community. This year we are continuing with a school supplies drive for 50 middle and high school students and 90 K-6 students in Isabel and the surrounding communities.
Kossacks have already sent Okiciyap a lot of supplies, but we still need more, particularly 3 and 5 subject notebooks, scissors, pens and pencils, and crayons (see the list below).
The pantry is a success! It receives regular shipments of food from Feeding South Dakota, and some food but mostly items such as shampoo, soap, and toothpaste from National Relief Charities. On the third Friday and Saturday of each month they have "pantry day," when they open up for people to pick up the food they need. Those in need of emergency food supplies can also call the pantry and the volunteers will open it for them.
This all got started because of Georgia Little Shield's determination and this community's generosity. In case you're not familiar with the project, Georgia died suddenly last year, but her family has taken up her cause and helped the pantry project to flourish.
Below is a list of supplies needed and an update on what has been pledged. In addition to supplies, this community has already donated $250 to help them fill in any donations gaps. You can add to this total here: Donate
Last weekend the pantry sold Indian tacos after the town parade, with these two young women marching in homemade costumes to attract sales. No shortage of enthusiasm here!
Supplies needed:
5 and 3 subject notebooks
Backpacks or Messenger bag
Markers
Crayons
Scissors
Pens & Pencils
Folders
Binders/Trapper Keepers
Calculators/Scientific & Regular
Glue Sticks and Regular Glue
Pencil Boxes or bags
Erasers
Pencil sharpeners
colored pencils
Rulers
Compass & Protractors
Boys and girls socks & undies (all sizes)
Suggested in a comment:
There's always a need for things like pocket packs of tissues and hand sanitizers for kids. Maybe small bottles of hand sanitizer for the kids and a big refill bottle or two would be useful. Bulk packs of tissues are lightweight and can be added to pad other items in a box.
Don't forget you can pack a lot of things into the pre-paid Priority Mail boxes from the USPS for a very reasonable cost.
(notice the books!)
Pledged so far:
For some Kossacks, this has been an opportunity to clean out drawers of collected school & office supplies, resulting in a giant box of stuff containing:
notebooks and notepads
pens, pencils, and markers
colored pencils and those little water paint sets
folders and notebooks
rulers, erasers and scissors
a protractor
And from another, lots of colored pencils, markers, crayons and paint, along with some notebooks.
Some have picked up supplies from a variety of sources (see section below for ideas) and that's resulted in:
12 packs of 24 Crayons
48 scientific calculators
1000 assorted colorful advertising and school #2 pencils with erasers
48 5-subject wired notebooks - 150 pages, college rule, assorted colors
96 solar&battery-powered regular calculators in assorted colors
2 of: Dixon Ticonderoga My First Tri-Write Triangular #2 Pencils, Primary Size, Wood-Cased, Black Writing, 36-Count 72 primary school pencils
2 of: Dixon Ticonderoga Woodcase Pencils, HB #2, Yellow Barrel, 96 per Pack 192 standard pencils kids of all ages always need pencils, and this are just plain yellow pencils so if you see bright colorful pencils on sale, grab some!
2 of: Bazic 3-Ring Pencil Pouch with Mesh Window, 24 Assorted colors (Case of 24) 48 pencil pouches there's 4 different colors packed in each case.
6 of: TOPS 3-Subject Spiral Notebooks, College Rule, 10.5 x 8 Inches, 120 Sheets/Book, Covers May Vary, 6-Pack 36 3-subject notebooks
a pledge for some socks & undies (tho more, for all ages & sizes of boys & girls, are always appreciated!)
18 pink erasers
24 bright colored 12" rulers
25 pocket folders with brads
6 packs of 24 ct. Crayons
There's even been matching challenge: Bugsby has offered a matching challenge for the next 2 people who send a book of Forever Stamps. We're 50% of the way there. Just one more, and the match kicks in to provide 2 more, ensuring a total of four books of Forever Stamps. THE MATCH STILL STANDS!! Let us know in a comment if you are willing to send a book of stamps so Bugsby can match.
Pledged in the last diary:
12 1" blue vinyl ring binders
12 1" red vinyl ring binders
10 boxes of 16 crayons
60 school glue sticks, Elmer's disappearing purple
36 compasses
36 protractors
24 kids scissors, 5" blunt, assorted colors
4 Sterilite pencil boxes
4 kids scissors
(3) 6pk pink erasers
(4) 10 pk Papermate black pens
(3) 10 pk generic black pens
(3) 10 pk generic blue pens
(3) 8 pk generic pencils
3 flat plastic pencil pouches with sliders
(8) 12 pk Papermate black pens
(9) 12 pk Papermate blue pens
(3) 24 pk Scotch glue sticks
4 colored plastic rulers
8 pk girls socks size M (shoe size 10-13)
8 pk boys socks size M (shoe size 10-13)
2 small messenger bags
2 used but 100% functional Trans backpacks
1 used but 100% functional pink Five Star pencil case
(this last group was donated by a new Kossack, yay!)
I never cease to be amazed by the generosity of this community
Pledges since the last diary
192 erasers and 192 little pencil sharpeners (because that's how many were in the lot), assorted colors, on their way
(this is an ebay fan, highly recommended source!).
From my KosMail:
That Bags in Bulk website (see below) really has some good deals. Given my delight at how good the prices were and my general feelin' good mood, I ordered some backpacks to be sent this week.
So add this to the list as purchased:
48 19 inch backpacks - multiple colors - black/purple/pink/green
48 19 inch bungee cord backpacks - multiple colors - black/blue/red
These backpacks strike me as the right size for kids in 5th grade thru high school. We would still need some more bags for older students, and maybe 2-3 dozen in a smaller size for K-4th grade. So the remaining amount of 'packs would be great for people to send just one or two that they found at a local sale or from their closet. For those folks who get lots of swag at professional conferences, I'm sure there's a few messenger bags with company logos gathering dust in closets that would be useful for the older students.
48 pencil pouches - these are a different style from the ones I ordered a couple of days ago. We could still use more cases and boxes for students of all grades. Would still need about 50-60 cases/boxes/pouches to cover every student.
I will try to create a less messy list of the donations tomorrow....
In the meantime, some folks have suggested that the folks at Okiciyap might be better able to fill gaps with money instead of relying solely on donations, so there have been some monetary contributions of over $250 so far. If you feel that you could best help out this way (or you just don't feel like shopping), just click here: Donate
Some online sources for school supplies:
Amazon
Overstock.com
eBags
Discount School Supply
Costco
BagsinBulk (backpacks)
Made-in-America by Union Workers source for backpackschool supplies
Don't forget about ebay! Asam has donated a large quantity of calculators and other items because they are cheap and easy to get on ebay. Thanks for both the donations and the suggestion!
Here's the address if you're using the USPS
Okiciyap
PO Box 172
Isabel SD 57633
If you are using a shipping service that requires a street address, this one is accurate:
Okiciyap, c/o Cindy Taylor
506 N. Madison Ave
Isabel, S.D. 57633
(This is Cindy's house. I don't know why, but sometimes this address comes up as "not found" for some shippers. She does receive packages here, so keep trying. You may have to enter the address several times on Amazon for example, but it will eventually take it. The packages will definitely get lost if they are delivered to the pantry because there are no full time staff there).
If you have any questions, you can call or email the pantry director, Emily Penick Taylor:
505-328-4357
emilytaylor.penick@yahoo.com
Want to just get out your credit card and donate something without shopping?
Click here:
Donate
Isabel's Annual Wacipi (Pow wow)
Okiciyap is organizing Isabel's pow wow this year in honor of Georgia Little Shield. Later this week, Navajo and Betson08 are going and will report back to this awesome community. They will present the Daily Kos Quilt Guild's quilt along with a plaque honoring Georgia Little Shield while there.
P.S. We need people to do diaries for this drive. If you have time, we'd really appreciate a diary as a contribution. I know many are tapped out right now, so a diary is a great way to help in lieu of buying something. Thank you.
(goofing around in front of the book rack after raising money for the pantry with an Indian taco sale)
Making the Indian tacos for the fundraiser