The Magpie Community Foundation (MCF) is a group of organizers and Lakota elders committed to addressing the needs of the Oglala Lakota people on the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota. Pine Ridge is one of the most impoverished Reservations in the country, with an unemployment rate of 80-90%. Many families have no electricity, telephone service, running water, or sewers and must use wood-burning stoves to heat their homes. Pine Ridge residents often need to travel up to two hours to reach a store with reasonably priced produce and other foodstuffs of decent quality. In 2016, MCF set up gardens on the Poor Bear family land east of Allen, SD and seasonally distributes the produce to area residents. In 2017, with the help of private funders, MCF was able to dig a well with a hand pump to irrigate the gardens and provide drinking water. A Project Grant of $10,000 has been awarded to MCF for the purchase and installation of a solar pump and drip irrigation system to support this indigenous food sovereignty initiative.
Blog #227: Project Grant to Magpie Community Foundation
0