2020 Serving Our Community and Celebrating Our Culture |
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Dear Friends: You have helped the Center Pole overcome many challenges this year. We know the pandemic is affecting everyone differently as we navigate through these times, and we want you to know that you are in our prayers. Your support has helped us to continue to serve a vulnerable population during this time and we are thankful to be able to continue our efforts to distribute food, winter clothing and this year PPE and masks. The services we provide are needed now, more than ever…. This pandemic has brought into focus the importance of community, support and safety. We provide these basic human needs that can enhance the quality of life and promote physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health through the strength of our cultural values and the generosity of our supporters. Covid 19 pandemic has changed how we experience community. We wish we could be sitting down with you to talk about our plans for moving through the coming year. We wish we could invite you here to see our work in action. We wish we were shaking hands or giving you a grateful hug. While we cannot do these things, we can come together with hope in our hearts to make a difference for those we serve. Together may we stay committed to continue serving those who are in need and envision a brighter 2021. Blessings, Peggy White Wellknown Buffalo and Susan Kelly |
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A Bridge to the Community |
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Since COVID, we have delivered 3 million pounds of recovery, donated and purchased food and supplies into rural southeastern Montana this year. Our radio station has provided needed connection to health and other community information. Interns, learning workforce skills, deliver food, both meals and boxes, to an area of 3 million acres of the Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservation. Community members who have transportation pick up cases of food for those without. At night excess produce is left by the gate and anyone in need is welcome. It is a busy place. |
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Center Pole has always repositioned itself to meet the changing needs of the population here. |
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Our healthy foods café closed and became a “soup kitchen.” Center Pole is a resource center for basic needs in a poor community under siege. |
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Practical Sustainability in Process |
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A few years ago, Center Pole constructed an earth lodge model, 27 feet in diameter which was made of storm damaged wood, gathered from the vast reservation forest floor. It cost less than $1,200 in materials and fuel. It is currently used as sacred space. Part of the concept of forest reciprocity and fuel load reduction, the clearing of the forest floor prevents forest fires and promotes the growth of trees and diversity in the ecosystem. Trees clean our air and prevent climate change through carbon sequestration. Center Pole instructors are teaching community interns to clean the forest floors in the Wolf Mountains and bring down the wood. |
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Center Pole is supplying wood stoves to its interns for heating homes and wood has become part of these young people’s businesses and livelihoods. Logs from this project are also being used in the first building of the Center Pole infrastructure redesign, a building also being built by community interns. It is an indigenous win-win: build the forest ecosystem while revitalizing the local economy. The second building next summer will utilize a rocket stove, an older technology that uses minimal wood to produce substantial heat. The construction of this stove, utilizing a simple technology, will be an ongoing workshop for the community. |
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Native Artists Co-Op Introduces First Artist in Residence |
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Native art has always been a central, grounding and healing element in indigenous communities. Art is part of everyday life and is central to who we are. Center Pole’s Native Artist Coop seeks to promote and preserve the identity of Native cultures through artistic expression and help artists to showcase and sell their wares Ron Yazzie, Center Pole‘s first artist in residence, is a gifted painter, wood worker, sculptor and jeweler. He will be teaching classes, opening his studio to visitors in 2021 and hosting art shows. He is converting Center bunkhouse into a studio and maker’s space. See Ron's art at thecenterpole.org or visit Wellknown Buffalo Café on the Crow Indian Reservation in Garryowen, MT. |
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Crow Virtual Archive and Museum Project |
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Ten years ago, Center Pole began a digital collection of Crow Medicine bundles and other items, held in the Smithsonian Institution Research Center in Suitland, Maryland. Today, that project has evolved into the Crow Virtual Archive and Museum, an online collection of Crow artifacts and historical photos. Center Pole partnered with Professor Cindy Ott and a group of students at University of Delaware to create this resource of rare, never-before-seen digitized historical material and will continue to evolve, connect and bring history home to the community. This project will be an aspect of the Center Pole’s Medicine Memorial and is part of our community healing mission. The design for the Medicine Memorial, by Molly Esteve, an architect and volunteer at Center Pole, won the American Institute of Architects’ regional honor in 2020. The Medicine Memorial will overlook the Battle of the Little Big Horn Battlefield and is built in honor of the medicine men and women who are the forgotten strength in the survival of the original peoples. |
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How You can help us make a difference! |
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Purchase Authentic Native Art, original gifts, Crow Roasted coffee, gift cards and more from our online gift shop. |
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Donate online by pressing green button: |
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Aho and Kun Na Di Wa A Chile (Thank You and May You Have Many Good Days Added To Your Life) |
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We thank you for your kind support for the critical Center Pole programs and services that serve many people on the Crow Reservation. Center Pole is a 501c3 Native non-profit organization. Contributions are tax deductible. |
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