Group views program progress

By Jomay Steen, Journal Staff Writer | Thursday, September 08, 2005

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RAPID CITY - In the simple words and warm smiles of the Christian Relief Services Food Delivery Program volunteers, 26 people felt the impact of their generosity.

At one of the stops of the 16th annual Running Strong for America Indian Youth Reservations Tour, a cross-section of patrons from throughout the nation toured a warehouse Wednesday morning at Deadwood Avenue.

Molly Farrell, media and programs coordinator of Running Strong, said the group had arrived in Rapid City on Sunday.

A third of them returned to South Dakota after previous tours to see progress the agency has made with programs on the Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River reservations, Farrell said.

Running Strong's spokesman, Billy Mills, an Oglala Sioux Tribe member and Olympic gold medalist, will meet with them at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10, at Hotel Alex Johnson, she said.

"Eleven have been on the tour before; they're here to see the progress," Farrell said.

Founded 20 years ago by Gene Krizek, who formerly worked with the Kennedy administration and State Department, the organization has provided housing, heat, youth centers and programs, food, agricultural self-sufficiency programs, dialysis clinics and 13 wells annually to the Indian families living on the reservation.

Krizek's son, Paul Krizek, general counsel for the Christian Relief Services Charities, has been on the tour eight or nine times.

"A lot of people want to come back; it's really amazing," Paul Krizek said.

He said patrons pay for the bus trip but that it isn't a fundraising event. It is an opportunity to see what the organization does and how their contributions work, he said.

Those on the tour may have given only $20 or thousands, but they all have the chance to meet people that their contributions have helped, Krizek said.

"These folks come away realizing their money was well spent," he said.

Farrell said the people had been impressed with the food program that serves Lakota people in all nine districts of the Pine Ridge reservation.

"To date, the program has distributed 1,268,790 pounds of food to 26,656 people," she said.

Fred Pond, a Pine Ridge Agency volunteer coordinator for the food program, thanked the people gathered at the warehouse for making a profound difference in the lives of American Indians.

"I appreciate the generosity you have shown us. You don't know what it means to the people we serve," he said.

Carl Broken Leg, a volunteer coordinator from Wounded Knee, said that his job was challenging but that it was fulfilling, too.

"During the hard times on the reservation, I see people who look forward to the boxes that we deliver. A little break like that, they really look forward to it," he said.

Mary Felicia of Porcupine, field coordinator, said the program's volunteers work with hundreds of people throughout the reservation.

"We have so many volunteers who do such a good job," she said.

After the warehouse tour and lunch, the group was scheduled to go to the Badlands, Eagle Butte and the Teen Center being built there. While in Eagle Butte, they will tour a nutrition center, food pantry, youth project gardens before returning to Rapid City. On Friday, the group travels to Pine Ridge to view the Oglala Sioux Tribe Partnership for Housing, a tour of Porcupine Year Round School and then on to a powwow in Chadron, Neb.

"We keep a busy pace," Farrell said of the tour.

Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com