Center of Life sprouts with help from supporters

By Jomay Steen, Journal Staff Writer | Thursday, August 17, 2006

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EAGLE BUTTE -- Amid drum beats and applause, Center of Life, a $4 million, 26,000-square-foot facility serving American Indian youths ages 13 to 18, was opened this week for tours and blessings on Cheyenne River Indian Reservation.

Cheyenne River Youth Project executive director Julie Garreau and teenager R.J. Lawrence, both of Eagle Butte, cut the gold ribbon Monday to the mostly unfurnished teen center entrance. The center features classrooms, art and dance studios, a library, a gymnasium, an arcade and an Internet cafe designed for reservation youths.

Olympic gold medalist and spokesman Billy Mills of Running Strong for American Indian Youth toured the facility Sunday with 50 contributors and others from the nonprofit agency. Mills said he was impressed.

"When opening a facility like this, you can't help but think about our past," Mills said.

Several years ago on a car trip from a speaking engagement in Eagle Butte, Garreau drove Mills to an airport for a flight to his California home.

During the two-hour trip, Garreau talked about her vision and the need for a teen center that would involve reservation youths from its planning to its operation. Her enthusiasm and determination persuaded Mills to get Running Strong to help.

In 1997, Running Strong awarded the teen center a $100,000 challenge grant to leverage support from other foundations and private donors.

The tribe awarded the land to the organization for the facility and future use. Other funding came from foundations and federal sources.

But Running Strong also promoted the facility nationwide as a place where youths could pursue their talents, receive counseling, do homework or be in a safe environment.

On Monday, Running Strong contributors from Connecticut to California, organizers and founders were guests in the audience.

Mills, whose mother died when he was 9, grew up in poverty in Martin on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. But growing up as a tribal member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, he said there were always people who stepped forward at the right moment in his life to help him.

On Monday, he saw a world of people - tribal people, council members and contributors - reaching out to solidify the dreams, visions and futures of Indian youths through the new Center of Life.

"Today, you cut the ribbon at the start of a new destiny," Mills said.

Eight years ago, Lawrence, 14, began participating in the programs at The Main, a converted liquor store that served children, ages 6 to 12, in a variety of programs.

Lawrence met many college students from throughout the nation, who served as volunteers to The Main's various summer programs designed to enhance education and keep children off the streets.

The Cheyenne River youth formed fast friendships with the volunteers and The Main staff, which he still maintains. But two years ago, Lawrence outgrew the programs of the children's center that had been a big part of his life.

That was until Monday, when Center of Life opened.

"In my opinion, it's a great place to be," he said Monday before several hundred people attending the ribbon cutting. "I would like to thank Julie Garreau and the board of directors for their tremendous effort to make the teen center a reality."

Garreau said she had talked about the center every day for four years, depending on a cadre of donors, volunteers, staff, friends and relatives to help realize the dream of a youth facility.

The teen center was a project that was part of a great leap of faith, she said.

"We couldn't walk slowly into this; we had to dive into it," Garreau said of plunging into the project and finding funds to finance the building's design, construction and finding the land for it.

She said the building was a huge statement of how the community felt about its youth.

"This is our victory day," Garreau said.