The Pretty Bird Woman House will soon have a new home in McLaughlin, but the battle for long-term survival will continue for the struggling domestic-violence shelter, U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin said.

Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., praised the McLaughlin City Council for its unanimous vote last week to approve plans by the shelter to relocate in a house in a safer area of the downtown. But she also said that she and other supporters of the shelter would continue to push for federal funds that help maintain domestic-violence sanctuaries nationwide, including those on isolated Native American reservations.

"Pretty Bird Woman House provides a safe haven for victims of domestic violence in an area where, tragically, its services are sorely needed," Herseth Sandlin said.

Pretty Bird Woman House was named for Ivy Archambault, a McLaughlin-area woman who was raped and murdered in 2001. Her Lakota name was Pretty Bird Woman.

The shelter dedicated to her memory opened in 2005 but has struggled financially. It received a crucial three-year operating grant from the federal government last summer.

Herseth Sandlin, who held a congressional field meeting at Pretty Bird Woman House last year, said she is optimistic that shelters like Pretty Bird Woman House will not be squeezed out of existence by tight federal budgets. Advocates and supporters in Congress will not let that happen, she said.

The shelter provides the only domestic-violence sanctuary and outreach programs on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

"In the face of a tough budget environment with many worthy and competing priorities, I believe the Congress will provide strong funding for grant programs included in the Violence Against Women Act, such as the program through which Pretty Bird Woman House has already secured a grant," Herseth Sandlin said.

Pretty Bird Woman House faced another crisis last fall when it was forced to leave rent-free but inadequate quarters in a rough part of McLaughlin, where the shelter had suffered extensive vandalism and, finally, arson. An Internet fundraiser brought in $80,000 in donations and allowed the shelter to buy its own house in McLaughlin about a block from the police station and city hall.

"I will continue to call for full funding of the Violence Against Women Act and more funding for the Indian Health Service and to work with my colleagues in the House to provide adequate funding in the coming year for these critically important programs and services," Herseth Sandlin said.

The shelter staff will set up offices in the building soon and hopes to have the shelter open by late March or early April.

Donations welcome

Officials for the Pretty Bird Woman House domestic-violence shelter are seeking donations of household furnishings for their new house in McLaughlin.

"We're looking for a new washer and dryer, if anybody wants to donate," shelter director Georgia Little Shield said. "And we need bunk beds, sheets, a couch and chair set, things for the living room and dining room and any kind of cooking utensils."

The shelter, which now has expanded storage space, also seeks additional items to offer domestic-violence victims when they leave the shelter, Little Shield said.

"We can continue to take donations so we'll have things to give these women when they find their own homes," she said.

For information about making a donation of cash or goods, contact Little Shield at 823-7233.

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com