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“I’m more than willing to work, but I can’t get more than minimum wage,” Rockwood said. “The nearest job is 27 miles away. Getting minimum wage only pays for gas. It’s not worth it. It feels like they don’t want us to work.”
Crow Creek is the poorest reservation in the nation; more than 97 percent of the 3,000 residents are unemployed, according to tribal officials. Crow Creek lies mostly in Buffalo County, S.D., the nation’s poorest county according to U.S. Census data. Single women head more than 30 percent of the homes, and the median household income is less than $13,000 a year. In nearby Jerauld County, similar in size and population, 6 percent of households are headed by women, the median household income is more than $30,000, and the unemployment rate hovers around 3 percent.
Relief
The tribe’s conditions prompted city officials from Winona, members from the Winona/Dakota Unity Alliance and Lyle Rustad, director of the St. Cloud, Minn.-based Diversity Foundation to collect and deliver clothing, furniture and appliances last week.
“This is only a band-aid to what these people really need,” Rustad said. “The members of this tribe need improved education facilities and resources, more housing, repairs to their water and sewage infrastructure, and they need good-paying jobs. There are no easy solutions here.”
The group delivered mattresses, microwave ovens, televisions and clothing from Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical in a 53-foot semi-trailer, which was driven by the college’s driving instructor, Tom Gierok, and one of his students.
On the reservation, fewer than half of high school seniors enrolled at the beginning of the year are expected to graduate, said High School Principal Joseph Ashley.
Of the 174 students in the elementary school this year, only 5 percent are expected to graduate from high school, tribal officials say; of those graduates, only 2 percent will go on to a higher learning institution.
In the elementary, 90 percent of the students families are well below the national poverty level. “There’s a lot of despair here,” Elementary Principal Robyn Thompson said. “When children get to the middle school they start to realize how bad things are for them. They begin to think they don’t have much of a future.”
And the school buildings are falling apart. Boilers fail. Roofs leak. Kids have to go outside for physical education because the gym was condemned. Last year, the high school dormitories burned down. Federal funding promised for new schools has been delayed until 2012.
“The schools are falling apart,” said Elementary Principal Robyn Thompson.
The rest of the reservation hasn’t fared much better.
Tribal council member Donny McGhee said the reservation needs 1,000 more homes.
“We need many more homes and we need to make repairs to our existing homes,” McGhee said. “They are run down. We need a lot of home repair.”
Rockwood, 40, knows first hand how badly home repairs and upkeep are needed. She’s embarrassed to admit that her home is infested with cockroaches. She also has severe problems with mold, which has caused respiratory problems with many of her children, requiring them to use nebulizers.
“We got cockroaches when they delivered our stove a few years ago,” she said. “We tried to kill them, but we can’t afford to pay an exterminator. Last time one was here, it cost us $150 for one treatment.”
Rockwood, attended college in Sioux Falls, but returned to the reservation to care for her parents. “Now I’m stuck here,” she said. “I don’t have any money to get away. The jobs don’t pay enough and I can’t get ahead.”
With two broken cars, it’s hard to get around, and low wages make getting daycare difficult. Rockwood has tried to get a job as a medical technologist, but the most she’s been offered at the hospital in Chamberlain, the closest town 27 miles away, was $6.50 an hour.
A new sofa
Rockwood and her family received a couch as part of the shipment, which was the second from Winona and Rochester.
The idea to provide relief originally came from Rustad, who coordinates the Dakota Homecoming in Winona. Rustad turned to city and local organizations to help pull-off the task. Winona City Manager Eric Sorensen said he has seen a great outpouring by his community.
“I think there is a growing interest in the community to learn about ourselves by helping others in need,” Sorensen said. “It’s really growing and I think it reflects real people.”
Another shipment is planned in mid April. Rustad said tribal members need baby clothes and clothing for small children, but they have enough clothing for adults. The tribe needs more beds and mattresses and furnishings. Rustad suggests that cash donations would also be helpful because it would help to pay to get the items to the reservation and it could be used to buy new things the Dakota people need.
“So many people here go without, especially the elderly,” said Diane Big Eagle, who helped coordinate receiving the donations. “We will make sure the people who need them the most get them, but this is not enough. We need so much more.”
