GLASTONBURY, Conn. -- A Glastonbury American Indian storyteller is working to help the poorest place in America.

Rochelle Ripley created an organization to collect and deliver donations to the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in the center of South Dakota.

"It is the poorest place in America by U.S. census, and it is devastating poverty, it's poverty that we normally see in third-world nations," Ripley said.

The reservation is home to 14,000 residents, 12,000 of which are Lakota Indians.

Even though she resides in Glastonbury, Ripley said she feels a special connection to the area because she is Lakota herself. When she was 5 years old, Ripley said she made a promise to her grandmother that one day she would return to help their people.

"When I became a grandmother for the first time, I remembered my promise, and I began to fulfill that to honor my grandmother," she said.

Ripley's first trip to the reservation was in 1996.

"The challenges to helping the people are huge -- they're geographic because of the size, they're economic, they're health-related, they're emotional because our people have been traumatized for generations," Ripley said.

"It is the poorest place in America by U.S. census, and it is devastating poverty, it's poverty that we normally see in third-world nations.". -- Rochelle Ripley Founder of Hawkwing

Ripley said the reservation's inhabitants are still deeply affected by their history.

"Our people were the people who went to Wounded Knee and were massacred by the U.S. 7th Calvary," Ripley said. "Those that survived, and there were only about three men and about 30 women and children who survived that massacre, came back home to Cheyenne River."

Ripley, who works teaching Connecticut's children about making healthy choices, founded the Hawkwing organizations 11 years ago.

"Hawkwing is a nonprofit agency that we founded … in order to assist the Lakota Indian children and elders," Ripley said.

Throughout the year, Ripley and a host of volunteers collect items that the Lakota people need but cannot afford.

"Every child -- all 3,000 children, gets a box with their name on it and it has five to seven new clothing items. We give them a personal-care kit that usually has about 15 items -- shampoo, toothpaste, hair brushes. And then they get two new toys," she said.

Each December, Ripley and her volunteers pack up a truck headed to South Dakota with donations collected throughout the year.

"Every family fills out a sheet for us each year with their children's sizes and they're interests, and the best we can, we try to match up their interests with what we've gotten in donations," Ripley said. "We use 100 percent of our donations. One-hundred percent of our donations go directly out to the children and the elders."

Ripley said the organization is currently in danger of closing.

"We have a bit of a problem ... and hopefully someone who's listening out there is the angel to help us. Up until presently, the town of Glastonbury has given us warehouse space. The town of Glastonbury is having to take the building that we are in, so we are literally homeless now, so I desperately need someone to step forward and donate some warehouse space to us. I only need about 3,000 square feet, but that's what I need because we can't do our work without it," Ripley said.

More Information

For more information about making donations of needed items of warehouse space or to find out how to get involved as a volunteer, visit Hawkwing's Web site.

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