As temperatures dipped below zero on January 12, leaders from the Woyatan Lutheran Church and Wambli Ska Society were notified that they needed to close their makeshift warming shelter.
Nativeshop.org and the Native American Women s Health Education Resource Center (NAWHERC) are projects of the Native American Community Board (NACB), based in Lake Andes, South Dakota.
There’s a generation’s-old belief Lakota share with their children.
“We re always taught culturally, to think about the collective, especially when there s a threat,” says Wayne Frederick.
“That’s essentially how we’re raised. So, although a lot of our language and our ceremonies were wiped out, we still retained our Lakota way of life. Of caring for one another because like our late Aunt Roslie Little Thunder would say, “every day, every day get up and think about what you can do for those around you. Think about the collective and how to survive.” That’s always been ingrained in us. So, when it came to this pandemic, it was no question that we were gonna do what we could,’” Alex Romero says.