Third annual Tipi Raisers ride rebuilds homes and hope

On their third annual ride, The Tipi Raisers passed through Kimball on Wednesday, Aug. 2 and stayed the night at the Kimball County Fair Grounds.

This group of riders, including Lakota Sioux natives from Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, are riding 400 miles on horseback to raise awareness of the hardships on the Pine Ridge Reservation as well as to raise funds to help the Lakota tribe members rebuild their homes and their community.

Executive Director Dave Ventimiglia began the ride, which originates in Colorado, to educate others of the poverty, homelessness and heartbreak suffered by Native Americans on the reservation.

Funding covers expenses for the ride, building materials and a youth ambassador program that allows youth from the reservation to speak to others off the reservation. The history is complicated on the reservation, Ventimiglia said, due to broken treaties. For non-natives to hear their stories is healing for the tribe.

Money trickles in often from just getting the word out.

"We are a non-profit, we could get grants, but this is how we choose to do it," Ventimiglia said. "People see what we are doing, they meet a family and they get invested."

The Tipi Raisers, a registered 501(c)(3) organization accepts tax-deductible donations to further their purpose – to bring the wisdom, culture and traditions of the Lakota people to modern day America while working to alleviate the conditions of poverty and hopelessness on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation. Visit the website at http://www.TheTipiRaisers.org to learn more or make a tax-deductible donation.

The organization has completed the ride for the last three years and members then remain on the reservation to lend a helping hand, rebuilding homes and rebuilding relationships.

While some of this year's riders live on the Pine Ridge reservation, which is the poorest area in the U.S., according to Ventimiglia, others heard of the ride and joined from as far away as Georgia.

The total trip is 400 miles and daily mileage varies due to many factors, though the group last year was able to put in 72 miles in one day, on horseback.

"The number per day varies wildly, depending on how the horses are doing, who is riding that day – some of the riders are very experienced and we can put in 40-50 miles a day," Ventimiglia said. "When we have new riders we are slowed down maybe 10 miles a day. Weather dictates it, when it is really hot it slows us down."

Because there are so many variables, the organizers cannot accurately determine where they stop for the night, but they do not worry, and they have rarely not been welcomed.

"It's not really luck, we have learned to truly trust that it will all work out. We send riders up ahead when we know we are nearing the end of the day," Ventimiglia said. "That has been one of the best parts of this whole experience, especially in middle America."

The riders are accompanied by a truck with a horse trailer and a car and they carry with them the most precious necessities, food and water for themselves and the horses. Ventimiglia said they have always been blessed to find shade, shelter and a good, safe place for the horses and riders to rest overnight.

"In Bushnell there is this beautiful watering hole right off the highway, everybody jumped in and cooled off," he said.

Waylon and Priscilla Belt rode, along with their children, this year. Their family of five currently resides in a 25 foot camper trailer on the reservation. Ventimiglia is working with them and others to renovate Waylon's grandmother's home for them.

Waylon, from the Ogallala on the Pine Ridge reservation, rode last year as well when he arrived on the reservation after the last year's ride a news crew met him. He spoke with them of the poverty and the homelessness experienced at Pine Ridge.

"My experience started off helping with the ride, I rode onto the reservation with Dave," Waylon said. "They build homes on the reservation and my decision to ride that year was a key factor in receiving help this year."

After that first ride, Ventimiglia helped Waylon's family with firewood, clothes, Christmas gifts and basic needs.

"In return, as Lakota tradition goes, I help in any way that I can," Waylon said. "Lakota tradition says to help one another but it doesn't say to help one another for money."

Currently the Tipi Raisers are rebuilding his grandmother's home for Waylon's family and more materials are needed, part of which will be purchased with funds raised from this year's ride.

Ventimiglia also asked Terry Spoon Hunter to help this year, singing and drumming for the horses. Spoon Hunter is a professional singer and often performs at PowWows. He helped with the opening ceremony, singing for the horses and for the riders.

"I had seen Dave on the reservation a few times, but I didn't know why he was there," Terry said. "I learned Dave's goals – to help the Lakota people with homes. Their need is great, and I too, am a helper, with a helper's heart."

Though he is homeless Terry, an Arapahoe from Wind River, is far from hopeless. He lives at Pine Ridge in his car.

"The Creator has guided all of us here and is always with us," he said. "I praise him and help with song."

Tribal government changes every two years, according to Terry, and each new leader promises housing to someone new, but the tribal government can't always follow through on their promises in such a short term. Instead, the housing list continues to grow.

On the reservation, the homes that are built by tribal government come with many more rules, Terry said, but if you build your own home, on your own land, it is yours.

"Every time the government changes, people suffer. Everybody needs a home," he said. "The Lakota people are about love, compassion and helping one another. Dave pledged to give homes to the unfortunate. Dave is Lakota at heart."

As they prepared to leave Kimball for Sidney, and ultimately for home on the Pine Ridge reservation, Terry picked up his drum and began singing his praise and his prayer while the horses and riders circled.

"This is my family," he said. "We united and created a family and now we unite to create a community."