We returned from our very first Nation-based service trip on August 8. Our 7 member volunteer crew spent three days working on reupholstering kneelers and a few other random projects. Our main contact on the Reservation was Dwight Howe, the cultural educator at St. Augustine’s Mission Indian School. Here is an entry recapping one day of service on the Ho Chunk and Omaha Reservations in Nebraska in early August:
Thursday morning the group headed back into the church at 8am to finish reupholstering the kneelers. By noon the job was finished and the six volunteers cleaned the church and loaded up the trailer. This all sounds easy when I explain it, but it doesn’t even mention the countless sore muscles (and a few puncture wounds) that staple pulling involves. Think 80 small staples per kneeler and 39 kneelers over a course of 2.5 days. That is 3,120 staples!
Then, we went up to our little kitchenette to pack a lunch for our next adventure. Then at 12:30, we drove to Rosalie, NE (about 20 minutes away from Winnebago). There we found Nate Merrick, an Omaha Elder who was in law enforcement (trained with the FBI) and now serves the tribe as their public defender. His basement had been rearranged by last week’s group of skilled workers from the Chicago area. Unfortunately, they didn’t finish and he really wanted the sheet rock installed around th ...
