6 Safe, Eco-Friendly Homes for Pine Ridge Lakota

Thank you for your ongoing support of this crucially important project. Parents Joe Fast Horse and Lena Apple operate a children's safe house in Wounded Knee, SD, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

They care for 9 children total in a small HUD home provided by the tribe that is riddled with black mold and cockroaches, with running water that just barely works, all because they care for the future of Lakota children on the Pine Ridge reservation. Three generations are volunteering to make this house a reality. It is their spirit of caring that compels Tiyospaye Winyan Maka to assist them in building their own home, on their own land, in a model off-grid community.

Current planning for our Safe House and Model Community include:

A. Sacred Mountains Earthen Home (collaborating partner: Texas Natural Builders)

B. Volunteer Bunkhouse and Community Facilities (collaborating partners: church organizations including Unity Church, Boulder; Unitarian Universalists, Rapid City; Washington Park United Church of Christ, Denver)
1. Bunkhouse
2. Composting Toilets
3. Solar shower  

C. Power
1. Wind Generator (collaborating partner: Engineers Without Borders Project-­CSU student chapter)
2. Portable Sawmill, All building supplies are collected from the natural resources available in the immediate and surrounding areas. This tool, called a Wood Mizer, will help Tiospaye Winyan Maka and multiple families build multiple homes on Pine Ridge.
3. A welder/generator: A welder/generator will help Tiospaye Winyan Maka build important structural and foundational elements for not only the Fast Horse family, but for multiple families in the future. It will also help power the volunteer camp at the build site when it's not being used for it's welding capacities, an important amenity needed to draw more volunteers in.

D. Water
1. Open-air Kitchen / Community Classroom
    a. Water Supply: 1700 Gallon Water Cistern with Gravity feed
    b. Tables and seating
    c. Propane stove(s)
    d. Sink and drainage
    e. Root cellar / storage
2. Rainwater harvesting system with second cistern to provide water for an organic, heirloom garden so the family can achieve nutritional self-sufficiency and not rely on the federal food commodity program, which provides unhealthy high sugar, high carbohydrate, high sodium foods
3. On-site watershed restoration, (collaborating partner: Cuenca los Ojos)

E. Volunteer Resources
1. International Volunteers (collaborating partner: Service Civile International)
2. Domestic Volunteers (collaborating partners: Engineers Without Borders chapters, also faith community members; Habitat for Humanity)

F. Demonstration Workshops and Projects
1. Demonstration earthen wall options, including: cob, cord wood, straw bale, etc.
2. Ethno-botany guided walks
3. Trail rides

It's people like the Fast Horses who bring light into an often dark situation. They squeeze every penny out of your donation.