Skipstone..... ON MISSION!
How about some EXCITING NEWS for our WARRIOR NATION?

We are making plans to return to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota this December!
In December of 2019, a team of 46 students, their families, and admin from Skipstone traveled to Porcupine, South Dakota to serve the families of the
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, one of the poorest communities in America. Most of the 75,000 Oglala Lakota people living in the state of South Dakota live in extreme poverty, with annual incomes averaging just $2,500.
Nearly half of the homes at
Pine Ridge lack the basic comforts we all take for granted every day: functioning toilets and a source of heat in the wintertime. The devastating poverty is dangerous to the Oglala Lakota people and threatens their very survival. Alcohol is the leading cause of death, and the rate of suicide on is five times higher than the U.S. national average, especially among teens. Regrettably, the average life expectancy is 40.9 years for Lakota men 46 years for Lakota women.

In December of 2020, our team was unable to travel onto the reservation at the very last minute due to Covid restrictions. Fortunately we were still able to deliver the gifts and supplies and coordinate with local officials and our friends at Wings As Eagles Minsitries to have everything distributed to the families.
While Covid has changed things for all of us, it has made life extraordinarily difficult for these precious families, who live in some of the poorest zip codes in America. The needs are greater than they have ever been and there are FAR fewer teams and ministries providing support due to the lingering concerns about COVID. 

After much prayer and deliberation, we believe that God will provide enough team members for us to return to Pine Ridge this December so that this important ministry can take place.
We are tentatively planning for December 8th-13th. We will be serving again with Wings As Eagles Minsitries to provide Christmas gifts and events for the families of Pine Ridge.

Between now and November 30th, we are asking the WARRIOR NATION to help us reach an ambitious goal of helping our partners collect and assemble 2000 Christmas Dream Boxes, similar to those we have collected previously for Operation Christmas Child.
We will be asking each of our students to:

1. Fill four (6 quart) plastic boxes with items from the attached list for your tribe's assigned age group (2 for girls, 2 for boys)

2. Bring 10 canned/boxed food goods

3. If you are able, purchase 1 winter coat for your specific age group

We will have the boxes, food and coats delivered to be ready for our team to distribute to the children who live on the reservation at two different Christmas events.

Elementary and middle school families, as well as high school students (with or without families) are all invited to participate.  We anticipate the trip will cost about $800 per person. We are projecting our airline tickets will be about $500 per person and the ground costs for food, lodging, transportation, and supporting the ministry of Wings As Eagles will be around $300 per person.

DONATIONS: If you would like to donate money for this project to purchase supplies, wrapping paper, gas, box fillers, etc, please use the following Donation Link and specify "South Dakota Mission Trip".
https://www.skipstoneacademy.org/donations

Check out the Tribe Pages attached for lists of suggested items and labels for your boxes. Watch your email in the coming weeks for information on how to sign up to go ON MISSION with Skipstone! If you would like to learn more about Wings As Eagles Ministries, please visit their website at WAE
ministries.com