John Scarffe, Gilpin County.  Could a Facebook post lead to a Volunteer of the Year award? For Gilpin County resident, Laura Richards it did.

Richards is being honored as Volunteer of the Year at the Colorado State Democrats’ Obama Dinner on March 9, 2019. She organized a drive to gather food and other basic items to assist the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, where about 40,000 Oglala Lakota American Indians live six hours away, according to a news release.

Richards told The Mountain-Ear that a friend on Facebook posted about Rickie Graygrass at Pine Ridge and asked how they were doing. The tribe’s response was that they were really hurting. Because of the government shutdown, everyone has been furloughed.

After a federal government shutdown on December 2, 2018, 800,000 federal workers were furloughed or forced to work without pay for 35 days.

President Trump agreed on Friday, January 25, 2019, to reopen the federal government for three weeks while negotiations continued over how to secure the nation’s southwestern border, backing down after a month-long standoff failed to force Democrats to give him billions of dollars for his long-promised wall.

In the meantime, Graygrass told Richards in Gilpin County that they could use some help. That’s where she took the extra step many of us would not take. She called to find out how they could help.

The Tribe called back and gave her their list of needs. She put it on Facebook, and they just keep fulfilling the list. The Gilpin County Democratic party office has stacks of stuff. Richards had no connection to the tribe before; but when she got the call, she responded, according to the news release. “We are better than this,” Richards said. “Colorado is better than this and we can fix this.”

In the United States, 573 federally-recognized tribes rely on federal money for basic needs like food and healthcare, according to the release. “That money comes through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which was only operating with essential employees during the partial government shutdown - the longest one in American history,” states the release.

Richards told The Mountain-Ear that working with the Bureau of Indian Affairs on January 15, 2019, Gilpin County managed to get more than 22,000 pounds of food and supplies to Pine Ridge. “It was amazing that the people of Colorado came together,” she said.

With the first truck they took, while they were unloading, a woman broke down in tears over a bag of dogfood.

Tribal president Julian Running Bear and Graygrass came down and met with legislators to help work through the circumstances such as hemp production and getting paper work done. On February 7, 2019, the Gilpin County crew will go to Pine Ridge and load up another U-Haul of supplies, including clothing.

“Colorado has really pitched in to take care of their neighborhood. It’s pretty unique that people stepped up and put their money where their mouth is and are showing we are better than that,” Richards said.

The county is now averaging 6,000 to 10,000 pounds a trip, and thrift stores in Denver, like the Attic on Broadway, loaded her up, Richards said. One man dropped off 20 bags of chicken feed, and veterinarians have agreed to spay 500 dogs and cats for free along with vaccines and pet care.

“Pine Ridge is like walking into a third-world country with pets roaming free,” Richards said. The generosity of people has been overwhelming.” East High School in Denver donated $1,500 in supplies. “That’s the reward itself,” she said.

Richards said they made sure it was tribal led, and the tribe provided the directions and what they needed. They wanted it done according to their culture. “We’re helping out neighbors and not taking over their home.”

Richards and friends have launched a Facebook page: Operation Oyate to learn from each other and communicate back and forth. She would like to have a nation together. The Lakota have a strong value of friendship and believe that we all live together, and we honor their values.

To learn more, go to https://www.facebook.com/Operation-Oyate-388365688588829/

(Originally published in the February 7, 2019, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)