5 days, $5000, 120 donors !

This is an incredible time. Your collective action has been, powerful, self-organized and unstoppable. There are over 250 tribes represented at Standing Rock. They have come from all over and are establishing a unified stance which is unprecedented in the history of this continent. Water is life. This is about protecting what is sacred, not protesting an idea. This is history. Thank you for following your heart and jumping in. Here are some stories and pictures to bring you into what's happened on the ground with our collective resources. Three men who were entrusted with your donated funds just returned from Standing Rock. They were Tim Yakaitis, Elias Kolson, and Liam Purvis. While there, they encountered overwhelming need. Today's Action: We all know two people who we are talking to this about. Please send this to them with our donation link: https://www.youcaring.com/manage-fundraiser.aspx?frid=640376

It's not over. Our next trip will be Sept. 28th - Oct. 4th, when Myself and Krista Marshall will be flying out there to spend a week following up on relationships built and to purchase three winter canvas shelters for the youth, elders and leaders to thrive in as winter enters the equation. The Federal action to pause the construction at the river is not halting the construction on the rest of the pipeline. People have heard that news and said "so are people going home ?" No. They're not. Not until it is really done. This temporary federal action can be interpreted as 'taking the wind out of the sails' of a rapidly growing village of intercultural power. Standing Rock has the attention of the world and all other fossil fuel projects threatening life as we know it.

The Report. The weather is getting colder and the camp has gotten bigger. While we had talked about getting two large tents we also went with the primary goal of providing them with some immediate gear that they needed TODAY. I feel we made a good start at accomplishing this goal. We would still very much like to donate three large canvas tents with accompanying wood stoves. One has been promised to the youth group who started this whole camp and the other will go to CunyDog and his security team. Some stories about how things got decided and distributed FIREWOOD Firewood is an urgent need out there. This is the only fuel we saw being used to keep people warm. Many of our purchases went towards helping out with this. We identified a firewood source about 10 miles up the road and purchased two cord of firewood ($170/cord) from him. In addition, we negotiated a price of $150/cord if we were to buy in bulk. We considered spending all of our money on wood since the need is so great but ultimately decided to wait until the camp thins out a bit and the weather turns colder. On Sunday it was 82 degrees yet there were 100 fires going on around the camp. Twenty cord of wood would’ve disappeared in the blink of an eye and in a couple days they’d be looking for more. We delivered the wood to a tipi full of elders we had met, a youth group who were the very first ones on site on April 1st, and to our new Oglala friend CunyDog, the head of security for the camp. Cunydog has a whole team of security people wandering the camp and positioned at all entrances making sure no drugs, alcohol, or weapons are being brought in. This group is also in this for the long haul. We also purchased a new Stihl chainsaw, oil,

extra chains, and 6-7 new axes and mauls to help his crew cut and split the wood that is being scavenged from the area surrounding the camp. We also donated cash to put gas in five pick-up trucks who were heading out to scavenge wood and were all on empty. They had been waiting hours for someone “in management” to supply them with gas money so we stepped in.

MEDICAL SUPPLIES We were told of an urgent need for certain medical supplies so we stepped up. We spent just shy of $300 at Target purchasing ace bandages, band aids, wraps, motrin, alive, anbesol, antiseptic, bandages, etc. These items were entrusted to the youth group who has been at the camp since day 1. CAMPING SUPPLIES We made several trips to an excellent sporting goods store named Scheels and spent over $1000 on three 6-person tents, two double-sized very thick sleeping bags, warm socks, tent stakes, propane fuel for cooking stoves, and a large Igloo cooler that was requested. Also, while there we purchased a new pair of Keen sandals and a pair of jeans for CunyDog. His shoes were literally about to fall off his feet and he’s there full-time with only two pairs of pants. Although this is a common story when considering the extreme poverty many of these people come from, we felt an exceptionally close bond with Cuny and he acted as our gatekeeper to anyone we needed to speak with in the camp. Having a strong advocate on the inside will enhance the ways in which we can help at Standing Rock as time goes by. Tents and a sleeping bag were delivered to Jacqelia at the youth group. She and her twin sister were part of the 40 Youth Runners who ran from Cannonball, ND to Washington, DC carrying their elder staff to deliver their message to our nation’s leaders.

MILK I spoke with Tink, a wonderful Lakota woman who has been managing the kitchen for the last several months. She told me all they had had for months was powdered milk and the scores of small children at the camp could really use some whole milk. We went out and purchased 25 gallons and delivered them to the kitchen. CEREMONIAL TOBACCO Several 10 pound bags of tobacco were purchased in order to make prayer ties. While this may not seem like a “survival” item, peaceful prayer is the whole reason for this camp. As most of us know, tobacco is sacred and an integral part of this prayer.

Three things to end with.. Thank you. Thank you for taking a stand. Thank you for sending messages with your donations. Thank you for being apart of something together. We are powerful together. We are in action around what is sacred and important. Like the children who are taking the federal government to court because their future lives are being threatened by willful inaction to stop climate change, the indigenous people are standing together and saying no to Big Oil. We stand with them.

Share this story and share this link. https://www.youcaring.com/manage-fundraiser.aspx?frid=640376 You are Welcome to help. If you have a community representative who will be coming with a truckload of supplies, send them to RedCloud Defense Center our portal for sharing information and best practices to be effective allies at Standing Rock. In love and vision, Mark Morey and the Defending the Sacred Alliance * all photos by Tim Yakaitis