Peddling Tupperware for Propane, Erez Fund 2011

Peddling Tupperware for Propane, Erez Fund 2011In Honoring of The Republic of Lakota

Over the last few years I have been witness to many heartbreaking truths about the accuracy of how Natives on certain reservations are forced to live. I have heard the cry for funding to help prevent youth suicide, which runs rampant in Native Communities. The voices for treatment centers, for areas such as White Clay, South Dakota that exist only to profit from the sale of alcohol to Natives. I have seen the tears of generations of ancestry in the suffering from the atrocities of Native residential schools. I have felt the sorrow that the life expectancy on these reservations is merely 46-48 years old. I have heard the pleas when they ask for Justice for the missing women and children who still today disappear, with no investigations. 

Many people believe these are injustices from the past and we as Nations, people, human beings should move past this and live our life. Our Spirituality is our life, and our connection to our ancestry and all things is our Spirituality. So you see it is hard for a Native to understand that concept, to just move on and forget about the past, that it was so long ago. Yesterday was not so long ago and neither is tomorrow. So we must continue to empower our sovereignty and treaty rights. If we don't, we as the First Nations will have no future.

Today is the day we can begin to do something to help those in need, who suffer for whatever the reason. Today we should be helping those in need, in honor of our Ancestry and our Spirituality. We as human beings should work together to make sure people are not living on the streets, in homes infested with mold, or no running water or plumbing, without insulation in the walls to bring warmth from the harsh winter temperatures below zero, senseless cases of freezing to death, dirt floors, boarded up windows, no food, no clothing, limited education, no jobs, divided communities living under a separate set of laws known as the "Indian Act." 

My ‘Today’ started a long time ago, when I became involved in many non-profits and charities in my community. I opened my eyes and my heart and saw the need for help and began to work towards bringing people what they needed. I work with a great team of volunteers who give of themselves and their time to assure this happens. This, my view, is Traditional, in a Native sense.

I work with some amazing people at Aramark Sports and Entertainment, in Las Vegas, Nevada. These people are the most generous people I have ever known in my years of fund raising and charity work. They have supported me and donated freely to my causes over the last 10-12 years, within both the employees and management classifications of our business. Together we put aside any differences and personal feelings, and continue to work towards being a team who does make a difference, in the lives of people.  

In November and December of 2010 I kept wondering how I could raise money locally to help people in another state. The general rule of small non-profits is that they are basically community based for the need in that area. There is need is everyone’s community. But the cause for propane to keep Natives ~ another human being ~ warm in the winter was compelling. I expressed this to one of my co-workers, Juanita, and she gave me the idea that allowed us, as a team, to donate a total of $630.00 Dollars to Whisper n Thunder’s EREZ Fund 2011.

The Idea was simple, Juanita was a Tupperware Representative and proposed a fundraiser to me. The Idea was I would peddle Tupperware to anyone who crossed my path for 30 days, in January of 2011 and we would be given 40% of the total sales to the charity of our choice.  

It was a welcomed idea, a gift, presented to me in a way where I could raise money locally and then donate the funds to a certain cause outside my area. To help people that we may never cross paths with, never know what impact was made on these people's lives, or to ever see the results that would encourage more involvement and participation.

I work with an amazing and compassionate group of people, who believe in working together to bring hope that all things can change, change for people who only need a chance. I also have been blessed that I work for a Company who sees a need in helping it's employee's reach out into their communities and be that difference. 

Billie Fidlin, the President of this publication then wrote a personal letter to my Company, Aramark Sports and Entertainment, that has since "passed it on" and is currently reaching out to the fundraising team and is sponsoring its current fund raising efforts. We live in a circle/hoop and all things come back to us. My Circle is bright, giving, compassionate and in doing so, I carry on my Nation’s Traditions and Culture.

I now reach out and ask that if you are reading this article, that you go to the main page of www.whispernthunder.org and you donate, what you can afford, to be part of an on-going team of people who want to make a difference for someone less fortunate then themselves. That is the true meaning of Spirituality.  

Woliwon, (Thank You)

Russ Letica

Madawaska Maliseet First Nation