Dear Friends,
Please join Nourishing Futures and Youth Passageways to support the well-being and spirit-centered work of two dedicated Indigenous matriarchs: Rebecca Chief Eagle and Melissa Goodblanket.
Our goal is to raise $15,000 by December 31st. We have already raised $5,108, and we just received word that a generous donor has offered to match additional donations through the end of the year dollar-for-dollar up to $5,000. This means that if you give to this campaign by December 31st, your donation will be doubled - and it puts our goal within reach!"
Both of these women have been relentlessly caring for their families and communities for decades, while also working to build bridges with peoples from other cultures and backgrounds. Both of them hold culture and ceremony at the center of their lives, and share this with those around them.
Both of them have also faced critical health challenges in recent years, limiting their ability for wage labor and causing significant financial distress. It pains us to see them scrambling to meet their needs, without the support needed to offer their gifts fully.
These two women are pillars for their people; supporting them supports the whole community. They steward clear directives from Spirit, guiding them toward creative and visionary projects that uplift and serve in unique and essential ways. They have offerings they wish to extend even further into their communities - in ways that are spirit-led and in keeping with the realities of their bodies and familial needs.
We are committed to supporting them to continue to serve and support in all the ways they can. We envision abundant generosity flowing their way, and ongoing financial models that uphold the dignity of Becky and Melissa, two women who have lived full lives of service to their families and communities. We believe in community-supported eldering. Let’s invest in a world where the mamas and the grandmamas can spend their later years secure that their needs will be cared for as they tend to legacy offerings they feel are theirs to leave behind.
Please join us in making a gift now to reach our $15,000 goal.
Our contributions will help meet Becky and Melissa’s day-to-day needs, allowing them both to breathe a little easier, and supporting their ongoing work in their communities. Our prayer is that their basic needs be met (plus a little extra) so that they can free their life energy toward the fulfillment of their prayers and callings.
Clearly, this fundraising campaign isn’t going to provide Melissa and Becky with financial security forever, but it is enough to buoy these two aunties, mamas, Elders, sisters over this holiday season, as we look to longer-term sources of support.
Contributions made to this joint fund will be shared evenly between the two. If you wish to give specifically to Becky or Melissa, please designate your gift accordingly.
Lastly, as a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) organization (Tax-ID: 47-4750095), your gift to Youth Passageways is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Youth Passageways is a network committed to restoring lifeways to initiate youth into intact communities.
Nourishing Futures hosts a collective of initiatives working for cultural renewal, repair and reclamation, at the intersection of place, equity, and liberation.
Progress to Date: $7,136
Goal: $15,000
Becky's Story
Becky is a mother, grandmother, and founder of All Nations Gathering Center. Over the course of her career, Becky served as a Certified Nursing Assistant, community oral health educator, day care provider, Emergency Crisis Team Coordinator, and Drug & Alcohol Counselor. She worked for tribal housing for more than 15 years as a Tenant Compliance Officer and Supervisor. In the early 2000’s, Becky helped to found the Stone Boy Women’s Society, providing traditional cultural teachings ceremonies for girls and women, including the Isnati coming of age ceremonies. With her husband, Dallas Chief Eagle, in 2015, Becky founded All Nations Gathering Center (ANGC) in Yellow Bear Canyon, SD, on deeded land in the heart of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the most impoverished Indian Reservation in the US - and also the site of some of the fiercest Indigenous resistance efforts. Together, they have established ANGC as a place of ceremony, teaching, and cultural revival for their community, while also partnering with outside groups to promote cross-cultural exchange and healing. They have established significant infrastructure that allows them to host groups of up to 150 or more people.
In 2021, Becky was diagnosed with cancer for the second time, and has been bravely navigating the worlds of Western and traditional health care. "My work is sharing and walking in the way of life of ceremonies, taking care of business mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically - how I live my life, one day at a time with much gratitude, love, ceremonies and prayers. Support would help me to be at peace and not worry. Not worrying would allow me to do the things I love to do with loved ones coming to learn and share skill sets."
Melissa's Story
Melissa Goodblanket is a mother, storyteller, ceremonialist, activist, and subject of the documentary Savage Land. She carries the deep soul calling to share the wisdoms of awakening the human soul to remember the original instructions of living in right relationship with all life.
She entered into this current life-walk through the Northwest and grew up in the South along the Appalachian Trail on Tsalagi land. She currently resides on the forced relocation lands of the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho, where she has made her home and family for 31 years. She has shown resilience and grace through the acts of modern genocide after experiencing the death of her 18 year old son at the hands of law enforcement in her own home on Dec 21, 2013.
Since her son was taken from her, Melissa has worked tirelessly to seek justice, bring healing, and prevent other youth and families in Indigenous communities from experiencing a similar fate. She lucidly connects the violence perpetrated against her son within the broader context of social justice and colonization, in a way that brings people into community, rooted in practices for healing and fostering unity, Melissa has helped catalyze action in local, state, and national arenas related to the pressing issue of police violence.
Melissa promotes cross-cultural relationship building and unity, and helps youth, adults, and families access traditional healing practices that prevent and address common community issues like substance abuse, mental health struggles, and violence. She has been a healing practitioner for more than 45 years, utilizing ancient wisdom and knowledge from around the world. Her husband, Wilbur, is a leader among the Native American Church in Oklahoma, and both tribal and non tribal folks locally and out of state are dependent on the Goodblanket ceremonial grounds.
Diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2021, Melissa journeyed through chemotherapy and radical surgery. She says, “the gratitude for life is always present, yet I am constantly in grief mode surrounding the question of how to pay for my medical supplies, which I will need for the rest of my life. Being a member of humanity during "These Times" has its challenges for all of us yet the Universal Wisdom calls out to us and reminds us to stay in balance moving forward to continue the work, hold the focus and give our gratitudes for everything we have experienced, what we are currently experiencing and all the experiences yet to unfold.”
Please join Nourishing Futures and Youth Passageways in supporting the well-being and spirit-centered work of two dedicated Indigenous matriarchs: Rebecca Chief Eagle and Melissa Goodblanket.
Our contributions will help meet Becky and Melissa’s day-to-day needs, allowing them both to breathe a little easier, and supporting their ongoing work in their communities. Our prayer is that their basic needs be met (plus a little extra) so that they can free their life energy toward the fulfillment of their prayers and callings.
Clearly, this fundraising campaign isn’t going to provide Melissa and Becky with financial security forever, but it is enough to buoy these two aunties, mamas, Elders, sisters over this holiday season, as we look to longer-term sources of support.
Contributions made to this joint fund will be shared evenly between the two. If you wish to give specifically to Becky or Melissa, please designate your gift accordingly.
Pila Miye! Wado! Thank you!
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Youth Passageways is hosting this fundraising effort as our fiscal sponsor. As a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) organization (Tax-ID: 47-4750095) your gift to Youth Passageways is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
You are welcome to donate by using this form, or by sending a check to Youth Passageways, PO Box 46631, Kansas City, MO 64188. Please place 'Chief Eagle/Goodblanket' in the notes section of your check.
If you have any questions please contact darcy.ottey(at)gmail.com.
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