Once on the Reservation

After a 15 hour bus ride, I finally arrived in South Dakota after several months of planning this project. The reservation was in worse condition than I was expecting. Living conditions are almost exclusively run down trailer homes and the excessive rains that came down while I was there made things ten times worse than usual; leaky roofs, shoe-losing mud, and rampant bugs reminded me of how difficult the elements can be on people who don't have the stable shelter that most of us take for granted.

The kids at the summer camp our Barrington High School group ran were a joy to work with, and you could easily tell that they look forward to this time each year; it may be the only time each year that they get new toys and feel appreciated by those around them. Overall, the experience was eye opening, to say the least. I grew a lot spiritually from the native culture (it's not as out there as stereotypes make it seem) and exercised a lot of compassion trying to engage with the native kids and their parents.

One day there was a terrible thunderstorm and many of the kids came to camp in shorts and flip flops. We opened several boxes of the new jackets and shoes that I brought with and it was very gratifying to see them go to direct use when there was nothing else available for the kids. The rest of the donations were stored in a local church and will be distributed as needed throughout the year.

Overall, $4600 was collected in addition to the donations filling up my entire garage. I can't even put into words how glad I am that so many people took this cause to heart and donated so generously.

Thank you everyone who helped for your efforts; you have all made a difference!

Trailer loaded and ready to go

Since I ended up receiving so many donations, we determined that there was not enough room in the other trailers going up to the reservation for the load from my project, and my father generously volunteered to drive up a separate U-haul to the reservation. Thanks to help from a few of my friends, the trailer was loaded full of donations in less than an hour and everything went smoothly. Everything is ready to go and the tally for items is as follows:

$500 spent at Wal-Mart on school supplies
$800 spent at Burlington Coat Factory on mens, women's, and children's coats
The rest of the trailer is full of donations, mostly clothing.

Everything fit in the trailer and we are ready for South Dakota!

Project workday is complete

Saturday, May 29th, 2010

Now comes the first sigh of relief - the project is about 80% complete! The workday this morning took exactly four hours plus a half hour for a lunch break. We managed to sort out the huge stack building up in my garage entirely into categories like men's, women's, and children's clothing, household goods, linens, cookware, children's toys, books, and assorted teen items.

We began the process by sorting out all the items on painters canvases by group clothes, toys, etc. and then moved onto separating clothing by type and gender as we re-bagged and boxed items. As you can see from the attached pictures, the volunteer turnout was fantastic, and I'm extremely grateful for the help that came; everyone did a great job and was very cooperative.

Initial stages of separating items on tarps

I answered frequent questions about particularly unusual donations like yoga cushions and tuperware that required special placement.

Volunteers had a lot of fun opening up the old boxes; we got lots of outdated clothing in great condition (pant-suits with shoulder pads, anyone?).

My project sponsor Ray Piagentini (center), and my father and I. Mr. Piag has been extremely supportive and still allowed me a lot of liberty with important choices for the project. He was able to come out for a few hours to browse over our collection and help discuss the logistics of moving the goods to South Dakota once re-packaged.

Mrs. Beese took charge of the adult clothing pile; her organization skills are much appreciated!

















The completed project: all goods sorted by type into bags and boxes and returned to the garage for later loading into the trailer!

Again, thanks to all of my volunteers and donors. I could not have done it without you!

Donations continue

Sunday, May 23, 2010

I got home today from a community event to discover two huge loads of donations that had been dropped off. I got about eight boxes of leftover linens, clothes, and dishes from a garage sale this weekend and also a dozen bags of assorted items from my brother's colleagues at Superior Ambulance.

 So far, we have a good number of linens and various clothes, though more are certainly welcome. I have also seen a good deal of children's books and coloring books, which we are probably maxed out on. I also received about a dozen brand new children's outfits for both boys and girls; this donation has to be the best I've seen so far! I have also received a few teen-sized bicycles, which we should have just enough room for on the truck. If anyone is still uncertain of how to contribute, a run in the clearance or children's sections of a discount or department store would probably be best. I am also still looking for more monetary donations so that I can hit up these superstores with my group sponsor to see where funds might best be allocated.

 
I'm glad to see that so many people are excited about the project and I look forward to truly uncovering the contents of all of these cardboard boxes stacked up on our sorting day this Saturday, May 29th from 10:00 to 2:00 at my house in S. Barrington IL.

Final day of mailing

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

Monetary donations have started coming in, and I'm very satisfied. Just over $1,000 has been collected so far in the first week of mailings! It looks like I will have a lot of work ahead of me actually buying items to bring out to South Dakota- a great problem to have. Now I have a great opportunity to load up on Costco type supplies like hygiene products and bulk household goods that probably won't be donated in bulk though these groups are just as important as the clothing that will likely come in through material donations.

This last group of envelopes was sent out mostly to the families of students and friends from my high school. Myself and a few volunteers spent two more hours finalizing this batch of mailers tonight, which should end the mailing cycle before I can get donations in by the end of May. I have more paper cuts than I ever could have imagined at the outset; we have now sent out over 250 envelopes to just friends and family. Emails have been sent to basically everyone in my network, including the members of several community boards I'm involved in. Again, I'm really grateful for all of the support I've received so far. Most Eagle Projects operate on half the monetary and material resources I've accumulated in just the first week of collecting. Keep up the support!

Envelopes out, donations back!

Monday, May 17, 2010

After a lot of work sending out letters (on the third batch now) and dozens of emails, donations are starting to roll in. We have a nice, growing stack in the garage now, and it's starting to hit me how great these items will really be for the Dakota Indians on the reservation. I've also gotten several financial contributions, which I look forward to using toward items that don't come in through the materials collection.

I will be sending out the final round of letters in the next few days, and after that its all waiting for donations pour in. I will also be hitting up local businesses in the coming days, so I'm excited to see if any respond positively. I'm glad to hear of everyone's enthusiasm so far- keep up the support!

Day 1 of the project

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

I was a little hesitant about putting things into motion, but the first big step has been initiated; the first batch of letters is officially sent! Now all I have to do is wait for commitments of donations to start rolling in. There will be a few more batches of letters to get out, but overall the process is begun.















My first day of volunteering went very well. Myself and four other service oriented (yes!) friends stuffed 175 envelopes and picked up all the printed labels and sheets from Century Tile, our family business. We also made the facebook group "Jon Catlin Eagle Scout Service Project" if you would like to become a fan. My 800 some friends were all invited and I look forward to extending the project to new people who didn't even know I was a Boy Scout.















For now, let's keep spreading word about the project!