Money. ::
sigh::
It seems it always comes down to money. What's a cash-strapped progressive to do?
As long as I have been aware of my political tendencies and have voiced them in some kind of active way it seems groups have hunted me down and asked for donations in order to help fashion the world along the vision we all more or less share. In the days before the internet my snail mail box was filled with solicitations/requests for donations from left-leaning progressive groups. The human rights groups always knew how to find me and those were causes for which I often wished for great windfalls of wealth in order to assist. (In those days of my Very Certain Youth, I would otherwise disdain all ambitions toward monetary success, given my cartoon characterization understanding of radical movement politics).
Of course we're all familiar with the internet revolution to fundraising, we helped make it happen here. None of us are strangers to the requests for action complete with "easy button access" to facilitate electronic donations.
As someone who is chronically cash-strapped, as well as deeply cynical about this general trend toward the financialization of everything, these appeals have long given rise to a deep ambivalence in me. An ambivalence that sometimes leads me to question my own humanity. On the one hand there's the recognition that defining the solution to all social and political problems as give what you can fundamentally excludes folks like me from being part of the solution; those of us with little to nothing extra become precisely what Mitt Romney and his GOP apologists want to make us into: irrelevant to the path forward. It's enough to make the cash-strapped progressive rage into the wind.
On the other hand there's the awareness that the needs so far exceed cash reserves that no matter how much we give, another crisis, another disaster, another on-going consequence of our out-of-balance system of wealth generation and distribution will produce yet more groups of people whose need is so great it is unfathomable not to try and help, especially when one notes that how ever little I may have, there is always someone whose most basic needs are not being met. That's enough to reduce the cash-strapped progressive to heartsick tears.
But the Propane Project helps me out of this progresssive First Circle of Dante's Inferno in several different ways. Follow me after the jump for some of the ways how.
It's hard to ask for stuff. It's even harder to need the stuff that you have to ask for because you don't have it. In a world like ours such a thing sets you apart; makes you different. It carries added meaning that your already burdened psyche and shoulders don't need to bear.
I have a little bit of experience with each of these things. And with propane.
There's little poetry in poverty be it rural, urban or our own US contribution to the genre: reservation poverty. While tales of the Cold can be persuasive, powerful, pithy or even picturesque there are fewer pretty words we can string together for propane. Still it is the stuff of warmth for many in the US living in aged or inadequate housing.
My sister is one of those. She's been unemployed far longer than even I was, in a part of the economy that's not offering up much hope or alternatives. An unwillingness to tackle the emotional and brain chemistry issues that run through our maternal line means her financial and health status is unlikely to change in the near future. Last year I learned she'd been living in our family home without heat, because the cost of filling the tank was beyond her limited means. I learned this indirectly, while we were both in Florida attending her eldest son's wedding, an outdoor affair in December. While we were all marveling at how lovely the weather was, and what a unique experience it was to be outside in December, she made a passing remark about trying to live without heat in the NC Mountains. Family dynamics and the trials and tribulations of adult siblings being what they are, she wouldn't accept any money from me to pay for heat. (I had "lent" her the money to fly to the wedding and to present her son with a small wedding gift of cash). When I got home, I called the local propane company bought a tank of fuel and asked them to deliver it with a Christmas card reading: Merry Christmas from agg offspring. It was the only way to navigate the minefield of pride, embarrassment, resentment, need and vitrol that accompanies most sibling interactions in my family. After all, she might not have any money, but she does still have feelings.
That left me so heartsick that Christmas shopping was beyond me, so I decided--inspired by last year's Propane Project--that the rest of my family was getting a contribution to help heat somebody else's family for Christmas. And so I took what meager funds I had left and called up Sherry and she said, "no worries, we'll pool it. "
We'll pool it.
And that's the beauty of it. You don't have to do it all by yourself. Whatever you have will work, without any of the worry of the very human problem of acknowledging a need without crushing the spirit.
The Propane Project is an action from one community to another community, so there's none of that individualized, let-those-who-have-take-care-of-those-who-don't-and-the-rest-of-us-be-damned sentiment that somehow still manages to run through any solicitation for a charitable deduction no matter how skillfully crafted it may be. It's as grassroots a collective effort as you might be able to get in this day of Big Splash Philanthropy. It's a practical solution to a very real problem, immediate and on the ground, using native-owned local resources that's sensitive to the human dimensions of the implementation. Plus we're doing it together, collectively, so that no one person's ego becomes bigger than the project. If you want grassroots, you can't get much grassier.
Finally, if you're cash-strapped, get creative. You may not have the cash, but you've got the contacts. Church groups, offices, workplaces, are all looking--sheesh, even my apartment building takes up a collection this time of year. Here's what I did, given that my finances don't look as steady this year as they did in 2011. I copy pasted the info portion of the first Propane Project diary to my boss and asked if in lieu of an office gift exchange I might put this option before my colleagues, and she agreed, with enthusiasm. So this year, instead of $10 Starbuck's gift cards being exchanged, maybe we'll see a half a tank, or even a full one going out to someone who needs it, courtesy of me and my co-workers.
I might still rage about the long term structural problems that money can't really solve, and even about the way it throws up a seemingly intimidating obstacle to having grassroots solutions to those problems, and I'll certainly still fall victim to that uncomfortable sense of heartsick that can bring a tear or two, but at least I'll also have some awareness that I did a bit more than just feel, for a second year in a row. Thanks to navajo and her Native American Netroots contacts, I've engaged (ever so minimally) collectively in a direct action that 's real and productive for all involved, across the spectrum of the community, from the cash-strapped to the comfortable, and in a way that's respectfully human to everyone involved.
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Since winter 2009-2010, thanks to the efforts of navajo, Native American Netroots and other Kossacks, low-income Indians at the Rosebud Reservation and Pine Ridge Reservation have received propane and heaters to deal with the often-brutal winters of South Dakota. This is our fourth season of fund raising for this project, which literally saves lives because it catches people who fall through the cracks. Some have asked why we don't run this project through a regular charity. The reason is that our contacts on the reservations say they don't see the money when there is a middleman involved. That is why this is a unique project. You can learn more about the situation at the Rosebud Reservation, read some personal stories and see photos in Aji's post here.
Here is how you can help buy propane: The fastest way to help is to pick up the phone and call with your credit-card information. A family will get propane delivered either the same day or the next day.
FOR ROSEBUD RESERVATION:
Telephone St. Francis Energy Co. at:
605-747-2542
11 AM-6 PM MST EVERY DAY
Ask for Sherry or her mom Patsy, but others can help you also. Normally a minimum order is $150, but they have an account to accumulate small donations until they get enough for an full delivery. Credit cards welcome, and they are the only Indian-owned fuel company on the Rosebud, which is next to Pine Ridge and in the same economically depressed condition. If you'd like to mail a check, make it payable to:
St. Francis Energy Co.
Attn: Sherry or Patsy
St. Francis Energy Co./Valandra's II
P.O. Box 140
St. Francis, South Dakota 57572
PLEASE NOTE: NOT A 501c3, PLEASE CONSULT YOUR TAX PREPARER.
Of course, all the propane in the world won't do you any good without a heater. Many families don't even have working heaters—or ones that work safely. Every year, there are house fires as a result of malfunctioning heaters that people can't afford to repair. So if you're flush or you have a few friends who can put your dollars together, a heater would be really welcome this Thanksgiving season.
You can order a heater and the necessary accessories from Northern Tool HERE and have it shipped to:
Sherry Cornelius
St. Francis Energy Co.
102 N. Main Street
Saint Francis, SD 57572
Here's what you'll be sending:
• Mr. Heater Big Buddy™ Indoor/Outdoor Propane Heater—18,000 BTU, Model# MH18B
You also need to include these accessories:
• Mr. Heater AC Power Adapter for Big Buddy Heaters—6 Volt, Model# F276127
• Mr. Heater 12-Ft. Hose with Regulator for Item# 173635
• Mr. Heater Fuel Filter for Buddy™ Heaters, Model# F273699
Order Total of $235.85 (includes shipping)
INTERNATIONAL DONORS:
If you live out of the country, please use our PayPal link at Native American Netroots. The donation button is in the middle right of the page. This process takes about two weeks for the funds to hit the reservations, so telephoning the propane companies directly is definitely the fastest way to help.
Photos show Rosebud Reservation residents thanking Daily Kos donors for propane and heaters last winter.