The Tipi Raisers invites you to join us in thinking big! For over a year we have been hard at work with a top-tier team of investment specialists and are excited to launch this pioneering approach to wealth management over the next ten years. By engaging this strategy, you'll have the peace of mind that comes from both growing your investments while contributing to transformative solutions aimed at ending generations of poverty, addiction, violence, and marginalization on the reservations we support! In collaboration with our tribal partners we have outlined seven potential projects that each have the potential to create culturally meaningful, sustainable industries in the communities we serve. Vision 2035 is our shared hope for the ripple effect of impact that each project has the potential to create!
Firewood Vending Businesses
Project Introduction and Background
In many ways, firewood is at the heart of The Tipi Raisers story. The nonprofit began in 2009 in response to the death of three tribal elders, who froze in their trailers after their propane ran out amidst an extreme cold snap. Firewood continues to form an important part of our ongoing outreach. According to the U.S. Forest service, well over 30% of households in counties with a high percentage of tribal communities rely on firewood for heat. Like other commodities, the cost of firewood has increased sharply in the last decade. Currently, one cord of firewood in South Dakota costs $500.
Over the past four years, and with the help of volunteers, tribal members, partner organizations and supporters, Tipi Raisers has regularly supplied over 75 families on reservations with firewood and wood bricks. In the past two years alone, over 35 cords of firewood and 10,000 wood bricks have been procured, split, and distributed to Indigenous households. Native elder Nobby Bell has overseen the Tipi Raisers firewood program for more than seven years. For his role as Keeper of the Firewood, he is paid a monthly stipend, and tribal members who assist him with splitting and distribution also earn an hourly wage.
The Vision:
The aim of the Tipi Raisers’ Firewood Program is to: + Create sustainable wood-vending businesses at various sites across the reservation + Ensure local families have year-round access to firewood and provisions of warmth + Provide income, skills-training and sustainable employment to tribal members
A crew of tribal members will: + Transport logs from a variety of locations + Sort, load, and distribute wood bricks + Establish themselves as wood vendors across the reservation’s districts for sale + Cut, split and sell or trade the wood and wood bricks to households
The impact of employment and job-training for tribal members and youth employed within the firewood program will be transformative. With a sustained income, consistent work schedule, and opportunities to train with chainsaws, lumber tools, trailer transport, leadership and program management, employees will open up career possibilities for themselves and provide financial security for their households. Employment for tribal members within their own communities uplifts the entire reservation, keeping Lakota workers rooted in their culture and homelands while also gaining economic stability.
Path to Sustainability:
The building blocks of the program are well in place already: + Tribal member Nobby Bell runs a wood bank on behalf of The Tipi Raisers at his Pine Ridge home + Other local families are looking to establish small wood vending businesses out of their homes + Ample contacts with access to free logs, fallen lumber, and wood bricks exist in the Tipi Raisers’ network Given the proper investment needed to fund wages for tribal employees, transport and equipment costs, the program can quickly jump into action to collect the logs offered and to establish firewood vending sites across the reservation. The program will sustain itself by means of this revenue - which could potentially include sales to tribes themselves, who then distribute the wood to households unable to pay. With firewood prices sitting at record highs, the program will generate a sizable income once launched.
"For the sake of future generations, we must act now—working alongside our tribal families and community to provide what the U.S. government and others have not!" - Dave Ventimiglia | Executive Director
To learn more call Dave at 720-412-3335 or email us!
