The Many Ways to Volunteer With the
​Tipi Raisers!

Our volunteers are the lifeblood of this organization!  Without you, the ongoing, complex and wide array of services we provide to Native communities would simply not be possible!  

Many of the opportunities for you to volunteer take place here at our "Hub" in Lafayette, Colorado. The Hub is a hive of activity located on a 30-acre farm and ranch at 9849 Isabelle Rd, Lafayette CO 80026. The site serves as a central collection point for all material donations for the three reservations being served (Pine Ridge, Hopi, and Diné) where volunteers, youth, and tribal employees organize and sort all material donations, screen them for appropriateness, pack donated items and stage them for transport. 

The Hub is also home to a pasture and The Tipi Raisers’ horse herd. The herd is utilized for prayer rides, cultural events, and horse trainings for youth, tribal members, and volunteers. Greenhouse space at the Hub is shared with a partner farm that provides seedlings and training for 25 Native family gardens each summer.

Cultural and educational events take place year-round at the Hub. These events include horse medicine demonstrations, volunteer days, and Nagi Circle Gatherings, which bring tribal elders and youth together with the local community for reconciliation dialogues and education centered on Indigenous wisdom. Ongoing community service work is offered at the Hub for schools, church groups, athletic teams and individuals seeking to contribute volunteer work.

Learn more about joining us at the Hub - and all of our volunteer opportunities - below.

​THANK YOU for helping to bring our mission to life!

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Food Boxes and Supplies:

Food insecurity in Native communities is widespread, and government subsidized food programs only go so far. The Tipi Raisers relies on donations to provide regular distributions of food, firewood and supplies to the Indigenous households we serve. We also field ongoing calls from Native families and tribal leaders to assist with urgent needs such as provisions of warmth, appliances, mattresses, funeral support and more. 
 
Our volunteers regularly join us at our Hub in Lafayette to organize, pack and load food and supply boxes.  

If you are able to gather any of the items listed at the link below, please make arrangements to bring them to our Hub- or to have them picked by one of our staff or volunteers.

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Needed Now!

NOTE:  For a variety of reasons ranging from organizational bandwidth to cultural sensitivities, we only accept the items explicitly listed on this website or via The Tipi Raiser's communications. We appreciate the donation of supplies that are truly helpful to those families with whom we work and all efforts to avoid adding unnecessary work to our community. Thank you for understanding, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

Monetary donations also support our monthly food and supply efforts!  Click below if you would like to help.

support for food!

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Help with the Horse Herd

Our horse herd of 12 is a sacred and integral part of the work we do here at the Tipi Raisers. And the feeding, training, relationship building, clean up, pasture and shed maintenance, etc. require significant work and financial commitments. Come be a part of our horse program and gain an understanding of how the horses fit into our community and purpose.

​Click HERE for more information and reach out to us if you would like to get involved.

Meet our Herd

Host a Food and Supply Drive in Your Community

If you are in the Colorado front range area and wish to host  your own food and supply drive, please reach out and let us know!  We can provide you with collection barrels, flyers and electronic communications to make your drive a success!  These drives are great for individual families, schools or organizations!

​Please contact us for more information!

collections list

 

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Firewood 

​Our Indigenous partners on Pine Ridge oversee the year-round distribution of firewood to homes across the reservation. For over ten years, Tipi Raisers has regularly provided firewood and wood bricks for over 75 families and individuals - many of them elders. These services are critical during the winter months when South Dakota temperatures are extremely low.

Our volunteers are needed year round to join us at the Hub as we cut, stack and load firewood to distribute up north.

Reach out if you want to spend time connecting with others, being active and outdoors all while providing a much needed service!

Gardens

Here at the Hub we are blessed to have access to large greenhouses, acres of land and a thriving collaboration with our partners at Common Name Farm!

Volunteers are needed year-round, though mostly in the growing and harvesting seasons, to plant seedlings, weed and tend to plants that will feed our families! Often this work is done side by side with the Native youth and elders who will eventually nurture and harvest these crops back on the reservation!

Contact us if you're interested in helping to advance our efforts to establish family gardens for those we serve!

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Other Ways to Volunteer With Tipi Raisers:

Drivers Needed

Most of the material donations come in from our network in Colorado and oftentimes there are more donations than one truckload can manage to take to the communities we serve in South Dakota and Arizona. At these times we will put a call out for help with transporting the donations.

Other times we will need drivers to pick up items that have been donated locally - in the Denver metro area. So whether you wish to help out locally, or are up for a road trip, there is something for everyone!

add me to the driver list!

Event Support

From Gen7 Youth gatherings to various community building events in Colorado, we invite volunteers to join us and sign up to assist with any of the following:
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• Providing a meal/s
• Shopping for event needs
• Setting up prior to the event
• Cleaning up after the event

If you are interested in this, please contact us to discuss current opportunities.

Solicit Needed Materials

Often, there are requests from Tribal members for specific items - we would value your help in locating these items! Or, in anticipation of a cold winter/ hot summer, volunteers can reach out to vendors of space heaters/window air conditioners, etc. to obtain a large quantity of these items. 

We are ALWAYS in need of items such as coffee, diapers, baby formula, female hygiene products and toilet paper!

​If you are interested in helping but aren't local or simply wish to help from the comfort of your home, please consider contacting wholesalers or retailers. This kind of outreach can often open up a windfall of needed donations!

Interested? Please reach out to us to discuss current needs.

Providing Outreach on Native Reservations

Beyond our Volunteer Service Trips, Tipi Raiser's volunteers may visit the reservations we serve for a variety of reasons.  Whether you are traveling to provide transportation for our Native friends, delivering firewood, food or material goods or participating in a reconciliation initiative, there are often opportunities to provide Tipi Raiser's outreach in the Native communities we serve. 

Reach out if this is something you are interested in doing!

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In alignment with this Indigenous wisdom from Basil Brave Heart, all Tipi Raisers events and programs are FREE. We trust that those who join us receive the gift that is inherent in that experience and that they will give back to the best of their ability - in this way, we can all stay in balance. 


"When everything has a monetary value, the commoditization of human life begins -- society loses the Sacred and human life starts to cannibalize itself."
- Basil Brave Heart