Moorpark College Anthropology Association among supporters of annual blanket drive

Redbird’s 20th annual blanket, toy and school supplies drive and mini-powwow took place at the Simi Valley Town Center Mall on Saturday, December 5. The event gathers a variety of items which are distributed among Native American tribes in the South Dakota region, as well as to families and individuals in need locally.

New blankets and medium-sized soft toys are shipped to the White Plume family of Manderson, South Dakota, which redistributes them among rural reservation families as gifts. Redbird’s philosophy in doing so is that this is an important energetic shift; to be gifted a blanket from a relative, neighbor or community member is different than being given “charity” from a person or group with whom the recipient is not familiar.

Hard and boxed toys and school supplies are given to Walking Shield, a foundation which acts as a liaison with American Indian tribes throughout the United States and has a distribution network to serve reservations. Gently used items typically stay in southern California, distributed among native and non-native families and individuals through other service organizations such as United American Indian Involvement, and a number of churches who provide services at no cost or obligation to people in need.

This year’s gathering was directly affected by the tragic massacre at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernadino County. Four attendees had to leave early in order to attend services and memorials. Strong supporters for many years, Betty Reed and Melba Kistner’s wonderful hand-made afghans were missing from the collection of new blankets at the day’s end. Redbird’s first powwow princess, Katianna Warren of the Navajo Nation, had a girl’s wrestling match on Saturday. She might have been able to attend the blanket drive if she was not so adept at the sport of wrestling; Kat took third place overall, having to compete multiple times throughout the day to achieve the title.

American Sign Language interpreter and southern straight dancer Kyle Laitenin brought Katianna’s sisters, Caitlin and Kaelene, who danced to almost every song that the well known and respected powwow drums Blue Star and Crooked Hat sang. George Lone Elk of the Oglala Lakota nation joined northern traditional dancer Michael Willis of the Cherokee nation in representing the men’s traditional dance styles. Dr. Willis (Chiropractic For All, Simi Valley) also served as Master of Ceremonies for the family-style gathering. Izzy Martin wore her new fancy shawl regalia proudly. Rachel Landry, despite fighting a cold, also donned her shawl and danced. Everyone - even flintknapper Gary Pickett, who avoids dancing at all costs - joined in the round dance or “friendship dance”. Deborah Delahunty played a memorial flute song, and Joe and Tina Calderon shared traditional Chumash songs and dances.

And then, mid-day, a parade of items - and students from Moorpark College’s Anthropologyy Association - came through the door. The students brought gently used clothing items and blankets - somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 to 400 pounds worth - as well as a glass jar filled with money - nearly $200.00 - which they had collected, along with the clothing items, from their peers and instructors.

Presently, there are 73 new (warm, lightweight, washable) blankets, somewhere close to 100 stuffed toys, a smaller number of boxes toys, an unquantified amount of school supplies, and two large piles of gently worn clothing and gently used blankets. This year, Redbird will have the task of redistributing all of these items. Goods bound for South Dakota will be shipped starting Monday, December 7.

For those unable to bring items to the blanket drive on Saturday, there will be an opportunity to meet with Redbird’s founder, Corina Roberts, at the Starbucks located at 475 Foothill Boulevard in La Canada Flintridge, at 4 PM on Monday, December 7 (Gould and Foothill, in the Trader Joe’s shopping center). Financial contributions can be made via Paypal to redbirds_vision@hotmail.com, or by U.S. mail to Redbird, P.O. Box 702, Simi Valley, CA 93062.

To learn more about Redbird please visit http://www.redbirdsvision.org