Local Wickford Little League Coach To Volunteer with Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe

Our Wickford Little League community includes teachers, doctors, lawyers, moms, dads, active military, and more. One of our best Wickford Little League coaches, Dave Andrews, recently sent me a link to a special project he is passionate about. Dave is working with the Veterans Service Corps doing volunteer work this June in South Dakota. More specifically, Dave is working to improve the lives of the members of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe in Eagle Butte, South Dakota. Dave mentioned to me via email "The county that the reservation is located in is one of the five poorest in the US. 60% of the people are living below the poverty line. Unemployment hovers at about 90%. Average life expectancy is 48 years old. What makes it even more tragic for me is that 46% of the Cheyenne River Sioux are US military veterans!"

Here is more from Dave Andrews about his upcoming volunteer work. "We're working with the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe, both to support them in their stand against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, and to help them make improvements to their community. Despite the fact that they're supposed to receive funding and support from the federal government, their facilities and property have fallen into disrepair, including their schools and sports facilities. The chairman of the tribe has proposed building some new basketball courts, and to support that, I want to raise funds to buy some sports supplies, particularly basketballs, nets, pumps, etc. I want to collect money in order to buy up some of their sports equipment, which I will then bring to SD in June."

A GoFundMe page has been set up. You can go to www.gofundme.com/OPEagle-ChildrenCRST to make your donation to help support the efforts of Dave Andrews and the Veterans Service Corps. To learn more about the Veterans Service Corps, visit www.veteranservicecorps.org.

Best wishes on your volunteer work and thank you for service, Dave.