A lot of great folks are out there working for the tribal colleges, including my husband, Frankie C. Lee, a civil engineer who instructs students at Fort Berthold Community College. A crew from FBCC is over at Northern Cheyenne to check out a straw bale house, a model for the FBCC engineering team. The point being that all the tribal college folks represent a big family. Now, some of the family members need help because flooding is taking a toll. It will only get worse before anything gets better. Check out the following June 1 news update from the American Indian College Fund. A donation link is below.
Flooding has created disaster conditions at two tribal colleges: Little Big Horn College in Eastern Montana and United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, North Dakota. While massive flooding threatens the surrounding communities, these tribal colleges are serving as the command centers for the disaster, providing shelter, food, and clothing to those in need. Resources are desperately needed to sustain their relief efforts.
Two other tribal colleges, Cankdeska Cikana Community College in Fort Totten, North Dakota; and Fort Belknap in Harlem, Montana have been threatened by the rising waters, which have cut off roads and tainted the drinking water supply.
Unfortunately the worst is yet to come. A record snow pack and runoff water raising the Missouri River to record levels is straining dams, which are already at their breaking points. In the coming weeks, officials will release millions of gallons of water down the already full waterways to try to save the dams. In addition to Montana and North Dakota tribal colleges, which are facing the worst flooding situation in history, as the waters continue to rise, flooding also threatens thousands more lives and tribal colleges in South Dakota and Nebraska.
Please donate to the American Indian College Fund’s flood emergency fund today. Your donation will help provide affected students with food, clothing, housing, transportation, and supplies; and will give funds to tribal colleges in the affected regions to defray the costs incurred for their emergency relief efforts. Click here to donate now or call 800-776-3863!
Jodi Rave