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If you need help, call Connie at 605-786-7130.

Get involved

A gift does not have to be money to change what someone walks into.

A box of toiletries. Three hours on a Saturday. An afternoon of the skill you already have. A job opening you would consider filling with someone who has a record. All of it moves this work forward, and all of it is needed right now.

See what is needed
A man shaking hands with an employer across a desk after a job interview
A box of toiletries handed through at a facility

Three ways in

Start wherever you can

01

Give hours

Drive, cook, sort donations, help at a Wacipi, or sit down with someone working on a resume.

Volunteer

02

Give goods

Toiletries, work clothing and boots, winter gear, food, phone cards and gas cards.

See the list

03

Give a skill

Grant writing, accounting, printing, design or legal work. Or a job. Or a lease.

Partner with us

Give hours

Most of this work is a person with a vehicle and an afternoon.

Connie has been driving these routes largely alone since 2015. Every hour someone else takes on is an hour she can spend on the person in front of her.

  • Drivers. Facility pickups, rides to interviews, probation check-ins and appointments.
  • Event help. Setup, cooking and cleanup at Wacipi and community fundraisers.
  • Sorting donations. Organizing clothing and supplies into ready homecoming kits.
  • Meal prep. Cooking and serving at the weekly Voices meeting.
  • Mentoring. Sitting with someone on resumes, budgeting and setting goals they can reach.
  • Sage harvesting. Cutting and bundling sage and cedar for deliveries into the facilities.
  • Outreach. Helping reach churches, tribal offices, employers and community partners.
A volunteer driving toward a community corrections office for a pickup
Work boots, a canvas coat, jeans, wool socks, a knit hat and work gloves laid out on a bench

Give goods

What we are short on right now

These are the things that go into a homecoming kit, or into the van on the way to a facility. New or gently used both work.

  • Toiletries. Soap, shampoo, deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, razors.
  • Work clothing and boots. Especially men’s sizes, and steel toe if you have them.
  • Winter gear. Coats, gloves, hats and wool socks. South Dakota winters are not forgiving.
  • Gas station gift cards. The single most flexible thing you can give.
  • Phone cards and phones. So a person can be reached by an employer or a caseworker.
  • Food. Non-perishables, and anything that can feed a weekly meeting.
  • Wacipi supplies. Materials for powwows held inside the facilities.
  • Books. Especially for the women’s unit, where the library is falling apart.

Where to send it

Drop off or ship to 724 Haines Ave, Rapid City, SD 57701.

Call Connie first at 605-786-7130 so someone is there to meet you, or email connieh272@gmail.com.

We can provide an in-kind donation receipt for your records.

The two hardest doors

Nothing helps more than a job and a lease.

Probation requires both, quickly. A record makes both nearly impossible. If your business hires, or you own property you rent, you can solve the thing that money cannot.

Talk to us

Employers

Tell us what you hire for and what your requirements are. We will only send people who are ready, and we stay involved after the start date.

Landlords

We keep a working list of landlords willing to consider an applicant with a record. Being on it costs nothing and changes everything.

Give a skill

Professional help stretches further than a check.

We are a volunteer organization with no back office. An afternoon of your professional time can unlock funding or capacity that money alone would not.

  • Grant writing. The highest-value skill anyone can give us right now.
  • Accounting and bookkeeping. Clean books make every future grant possible.
  • Printing. Flyers, business cards and materials that go into the facilities.
  • Graphic design. Materials for Wacipi, fundraisers and outreach.
  • Legal. Nonprofit governance, and help for people clearing records and documents.
  • Trades and transport. Vehicle repair, hauling, and anything that keeps the van running.
A volunteer designing a Wacipi flyer and outreach materials
A transitional housing site in Rapid City at dusk, sign reading Stability, Support, New Beginnings

The long-term work

Transitional housing in Rapid City

Our long-term goal is a small number of dignified units for people in their first year home, with weekly check-ins, employment goals and cultural life built into the tenancy.

Three things move this forward, and none of them are ordinary donations.

  • Site leads. A convertible building or a parcel the city will approve for transitional use.
  • Construction and trades. Contractors, suppliers and crews willing to work at or near cost.
  • Major gifts and investors. People who fund capital projects rather than operations.

Sign up

Tell us what you can give

Hours, goods, a skill, a job opening or a rental. Fill this out and Connie will get back to you herself. There is no committee here.

Prefer to talk first? Call 605-786-7130 or email connieh272@gmail.com.

We will not add you to a mailing list or pass your information to anyone else.

Walk with us

Someone comes home this month either way.

What they walk into depends on who decided to show up before they got here.

Get involved