St. Joseph's Indian School

Because i received a stimulus check, I decided to share some of with the children of St. Josephs. My generosity at that time in my life was recognized by the previous head of the school. He mailed a personal thank you letter! May the children always look forward to each day in the safety and friendship of each other. May their families be proud of them. as an educator my self. i value a good education.

As someone who worked for Ad Agencies producing Direct Mail, the last mailing ended it for me in making any contributions. ELEVEN items, all expensive to produce. Included a large 4 color printed custom mailer, 4 color over B/W 2 sided letter, a perfed 4/C over B/W certificate, a 4/C over B/W drawing/letter; a custom daily planner, perfect bound, with a foiled cover & a placement ribbon; a 4/C over 4/C die-cut backer that held a pen, & the planner. Attached to this backer is also 4/C printed Music CD, & a 4/C printed CD Sleeve with a glassine front. All off these items have to be assembled, inserted into the mailer with a foam type protector, sealed with clear disks, then labeled from pre-printed address mailing labels.
All these elements need to be written & designed by an agency, approved
by the management team, & final digital Art must be produced by the agency to go to a variety of Printers. The bigger the package, the higher the postage costs. Given the large stream of CONTINUAL mailings of truly unwanted stuff - it's obviously going to cover those costs. Especially since there is such a small base at the school, the monies have to be going more towards outside support & vendors, cranking out these packages vs. going to the school & children. With more moderately produced & FEWER mailings, you'd have more money going where it's truly needed, the School & the children. And the fact that this non-profit "Machine" is not transparent & refuses to release just how their funding is distributed, what their top people pull in as salaries, & has no charity rating for people to determine if this is where they want their funding to go - this is not the place to put your money. Note their direct mailing lists are also being resold, as other Indian charities now have access to you.

I don't know that I have a story to tell, but I certainly can tell you why I support St. Joseph's Indian School. History has been a great influence in my life, and the American Indian is a big part of the history of the United States. It is too much a sad history, but it is our history. St. Joseph's Indian School respects the history of the Lakota people that they work with, and I find that very commendable. St. Joseph's gives native American youth a chance for a future, and builds that on the proud past that those children come from. That does not simply give these young Americans a chance, it gives them strength to face the difficult future that is mature adulthood. That is not simply impressive to me, it is important. Children are our future, ALL children.

I am in my 80's and my wife is disabled. I doubt then that we will ever be able to visit your school. However, we were teachers: she on the primary level and I on the high school and college. What we have seen in your mailings and on your web site shows that you have established a a good foundation for their world--especially, in their culture and language. If you wish to destroy peoples, forbid their languages and ways. That was done to the American Indians and also to the Irish and Scots et al. Yet, people's ways and customs expressed through their languages are the source of who they were and still are. As Pope John Paul II warned we should not rush to assimilate others but to help them adapt so that the multicultural reality of God's Church can be seen. That said there is also the need for them to be able to advance in our rapidly evolving technical world. We, they, can never stop learning.

I am very suspicious of the few positive comments about this facility. After so many negative comments the positive ones just do not seem real. I would imagine that it is the staff or Board of Directors person making the comments in hopes of defusing some of the negative aura of the whole place.

I will not give to an organization that will not remove you after repeated attempts to be removed. They seem to be a "Mill" running rampant and flooding any possible market in hopes of getting some cash. Well, not from me.

Chuck
CEO of Phoenix Rehabilitation Organization, Inc.