Flight of the Eagle

News

October 22, 2006

It's that time of year again where I remind each of you of our ongoing Christmas project for the children of several different Native American reservations. Once again, we would like to be able to give each child the taste of Christmas by taking a mere 3 ounces (that isn't much, only a small handful) of hard candy (no chocolate please) per child on each of the reservations we reach. Those reservations include all 3 in Texas, 2 in New Mexico, the Riverside Indian School in Anadarko, Oklahoma, the Flandreau Indian School in Minnesota and of course the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. With these reservations alone we are reaching over 10,000 children. That would mean to reach these children alone we need 1,875 pounds of hard candy! We would also like to be able to reach other reservations with this small gift. With this in mind we would like to ask if there are any of you who live near enough to a reservation to take on that responsibility for Flight of the Eagle. We can provide tax receipts for your donation. If you feel you can take this responsibility on please let us know and we will find out how many children are on the reservation you wish to help.

Without a network of people willing to help we cannot reach all the children. For many, the 3 ounces of candy we provide is the only Christmas gift they will receive due to the poverty conditions on the reservations. These children are very well aware of the Christmas season even though it may not be a part of their culture. They can't help but see it everywhere they go. That is why we feel it is important for them to understand that we care. Many of their fathers and mothers have gone to war for the United States leaving these children to be raised by their grandparents. For some, the parents have given the ultimate sacrifice, losing their lives for the USA. Can't we find it in our hearts to reach as many children as humanly possible through Flight of the Eagle?

On another note, the ongoing memorial project is coming along nicely. We now have our architectural rendition of the memorial, which will soon be posted on our website. Also, our modest building fund is growing. We feel confident that we will be able reach our goal.

Over the years we have had the support of many wonderful people. Unfortunately this past year one of our most devoted supporters was lost to a stroke. On a happier note, the Southern Ute's generously donated to our cause for which we are eternally grateful to have the support of the Native community!

Please remember these forgotten children and their warrior parents with your tax deductable gift. Your gift can be mailed to Flight of the Eagle, Inc., % A.D. Lawrence, 4515 CR 121, Nixon, TX 78140.

December 8, 2005

Friends, I have wonderful news, I just received word from the Southern Ute Tribe that they are donating $200.00 to help with our Christmas for the children project. I cannot tell you all how delighted I am to see some of the tribes taking an interest to help Flight of the Eagle. We will be able to reach more children than anticipated with this new gift.

November 22, 2005

It is that time of year again whereby everyone and his brother is bugging you for donations for this charity and that. Far be it from me to be left out.

Once again I would like to ask that you help with our Christmas project reaching the Native American children on the reservations. We would like to reach as many children as possible this year. Last year we reached approximately 9,000 children with your generous help. This year it may be even easier as we have arranged to be able to purchase goods through some various food banks at a lesser cost than previously paid which in turn will make your donation dollars go even further.

We are also now able to purchase personal hygiene items for elders so lets not forget them.

Please remember that any donations you care to make are tax deductible and if you need a receipt for your taxes I would be happy to send you one.

Also, please don't forget our building fund for our memorial. We have a promise of the land needed for the memorial already. We do however need funds for building as well as the aid of an architect to put the plans into blueprint form. If anyone can help with these items please contact me and I will send you mailing info.

April 28, 2005

This past year, to the children of the Pine Ridge Reservation, we added three reservations in Texas, and both the Flandreau Indian School in Minnesota and the Riverside Indian School in Oklahoma. We not only took candy to these children but also took toothbrushes to the children at the Riverside Indian School.

Now, let’s move on to other business. As we delve deeper into our objectives, there are things that need to be addressed. Our constitution and by-laws state that we can have no less than 4 nor more than 7 board members. We each need to take on projects, jobs, and/or responsibility for the things needing to be done in order that the organization might fulfill its goals. It is obvious that I cannot do everything myself and therefore desperately need the help of all board members and volunteers. I ask now that each of you look within yourselves and make a commitment to choose to act where you feel you can be of the most help. Ideas that have come up that need people to spearhead them can be found on our Donate webpage.

Please respond and tell me how you would like to help. I look forward to hearing from each of you. I would like to hear back from you no later than May 15th. Thank you for your time.

January 2, 2005

Many of you already know that I have started a non-profit organization to benefit Native America children and honor Native American Heroes. The name of the organization is “Flight Of The Eagle, Inc.” For our first project we planned on taking about 4 ounces of candy to each child on the Pine Ridge reservation. We had had a promise from another organization to help with this project stating that they could and would cover up to 4000 children. I then started making phone calls to find out exactly how many children are on Pine Ridge. The total is 5792 children! Pine Ridge is one of the poorer reservations where there is an 85% unemployment rate. This fact alone should tell you that these children will receive little if anything for Christmas and yet they too know about Santa Claus and look forward to something from him. This is why Pine Ridge was chosen as a starting point in hopes that in years to come we would be able to reach many more children on many different reservations. We also hope to help the handicapped and the elderly as well as offering educational programs. Our main goal, however is to build a memorial to those that died in Viet Nam, honoring their sacrifice. We are working very hard on this project and have made great strides toward it with offers of help from many who are in positions of being able to help.

We had also arranged with a local school called Turning Point, which is for at risk kids who are in therapy, etc. to come on the trip and actually do the deliveries of the candy driving to each school on the reservation. Most of these kids are disadvantaged and we felt it would be good for them to observe the poverty on the reservation.

Yesterday I was informed by the other organization that they would not be able to help us provide the candy for the children. At 4 ounces per child the amount of candy we will need about 1450 pounds of individually wrapped candies, preferably hard candies. If we cut the amount to 3 ounces per child we would need about 1100 pounds. We also need the snack sized zip-lock baggies to put the candy in. These cost 2 cents each or about $120.00 alone! Or another thought is to provide each child with one candy cane rather in lieu of anything else. Unfortunately I am not in a financial position to do all of this on my own. Therefore I am asking if any of you can help with this project. I will see many of you at the International and could bring the candy home with me. Those of you I won’t see, can you find it in your hearts to help by sending a donation to help with these purchases? We will be able to provide a tax receipt in the very near future if you need one for your taxes.

December, 2004

Hello my friends....It's getting close to "that" time again where all of the non-profits will be hounding you for donations! Let me be the first! We are still working on our memorial and now that we have a home (thanks Rick) will hopefully be getting donations to help that cause. We currently have $300 in our memorial fund.

Beyond that, we will again try to reach as many Native American children as possible with our "remembrance". That would be only 3 ounces of candy per child and may be the only Christmas gift many of them receive. Last year thanks to your efforts we were able to reach 6982 children on the Pine Ridge reservation! That's a lot of candy even at only 3 ounces per child!

So far this year I have enough candy for 1150 children but obviously need more. There are several ways each of you could help. Firstly, you could send tax deductible donations to "Flight of the Eagle, Inc." and we will purchase candy to take to the children. Rick is going to handle Pine Ridge this year since I am in Texas and he is in Minnesota. I hope to cover the Kickapoo reservation and hopefully the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and the Alabama-Coushatta reservation. All are in Texas. Christy and Lavon, perhaps you could help here. I have also enlisted the aid of a young man of Native decent whose mother lives on one of the Oklahoma reservations. We also hope to reach those children with his help.

If any of you have any resources for purchasing candy at a wholesale cost or know of anyone who will donate the candy, please get their help as well. For some of you, you may live near a reservation. My idea is that you contact your local 4-H, Campfire Girls, Boy or Girl Scout troups and see if they would consider doing a community service project. This would entail their going trick-or-treating for "Eagle" and then packaging the candy they get in 3 ounce portions, delivering it to you and then you in turn would take it to the reservation close to you in the name of Flight of the Eagle. Your expenses are of course tax deductible as well.

If any of you are interested in helping in this manner, please contact me for more information. Otherwise, any donations are appreciated. Please be sure to specify if you want your donation to go to the candy fund or the building fund.

June, 2004

Through the efforts of our Vice President, Rick Hull, I am proud to announce that Flight of the Eagle, Inc. has found a home for the memorial. We will be building our memorial near Fort Robinson, NE.

January 24, 2004

As we begin the New Year, let us reflect upon our accomplishments for last year. Flight of the Eagle, Inc. was only formed in mid October of 2003, and we did indeed make a mark. First of all, through donations of friends and family, as well as myself, we were able to come up with $1749.00 to purchase candy for the children on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Although it was not much, each child in school or pre-school received 3 ounces of candy from our organization, which was delivered by volunteer Marilyn Mann and two board members, Patti Roseberry and myself.

Additionally, a veteran who had been diagnosed with PTSD in March of 2000 contacted us. For over three years he had been trying to get into a treatment program. Through the advice of our President and some personal contacts, we have arranged for this deserving veteran to be admitted to a Veterans Hospital for his treatment. He sent a letter of thanks to us stating that we had accomplished in a few short weeks what he was unable to do in over three years. This certainly is a feather in our cap.

Please respond and tell me how you would like to help. I look forward to hearing from each of you.