Ziolkowski family provides gifts for Pine Ridge dormitories
Promising a holly jolly Christmas for children facing a bleak holiday, Crazy Horse Memorial and the Ziolkowski family, friends and contributors will deliver more than 100 gifts to the students living at the Pine Ridge School dormitories on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Last week, Jadwiga Ziolkowski, who coordinates the Crazy Horse Christmas Fund and gift collection, and her daughters, Ashley and Alisha Schultz, both 15, finished shopping for the 104 students, grades 1-12.
For the at least 15 years, it has become an annual holiday tradition for the Ziolkowski family to deliver gifts to the Pine Ridge School students. “It’s a lot of work, but if you could see the joy in their faces. It’s incredible,” Jadwiga Ziolkowski said.
As the economy struggles through the recession, the federal boarding school budget has tightened. Organizers said money that might have once been available for parties at the school’s dormitories has dried up. At the Ziolkowski’s requests, donors stepped forward to contribute funds that would buy at least one gift on the children’s wish list.
“The generosity of the people who gave this year has been overwhelming,” Jadwiga Ziolkowski said. “They truly wanted to do something to help.”
She credits her twin daughters for their first-time shopping odyssey on Black Friday.
“My daughters and I decided to go to the 4 a.m. thing. One of my daughters was all organized and knew which store to hit first,” she said.
Up at 2:30 a.m., they successfully bought the majority of gifts at their first shopping session, which lasted 12 hours. It didn’t go well at all the stores. At the first store, there were no shopping carts. After locating some dolls from the list and eventually finding a cart, shoppers had snatched up the dolls by the time they returned to the toy section, she said.
At another store as mom stood in line, the teens put together a list of electronics, DVDs, board games and music before sweeping through the electronics and toy sections for some major power shopping. They then began to tackle the athletic side of their Christmas list.
With 37 basketballs, 13 skateboards, 12 pairs of rollerblades, two volley balls, one soccer ball and a football stuffed into two carts, she said people were doing double takes as they rolled through the store.
“They do give us unusual looks. Clerks will try to put the items away if you walk away from your cart for even a couple minutes,” she said.
Lindy Trueblood, acting boys dormitory manager, and Emily Deon, girls dormitory manager, will go to the memorial to pick up the gifts on Friday, Dec. 12.
“For a lot of the kids, the Christmas they have here (at the dormitory) is the highlight of their Christmas season,” Trueblood said.
She said the dormitories house 54 girls and 50 boys. Last month, staff collected Christmas wish lists from each of the students. Coming from families of modest means, the children do appreciate the gifts, she said.
“A lot of children aren’t used to big elaborate Christmases,” she said.
Trueblood said each child will receive a gift from the list and then a large gift is traditionally delivered to the dormitory such as a stereo system or a play station.
“We wrap up the presents and it makes it feel very festive,” she said.
Ruth Ziolkowski said when Jadwiga brought the toys back to Crazy Horse, the family decorates large bags with handles that includes the child’s name and age. The bags are then lined up and filled. “It’s all very organized. We have people who come out from Custer and help,” she said.
They have invited the dormitory staff to the memorial to pick up the gifts as well as share a light lunch. “It’s an adventure, you would enjoy it,” she said.
This year, Ruth Ziolkowski sent out 276 letters asking in the spirit of Christmas for help to fund the gift exchange. She wasn’t disappointed.
“People are wonderful. They really are,” she said.
Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com.