It began when Lyle
Rustad paid a visit home to Rushford, Minnesota, for a class
reunion. He was living in the Twin Cities and working regionally
with Native American communities. He told Elder Jim Hoiness
about the 2,200 people of the Crow Creek Reservation in South
Dakota, with over 90 percent unemployment, substandard housing,
broken families, chemical dependency, and youth suicides. Jim,
a businessman, told Lyle he had an empty semitrailer. He wondered
whether Rushford, population 1,700, might be able to collect
items needed by the people of Crow Creek.
With Lyle, Jim visited Crow Creek residents to learn of their
needs. He spoke to the Session of First Presbyterian in Rushford,
a congregation of forty-five members. The session was eager
to respond and sought out partners. Four area churches and the
Boy Scouts provided volunteers to receive and load donations.
During the town’s spring cleanup week, items of all kinds
were donated. This small town was able to fill the semitrailer
twice. A trucker volunteered to make two 900-mile round trips
to deliver the goods, and more than $2,500 in donations paid
for fuel. Later in the year the churches sent a truckload of
outerwear. First Presbyterian has developed an ongoing relationship
with the people of Crow Creek and with neighboring churches.
Within the bounds of the Presbytery of the John Knox are 62
churches with 10,723 members and the University of Dubuque Theological
Seminary.
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