Global Volunteers - Volunteer Programs at Blackfeet Reservation, MT
Join Global Volunteers in helping and understanding the Blackfeet culture as a volunteer. Your help is wanted to improve educational, recreational, and social aspects of life on the Blackfeet reservation.
Possible volunteer work projects include:
* Building and fixing playgrounds
* Landscaping public areas
* Organizing a library
* Assisting at a nursing home and offering companionship to elderly
* Painting classrooms
Opportunities for working in professional areas are also available. Volunteers of any background are encouraged to share their skills. This program is great for families volunteering together. We appreciate your interest in volunteering to improve conditions for Native Americans at the Blackfeet Reservation with Global Volunteers!
Reviews
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My dad and I went on this as part of my bat mitzvah service project. Even though I was the youngest person on the trip (12 at the time), it was a very interesting project. It was also a lot of work. Perhaps the most thing I did was the two days I went around delivering lunches to people who could not leave their homes. We also met one women who showed us pictures about the Blackfeet religious ceremony held to ensure that her son in the US military stayed safe. It was a very interesting experience.
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We chose the BF Reservation site because we wanted to stay in the US and because it was available to families. We had volunteered with GV in W.VA prior to that and had a great experience, but wanted to check out another site.
We had a wide range of service opportunities there from visiting nursing home residents and helping to build a patio there to landscaping at the local community college and serving meals at a senior citizen center. We were also able to interact with local residents in the evening through cultural presentations and sharing meals together.
This has had a lasting impact on our family as we reflect on the lessons learned about respecting creation and one another. I have personally been inspired to persue areas of service in Environmental Ministry, in part because of our experience on the Reservation.
I would highly recommend this to anyone who has a desire to connect with another culture and deepen their appreciation for creation.
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Our family visited the Blackfeet Reservation with GV in 2010. The beauty and wisdom of that culture has remained with us ever since. I have often still referred to things I learned and experienced there.
Our appreciation for creation grew from witnessing the respect and honor demonstrated by the BF People. It was an honor to be permitted to experience their world first hand.
This experience also shattered many stereotypes that we have been exposed to living in a white dominated society.
We are so grateful to have participated in this volunteer experience and would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to gain an appreciation for another culture. The direct participation in and with BF People's daily lives and practices was a unique opportunity.
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To experience Montana alongside the Blackfeet Indians is to immerse oneself into what is truly important. The Indians hold family and community amongst their most important values. Although volunteers participate for just a short time, relationships come easily and the volunteers feel embraced by the community. Elders share stories of the Great Rocky Mountains while children share traditional Indian dances. Volunteers have many opportunities to engage in the community from assisting the librarians and the facilities staff at the Blackfeet Community College to helping the Boys and Girls Clubs sew Indian costumes for the upcoming Pow Wow. For newcomers to Indian culture, this volunteer opportunity enables a wonderful glimpse into incredible heritage and tradition.
80%Overall
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I thoroughly enjoyed my week on the Blackfeet Reservation. I met wonderful people - both the local people as well as the other volunteers. The GV staff go out of their way to make living conditions as comfortable as possible. Don't expect luxury. The work can feel disorganized at times, but it does come together. Small actions have a big impact. Take every opportunity to enjoy, learn, and appreciate the local culture. GV isn't there as a tour guide, but they will offer suggestions. Take their suggestions - go on the hikes, go to the sweat lodge, go to the Mission, go on the horseback ride. There is so much to do and see and learn. I returned a more appreciative person.
90%Overall
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All the locals we met were very welcoming and often thanked us for our service. Some projects are done by volunteers without local participation. But it's the necessary price to have an inside appreciation of an Indian reservation. Global may be the only group that has developed such a strong ongoing relationship. There's not a lot to do on your own during free time so our team leader brought in local speakers and planned incredible side trips to show us the area (Glacier National Park, horseback riding on a working ranch, spiritual ceremonies, etc.) Global still needs to work on better housing. Apparently the previous provider of housing had a falling out with Global. We spent time in a house that needed a good cleaning and then at the community college in large dorm style rooms. You gotta like dogs; they're everywhere (and have a history with the Blackfeet). Overall an incredible experience.
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Alumni Interviews
Meet Sherry Staub, Global Volunteers U.S. volunteer alum
GO: Why did you decide to volunteer with Global Volunteers at the Blackfeet Reservation?
Sherry: We chose the BF Reservation site because we wanted to stay in the US and because it was available to families. We had volunteered with GV in W.VA prior to that and had a great experience, but wanted to check out another site.
GO: Describe your day to day activities as a volunteer.
Sherry: We had a wide range of service opportunities there from visiting nursing home residents and helping to build a patio there to landscaping at the local community college and serving meals at a senior citizen center. We were also able to interact with local residents in the evening through cultural presentations and sharing meals together.
GO: How has this experience helped you grow personally and professionally?
Sherry: This has had a lasting impact on our family as we reflect on the lessons learned about respecting creation and one another. I have personally been inspired to persue areas of service in Environmental Ministry, in part because of our experience on the Reservation.
I would highly recommend this to anyone who has a desire to connect with another culture and deepen their appreciation for creation.
Meet Cindy, a Volunteer Team Leader with Global Volunteers in the United States
GO: Why did you decide to volunteer with Global Volunteers at the Blackfeet Reservation?
Cindy: Originally, I was drawn to Global Volunteers due to their Mission Statement focused on waging peace via working alongside local people. Change happens from within and I believe in working at the direction of local communities. Additionally, I am driven by curiosity and feed off of varied experiences. I signed up to volunteer specifically on the Blackfeet Reservation to give of myself in a part of the world I had never been and alongside people that I do not know. These kind of experiences take me out of element while expanding and enriching who I am as a person.
GO: Describe your day to day activities as a volunteer.
Cindy: My role as a Volunteer Team Leader is focused on fostering a dynamic in which the volunteers can safely perform work alongside local people. I ensure that the volunteers understand the host organization's objectives while, at the same time, educate the host organization as to the experience and talents that the volunteers bring to the community.
GO: How has this experience helped you grow personally and professionally?
Cindy: Global Volunteers and these experiences (since 1997) are a part of who I am; they have become a part of my identity.
Further Info
About Global Volunteers
Global Volunteers, a private, non-profit, non-sectarian, non-governmental organization, has been giving short-term volunteers the chance to provide essential services to local people on service programs since 1984. Volunteering under the direction of local leaders, team members form groundwork for international peace via common, global understanding. Our goal is to sustain authentic development projects with the host community and give volunteers wide opportunities to help.
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Our family visited the Blackfeet Reservation with GV in 2010. The beauty and wisdom of that culture has remained with us ever since. I have often still referred to things I learned and experienced there.
Our appreciation for creation grew from witnessing the respect and honor demonstrated by the BF People. It was an honor to be permitted to experience their world first hand.
This experience also shattered many stereotypes that we have been exposed to living in a white dominated society.
We are so grateful to have participated in this volunteer experience and would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to gain an appreciation for another culture. The direct participation in and with BF People's daily lives and practices was a unique opportunity.