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Please Participate!
In the January 9, 2005
NACoA/White Bison Run for the Children
A Fundraiser To Benefit Native American Children Growing
Up In Homes Affected By Alcohol And Other Drugs
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| Don
Coyhis, Founder and President of White Bison,
Inc., stands behind the Native American version
of the NACoA (National Association for Children
of Alcoholics) Children's Program Kit.
The Kit provides Prevention resources for children
of addicted parents. Don Coyhis and Willie
Wolf will run to support the Kit in the NACoA Run
for the Children on January 9, 2005
at Disney World near Orlando, Florida. |
NACoA/White
Bison Run for the Children
October 20, 2004
Hello to all Wellbriety Movement supporters!
On January 9, 2005, I will be running
in the NACoA (National Association for Children of
Alcoholics) fundraiser marathon at Walt Disney World
near Orlando, Florida. Willie Wolf and myself will
each participate in this 26.2/13.1 mile event on
behalf of NACoA's commitment
to children living in families with parental drug use
or addiction, as well as for Native American children
and the Wellbriety Movement.
The January 9 Run For the Children
fundraiser is a partnership between White Bison and
NACoA. Our goal is set for $10,000. Half of what
you or your organization donates to the Run for the
Children will go to White Bison, the other half to
NACoA. Your donations will help White Bison earn
$5000 from this marathon. How will we use the proceeds
of the marathon? We intend to utilize these funds
to promote and enhance training for the already available
version of the Native American Children's Program
Kit and provide these kits to the communities that
have requested them.
White Bison and NACoA have worked
in a successful partnership by culturalizing the
Native American Children's
Kit. To learn more about the Native American version
of the kit that your donation will support please visit
the White Bison website at
http://www.whitebison.org/magazine/2004/winter_spring/vol5no3.html
and read about this cultural adaptation of the popular
NACoA resource. The kit makes a difference in the lives
of children by supporting them in their own struggle
to stay free of alcohol and other drug addictions.
White Bison, Inc. is an affiliate
organization of NACoA and supports the NACoA mission "To
advocate for all children and families affected by
alcoholism and other drug dependences." Willie Wolf
is a certified facilitator for the Native American
version of the Children of Alcoholics Kit.
By being a part of the Run
for the Children—2005 your support will help encourage us to run for the
children in an effort to accomplish our commitment
of providing this resource as a part of the Wellbriety
Movement. We look forward to your tax-deductible donation
on behalf of Native American and Alaska and Hawaiian
Native children everywhere.
For the Wellbriety Movement,
Don Coyhis
Founder and President of White Bison, Inc.
Run
for the Children!
Children
growing up in a family affected by parental
alcohol or other drug misuse don't have a
choice. That's their mom and dad, their uncles
and aunties, and their grandmas and grandpas they're
relating to. They can't get away because
they're dependent and they are still kids.
They are caught between what's natural for
children to feel for parents, and the harmful behavior
of the adults who surround them. Beyond families,
many adults in our Native American communities
also suffer from the use of chemical intoxicants.
So who advocates for the youth? Who or what gives
our youth a chance to grow up without thinking
drugs and alcohol are "normal?" Well,
White Bison and NACoA do.
NACoA is a national nonprofit membership and
affiliate organization working on behalf of children
of alcohol and drug dependent parents. Its mission
is to advocate for all children and families
affected by alcoholism and other drug dependencies.
NACoA helps kids that are hurt by parental alcohol
and drug use.
A landmark event took place
in February of 2004. To celebrate Children
of Alcoholics Week, NACoA released its Children's Program Kit so
that teachers and other addictions prevention
advocates would have a self-contained learning
course to give kids a chance to understand what
is happening to them at home and to provide them
with some tools to stay well in unwell environments.
Working closely with NACoA, White Bison added
some Native American cultural messages so that
our communities could utilize the Kit even better.
The result was the Children's Program Kit
especially for Native American youth.
The Kit has been available for nine months now
and some communities have taken advantage of
its availability. But the kit will benefit our
youth even more if adult community advocates
are trained in its use. In order to raise funds
for training and administrative support so that
the Kits will be more effective for Native American
and Alaska and Hawaiian Native youth, White Bison
will fundraise by participating in the NACoA
run at Disney World in January, 2005.
Don Coyhis, (Mohican Nation)
Founder and President of White Bison, and Willie
Wolf (Cheyenne River Sioux), who provides training
for the Children's
Program Kit and other services for Native communities,
will run the 26 mile Marathon for White Bison.
Why is this event important?
Don says, "There
is a focus for women in healing, men in healing,
and families, but there is almost no focus
for children growing up around alcohol and
other drugs. These are like the invisible children.
The purpose of the Run is to create awareness
for the Children of alcoholics. It's
really a prevention program. If children get
into the healing processes very, very young
it will avoid those issues in treatment and
mental health later on. This is a forgotten
piece of the healing work we do. It may be the
most significant."
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| Don
Coyhis |
Willie Wolf also focuses
on the "lost
child" plight in which children of addicted
parents find themselves. He says, "The
lost child is one of the roles in dysfunctional
families. I think that describes children of
alcoholics in general. Sometimes we focus on
the people who are in treatment. We focus on
the codependents. It seems like the children
get lost in the shuffle. There hasn't been
enough emphasis on the extent to which Native
American children have been impacted by alcohol.
It affects them emotionally, physically, spiritually
and mentally. Unless they get help they can be
scarred for life. They need some tools to survive
the experience and also learn how to cope as
they grow up so they can be successful later
on in life. I want to raise money for White Bison
and NACoA to make more people aware of how important
it is for us to help the children."
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| Willie
Wolf
|
This is an opportunity for
YOU and the organizations you know to donate
towards the Native American version of the
Children's Program Kit.
This is your chance to contribute some "Green
Energy" ($$) for our Native American and
Alaska and Hawaiian Native youth. This is your
chance to express your Indigenous Pride by supporting
Don Coyhis and Willie Wolf as they represent
Native Americans with all the non-Native participants
in the Run for the Children.
How Can YOU and your family, group, community
or organization give our children a chance? |
Ideas
and Tips for Contributing to the
White Bison/NACoA Run for the Children
 1-Make
your own donation of $26 or more ($1 per mile!),
in your name, or in your family's name. Designate
your donation either for Don Coyhis's Run,
Willie Wolf's run, or $26 each for both.
2- Ask all of your close friends
to sponsor Don or Willie, or both, as they
make their pledge, running for the children.
3- Ask your neighbors to donate
$26 ($1 per mile) towards the Run for the Children.
4- Explore the possibility that
your organization or place of employment will
donate matching gifts based on what their employees
contribute.
5-Ask 10 coworkers to help sponsor
Don or Willie for a minimum of $26 each. If
your company has a minimum, ask friends to
double up. This could be ten more matched gifts!
6-Ask your boss for a company
contribution.
7-Plan a fundraising party for
everyone you know.
8- Ask five businesses you frequent
for a donation of $52 each ($2 per mile).
9- Plan a fundraising party for
everyone you know.
10-Hold a traditional Run for
the Children sobriety powwow and put down the
blanket for Children of Alcoholics. Put down
the blanket for the Children at a regularly
scheduled community powwow or other event.
Visit the NACoA website at www.NACoA.org for
more excitement, tips and information about
the Run |
How
to Send in Your Contribution to the
Run For the Children
All donations go directly to
NACoA, not to White Bison. When the event is
complete, NACoA sends White Bison its share
and that money becomes part of the White
Bison Children’s Program Kit training fund.
All donations are tax-deductible. White Bison
is an American Indian owned 501c(3) non-profit
corporation for tax deduction purposes.
1-Mail
your gift by check directly to NACoA. Designate either Willie Wolf or Don
Coyhis as the runner you wish to support. Make
your Check payable to National
Association for Children of Alcoholics and mail your gift
to:
The National Association for
Children of Alcoholics
11426 Rockville Pike, Suite 100
Rockville, Maryland 20852
If you mail in your donation
to NACoA, you can use this form for credit
card giving:
Run for
the Children – January
9, 2005
White Bison, Inc Fundraiser as an Affiliate member of NACoA (National
Association of Children of Alcoholics)
(Willie Wolf) or/and (Don Coyhis)
appreciates your support of this Run!
Credit Card Giving:
Please place a gift of $______________
Credit/Debit
MasterCard or Visa
Credit Card No:_________________________Exp.
Date_____/____
_______________________________________________________
Print Your Name Above as it Appears On Your
Card
Phone
Number(_____)________________________
_______________________________________________________
Authorization
Signature
2- Make your gift directly
to the NACoA website at www.NACoA.org.
Look for Willie Wolf’s
name or Don Coyhis’s name, or both, to
support their individual runs.
If you have any questions, ideas or suggestions
about how we can all make this event a successful
fundraiser in support of our children, call
White Bison at toll free 1-877-871-1495. International
callers may call at 719-548-1000. Or e mail
at info@whitebison.org
Thanks for Caring and Thanks for Giving to
help our Native American Children! |
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