From the IndieGoGo fundraiser page for the Healthy Start Program on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

It’s difficult to convey the  human challenges that people on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota are facing.  The infant mortality rate (IMR) is the number of deaths of babies under one year old per 1,000 live births.  The IMR on Pine Ridge is 300% higher than the national average – the highest in the US.  Moms face racism, poverty and psychological challenges.

WHY I STOPPED FILMING TO RAISE THIS MONEY:  After years of research regarding the history and reasons American Indians have the worst health disparities in the US, Kitty Farmer is producing a documentary film, What’s in the Heart – Can’t be Taken. (trailer)

“The statistics on Indian health are heartbreaking – American people have no idea the unimaginable and preventable suffering our American Indian neighbors are enduring.  It’s as if we’re talking about a third world country.” 

 

Many of these families don’t even have something as simple as running water in their homes.  Can you imagine bringing a child into the world, knowing the chances that your child could die are 300% higher than anywhere else in the country?

The good news is that programs like Healthy Start can turn this around.

The bad news… (the above is beyond awful)…but they’ve lost their facilities.  They need funds.  Bad.  There is less than a day left on this and they are $20,000 away from their goal.

Can you help out?  Even $5 is a step toward saving a baby’s life.

And… if you help out, forward your paypal receipt to shilohwalker2011(at)gmail.com (please strike any pertinent personal date-all info is kept confidential and will be deleted, just used for the contest).  Everybody who donates gets entered in a drawing for an ARC of WRECKED.

Donate here  IndieGoGo fundraiser page