Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

January 13, 2022

Cooking for Relatives: Lakota Candi Brings Plenty Remembers her Father




Cooking for Relatives: Lakota Candi Brings Plenty Remembers her Father 

By Candi Brings Plenty
Censored News
January 11, 2022

Tonight I cooked for the Meals for Relatives COVID-19 Rapid City Community Response in honor of my Até Mato (Papa Bear), today is his birthday. We took a break from community cooking when the numbers went down, the Wotakuye Mutual Aid Society provided aid packages in the meantime. But as we all know, our Covid numbers sky rocketed and today is South Dakota’s highest Covid cases since the beginning of this pandemic.

I cooked and drove tonight, my delivery person wasn’t able to drive because they got exposed today and had to quarantine. My kiddos were out of town, but Carson James 
helped me out…I drove and he delivered the food to each door. We listened to country music, my dads playlist I made for him when he was in the hospital before making his journey. Each meal had a mini pecan pie, his favorite.



I owe my political fluency to my father, he had me canvassing and collecting signatures in my high school years…listening to tribal council meetings and groomed me to elevate the need for Indigenous leadership in positions of power. He pushed me to go out into the world so that I could experience what leadership looked like across the spectrum.

Before my dad made his journey, he told me that a lot of elders are going to die and take their wisdom with them…and a lot of medicine people were going to die and they will be taking their medicine with them. He said he was informing me of this, not to scare me, but to prepare me. He said he wanted me to remember that even though they are taking their wisdom and medicine with them…that there will be new wisdom by the new elders and that there will be the new medicines that we will need in the new times of need, by the medicine people who will step up when we need them most.

This pandemic has impacted every family and every individual. It has been both extremely devastating as well as life changing in the best ways. But let’s continue to remember that we are still deep in a pandemic and people are still vulnerable. As I cooked I sent prayer and medicinal energy into my food. I sent prayers to the families impacted, especially to all the mothers who are sick and still taking care of their families. I also sent a special prayer to my sister Charity Brings Plenty who is currently recovering from Covid
.

Tonight I cooked for twenty three relatives who have been impacted by Covid. Our target service is to elders, single parent families and homes with children who don’t have a well adult to cook. We know there are many folks out there in need, however these meals come out of our pockets and our own refrigerators. If you are interested in cooking, driving, donating or volunteering, please contact Natalie Stites Means, Jean Roach or you can inbox me.
#MealsForRelatives2022
#HappyBirthdayAtéMato
#CovidIsStillHere
#SocialDistanceAndMaskUp

Meals for Relatives on Facebook

For permission to reproduce images or words, contact Candi Brings Plenty.
Copyright Candi Brings Plenty.

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