In the spirit of Thanksgiving, this is excerpted right from Daily Kos. It is a cause I have focused on before and I chipped in again this year. From Daily Kos:

Many of you know the story of Kossacks' involvement with saving the Pretty Bird Woman House, which is a women's shelter on the South Dakota side of the Standing Rock Reservation. Last fall we conducted a fundraiser thatraised enough money to buy the shelter an entire new house. Since this week is the beginning of the holiday giving season, I want to give you an update on the shelter and some ideas for donating if you are so inclined...
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Pretty Bird Woman House, a refuge for abused women on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, has been a focus of some considerable blog effort of late (see, for example, here). This women's shelter had once been saved by the liberal blogsphere, but was then vandalized and was facing losing its lease. The liberal blogsphere stepped up to bat again. The goal was to buy the house outright for the person who ran the shelter and to provide a solid security system. It was estimated that the blogsphere would have to raise $70,000 to accomplish this. The timing was critical because Pretty Bird Woman house had received a Federal grant...which could only be accepted if the shelter still existed.

As of 12/30/07 I learned that the liberal blogsphere raised upwards of $80,000 to establish Pretty Bird Woman House as a lasting shelter for abused women. This was quite an accomplishment and Culture Kitchen played its own small role in it. To those who gave, or even just spread the word, THANK YOU! This was a true mitzveh accomplished thanks to hundreds of people from all over the country.

Of course, I never feel like our job is done. I am hoping that now that we have saved Pretty Bird Woman House and made it a lasting place of refuge, we can do the same for the Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center on the Yankton Sioux Reservation.
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Today is a big push to try and save Pretty Bird Woman House, a women's shelter on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. I have brought up the Pretty Bird Woman House Woman's Shelter before when I discussed the horrific Amnesty International report on the high incidence of rapes of Native American women by outsiders who seldom get procecuted. This shelter's sad story has continued. It was vandalized and is not being sold off. This will leave many women on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation with no support system. On Daily Kos a fundraiser is ongoing to raise enough money to buy the property and set it up to be a safe and secure women's shelter again.

I am asking you to help out. I donated $100. Some are donating as much as $500. This is pure, old fashioned good works in keeping with the holiday season.

Bottom line is, this shelter has in essence been shut down by lack of funds and vandalism. But the netroots are on the verge of saving it by helping buy it outright. The shelter has been recently awarded a Federal grant which can keep it going...but only if it has a place and it won't have a place if we don't help them buy the property.

Here is the background and scoop sent to me by a fellow blogger working on this:

About Pretty Bird Woman House

The shelter was founded in memory of Ivy Archambault, whose Lakota name translates to Pretty Bird Woman. In 2001, Pretty Bird Woman was kidnapped, raped and beaten to death. Her sister, Jackie Brown Otter, decided that something had to be done for other victims, to put an end to this nightmare.
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YOU MAY RECALL, I posted a request for Olbermann last week or so, passing on the wish/hope/dream that one person in the Native American comunidad expressed for a greater level of exposure of their particular need. That need was that a home be bought, a refuge home for Native American women who have been victimized and have nowhere to go, especially as the law is arranged in such a way that there is very little protection or recourse for them in these times they would need such a shelter.

My request for Olbermann's platform was that he highlight this case because it represents an epidemic in the reservations. And because, well, face it. He has a large, virile platform. I know I can't take my eyes off it. And more importantly, who the hell are we to ignore the pains and suffering of the Native American community? Don't make me point to one of my dreaded "brown" diatribes! (Damn, I did it anyway!)

Unfortunately, Olbermann did not respond to the plea I passed on, nor the charge I made that his comments were getting a bit "frothy" except for a week later with a sudden explanation and defense of his much-needed and "vociferous" Special Comments. (Keep the faith, baby, estoy de acuerdo). And hey, okay. I knew the chances were slim. But really, this ain't about Keith, and we know that. And it's not about the way some issues are highlighted in Big Media and some are never really seen (well, okay, it is, a bit). Primarily, and today, this is about the women in the reservations. And really, helping them doesn't have to have anything at all to do with the past. Because here in the Now, people—people just like you or your mama—are hurting. And have nowhere to go. And guess what? Last time I posted on this, many of you chipped in and we helped bring these women $1500 closer to their goal. That is a real world effect of your actions. I thank you. And so do others.
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OLBERMANN, I already know you read me, dawg. Stop LYIN'. And we all know you are down with tha populace, and have been a beacon of hope to many of the voiceless. You have put that pretty mug in front of the camera and scoffed forth many important statements on many crucial topics. (The War on Billoism is fun to watch, too.) So yeah. We're in this together, and even tho you iz da elite, you have positioned yourself in the endzone of social justice lately. Please push your envelope (sorry to abandon the football metaphor, I roused it in your honor, but I just feel too damn corny to continue), let's get that Olbermann® brand up there with the hardcore truth-to-powers, let's get all Historical on their asses. Let's bring attention to an epidemic of violence and poverty among those who have already suffered too much at the hands of this nation's "development" (forgive the gross euphemism, indigenous friends, I'm trying to butter up Olbermann sssh).

Keith, you and I don't need to quibble at the ubiquity of violence that seeks women in our culture. We know it is a reality. And in the American Indian Reservations, this violence flourishes in disproportionate numbers. And consequences for those who would harm these women—as well as protection and justice—withers, caught between indifference, legal complications, and/or hostility. There are at least shelters on-rez for them. It's not a cure. But it is something. A place to go to be safe, to learn, to find some comfort and figure out what to do next.

Except when there is no money for such a place. Then, where could these women hope to find help?
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