June 8 – Daily Life with the Blackfeet in Montana

We started the day with a team meeting to discuss our assignments. The unpredictable weather reinforced the need for flexibility. The assignments for the day included: helping at the pool scrapping the paint off the walls, helping at the green house at the community college, helping at the learning center, helping the activities director at the care center, and helping serve meals at Eagle Shield.

I was assigned to Eagle Shield along with Mary. When we arrived, Sissy and Marie were busy packaging the meals for delivery. Any Indian over 60 who is homebound is eligible for meal delivery. We packaged 83 meals and the delivery guys were on their way. Sissy and Marie said that the number of delivered meals goes up to almost 100 in the winter. After a short break, we were back to serving meals in the cafeteria. Residents of Eagle Shield, and any Indian (or married to an Indian) over 60 can stop by for a mid-day meal, or get the meal to go. Sissy and Marie said that they serve anywhere from 80 to 100 meals in the cafeteria. We then helped with clean-up.

I enjoyed watching Sissy and Marie work together; they have been working together for over 16 years. Interacting with people coming through the cafeteria line, listening to Sissy and Marie talk about their families, and speaking with some of the residents individually, along with our afternoon visits to The Plains Indian Museum and the Blackfeet Heritage Center & Art Gallery went a long way toward my goal of learning more about the Indian culture.

– Annette