KYLE_As Cangleska, Inc. celebrates the grand opening of a new shelter on Friday, May 4 while celebrating the 10-year anniversary of opening the doors to its first Native women's shelter on the Oglala Sioux reservation.

The new shelter is part of a newly constructed $1.35 million 9-acre complex on the Pine Ridge reservation which includes a $1.25 million shelter, the Tokahe Wicayapi Visitation Center and a new maintenance building.

The new 7,800-square-foot shelter will comfortably house up to 36 women and children as well as office and meeting space for the administrative and counseling services of the organization.

"Cangleska is honored to be able to offer safe and comfortable space for women and children in crisis.  The new shelter will offer women who have been victimized by domestic violence and/or sexual assault an opportunity to examine options, the time needed to plan for a life without violence, a life of dignity and safety for themselves and their children.  The new shelter is beautiful and a dream come true," said Karen Artichoker, Director of Cangleska, Inc.

Cangleska Inc. opened the doors to its existing shelter, a leased building owned by the Oglala Sioux Tribe, on April 1, 1997. The nonprofit also operates Ohitika Najin Win (Standing Strong Woman House), a second shelter in Rapid City.

The organization, which has a 20 year history of grassroots work in responding to domestic violence on the Pine Ridge reservation, is considered the national model for domestic violence programs and is a 1999 Innovations in American Government winner through Harvard University and the Ford Foundation. It has provided comprehensive domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy and related services to citizens of the Oglala Sioux Tribe living on and near the Pine Ridge Reservation since 1989.

In addition, Cangleska Inc. provides outreach advocacy services, probation services, civil legal services, a men's re-education program, an integrated criminal justice system, and coordinated response and training.

It operates Sacred Circle, the National Resource Center To End Violence Against Native Women, which provides technical assistance, consultation, and training to Indian Tribes and organizations in developing strategies and remedies to end violence against Native women.

Funding for the new shelter was made possible with grants, donations and labor from the USDA Rural Development, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Medicine Root District, All Tribes Foundation, Jane Fonda, Rosanne Barr Foundation, Native American Bank, Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, V-Day and Eve Ensler.

Native workers did at least 98 percent of the labor for the new complex. The building contractors were Hahn's Construction, Murdock's Electric, Rapid Fire, R&D Redi-Mix, and Sod's Mechanical Contracting.

For more information, visit our website at www.cangleska.org or contact us at 605-455-2244.