The next best thing to the Senator himself

Recently, announcements on the radio and in the newspaper notified residents that a representative from Senator Tim Johnson's office would be in Mission for a day. She was going to be available at one of the local grocery stores for an hour to meet with constituents. I didn't have much of an agenda, but figured if I could have the ear of the Senator's office for a few minutes, I'd make the most of them.

I arrived promptly because I expected a crowd; this wasn't an everyday occurrence. I didn't know where she planned to meet folks, so I walked around the store looking for her. It wasn't entirely obvious where she'd be receiving visitors, so I stopped by the customer service counter. "Oh, she's back in the deli." I had gone back there already; there had only been a couple people eating breakfast. Well, as it turned out, one of them was indeed her. She sat - alone - eating her sausage and eggs as she waited for company.

This is one thing that drives me nuts about living here. The apathy is just appalling. Maybe residents save their energy for tribal politics, I don't know. But one would think that someone besides the new guy on the rez would want to gripe about something - anything! - to the Senator's aide. Then again, maybe this was another example of Indian Time. (It's pretty bad when calendar events on the local radio station implore, "Be on-time. No Indian Time!")

She was happy to see me. I introduced myself as I joined her in the booth. I figured I wouldn't have much time to speak with her, so I kept my comments to the two programs that brought me to the Rosebud: AmeriCorps and Habitat for Humanity. It was a good conversation, but I felt myself monopolizing her time. After 10 minutes, I got up to leave.

But our conversation continued. I looked around and noticed there wasn't anyone waiting to speak with her, so I sat right back down. I was there for another 25 minutes. So, all told, I took up over half of her time talking about housing, building partnerships within the community, life on the reservation, Senator Johnson's views on a multitude of issues, and much more.

On one hand, I was thankful I had such a beneficial, informative conversation with a member of the Senator's team here in South Dakota. On the other hand, however, it made me sad that people didn't take advantage of this resource in their own backyard. Sad and disappointing.

There were several excellent actions that resulted from our conversation. First, she had a meeting scheduled with the head of the Tribe's housing authority later that day. Habitat's relationship has been strained with them, so she promised to put in a good word for us. Second, I invited her to the Mission Chamber of Commerce's monthly meeting, which just so happened to be scheduled during lunchtime that same day. Third, and most importantly, she has not forgotten about either me or Habitat since returning to Rapid City. We've been in phone and e-mail contact, as she brainstorms ways for us (me) to bring in funding for the organization.

After our chat at the grocery store, I was in good spirits. I don't know what it is, but I really get a good buzz off of these types of connections. And later that day, I went to Chamber and informed them of our special guest. She spent a good 40 minutes with the group, answering questions from Chamber members.

I'm a big believer in Habitat's mission, not just here on the Rosebud, but worldwide. But the issues plaguing the rez are so much bigger than Habitat. I think that's the big reason why that day meant so much to me. I was able to not only share my personal story (and I think I have one in my short time here) but bring someone with state- and national-level resources to the same table as our small town. It felt good.