Our Longest Walk 2 Story
Several weeks ago, Great Plains Earth Institute was asked if the Kingman Cottage area could be used as a place to set up tents for 50 Native Americans who were walking from California to Washington D.C. This walk was known as “The Longest Walk 2” as it was the second walk the Native Americans made within the last 30 years to bring a message to Congress. This group had a two fold purpose. 1st to encourage Congress to be more concerned about efforts to stop Global Warming and 2nd. to speak out against the latest government regulation concerning their reservations.
Since the cabin was not booked for April 15th, we felt it a gift to help the cause.
Rita Schwarz, asc, Rita Robl, asc and Cindy White, Lonetta Lollar & Diana Hartmetz (three GPEI volunteers) went out to cook the evening meal and breakfast the next morning. It was an exciting adventure! The Wichita Center provided huge cans of different kinds of beans for bean soup and large pots to cook them in. GPEI spent $100.00 for other groceries and the volunteers donated another $100.00.
The two Rita’s went out early to open the gate and house. They discovered they were given the wrong set of keys. While waiting for someone from Wichita to bring out another set they realized they had a box of ice cream bars among all the groceries. It was quite warm that day and being noontime – what else to do but eat ice cream bars for lunch until they were all gone.
The keys arrived at the same time the Native Americans did! What a relief! All bathrooms were in use immediately, showers needed to be taken and clothes needed washing while the cooks began the evening meal. The visitors enjoyed the paddle boat on the pond, some took naps on the grass and others drummed and sang all afternoon. The evening meal was served and much appreciated, the weather was perfect for sitting on the grass and enjoying the feast, conversation was enlightening and very educational and lasted far into the night. Five o’clock came pretty early to start cooking again. After breakfast everyone joined forces to begin loading tents, clean up any trash, prayer and a special blessing for the cooks. Off they were to walk on to Kingman and to Wichita that day. One of the elders said he had never seen a nun in jeans before but really thought they were pretty neat and liberated ladies. All felt very good about our opening ourselves to be of service to others. We hold the entire group in our hearts as they move on east to fulfill a very important mission.
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