Core Values

At Red Cloud Indian School, we believe in a volunteer program that goes far beyond giving of time and talent.

Community

Community is at once a beautiful gift and an amazing challenge. It calls people from diverse backgrounds to come together and share their lives with others in a common vision. In our community, you will find support and mutual encouragement while giving witness to your beliefs and working for a greater peace and justice in the world. For, when you commit yourself to the vision of the community, differences become gifts that enhance the lives of everyone you touch.

While the fruits of community develop gradually during shared meals, reflections at the end of a long day and through a weekend spent playing games, community is also intentionally fostered in a variety of other ways. Volunteers attend three retreats during the year and participate in monthly community meetings. These gatherings provide an opportunity for volunteers to reflect on their journey and share their reflections with others.

Spirituality

Spirituality is the core of all we do. Our work is about announcing the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Our relationships are based on the recognition that we are all one in Christ’s body, and our prayer reflects our dependence on God as the source of all creation.

Red Cloud volunteers come from diverse faith backgrounds. Together, we share our common dependence on God regardless of what name we use to speak about God. In our three schools, Catholicism and Ignatian spirituality are interwoven with Lakota spirituality to provide a foundation for the education our students receive.

Simplicity

The United States constitutes 5.6 percent of the world’s population, but we demand more than 25 percent of the world’s energy and natural resources to support our lifestyle choices. With this in mind, Red Cloud Volunteers choose to “live simply so that others may simply live.” We seek to differentiate our needs from our wants…to take only that which we need.

While simplicity is manifested in our willingness to live on a modest monthly stipend of $200 (for first-year volunteers), it is in essence a spiritual discipline. By limiting the distractions of television, shopping malls and other “things” we are better able to focus our lives on what is truly important: relationships with those around us and with God.

Justice

In our capitalist and materialist world, some have much while others struggle to meet their basic needs. Many of our families on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation live in poverty and struggle to provide their children the food, clothes and others necessities that many others take for granted. Often socio-economic inequalities result in unequal treatment and lack of opportunity.

Here at Red Cloud, we strive to eliminate these inequalities by recognizing that all people are created equal, no matter their age, race, gender or social status. The core value of a person is never, ever a question—it is a given. We focus on every single person’s potential, and the intrinsic value we are born with. By living simply we adopt an open and accepting attitude, and make room for building valuable and meaningful relationship with each other, with our students and families, and our Creator.