In 2024, through our SmileStrong and WičhičhaǧA Strong programs, we provided 6,000 no-cost dental health kits and 9,000 no-cost feminine hygiene kits to those in need in Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Utah, and elsewhere in Indian Country.
Sadly, basic needs items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, and dental floss, along with feminine hygiene products, are unaffordable for too many Native American families and women when rent and utility bills are due and food must be put on the table.
Our goal for 2025 is to provide thousands of dental kits, feminine hygiene kits, and postpartum kits containing nursing pads, baby lotion, prenatal and vitamin D3 supplements, baby shampoo, and baby wipes for Native new mothers in Indian Country.
The impact is clear.
Hundreds of kits distributed in Nebo School District Title VI Indian Education program in Spanish Fork, Utah
Last fall, the Nebo School District Title VI Indian Education program in Spanish Fork, Utah, distributed 280 dental kits and 480 feminine hygiene kits. Program manager Eileen Quintana reported that “these hygiene items were very useful for our families.
“Most of our families are large, but one family in particular has five girls. They were especially happy to get your supplies. They kept commenting that these items were expensive when they bought them at the store, so they wanted me to thank you!”
Eileen also reported that “Billy Mills is my hero” was repeated several times by families at their Back to School Night.
“We shared the information about the in-kind shipment from Running Strong with our families and retold the story about Billy and the Olympics. They were so excited and cheered at the video of the race! They want me to ask Billy to come out to UTAH!
“They all appreciated the supplies and were so thankful and humbled that Billy Mills and his team at Running Strong for American Indian Youth® cared for them. AHEHEE!”
“Teenage Girls were happy to receive kits” in Crow Nation.
In Garryowen, Montana, our partner Biiluuke Strong, serving the Crow Nation, distributed 200 dental kits and 240 feminine hygiene kits. Crow youth activist and founder Ember Singer reported that “the teenage girls were happy to receive kits.
“They told some volunteers that they can’t afford them at home or on the weekends sometimes missing school if they don’t have them.”
Ember also told us of a girl named Lauren who “shows me her teeth every time she comes through the line at distributions and whenever she sees me. She tells me that she brushes her teeth every day and lets me know she is taking good care of her teeth before hugging me.”
As for Lauren herself, “I brush my teeth every day because I like using my new toothbrush and toothpaste.”
“We are so blessed to be partners with Running Strong,” from Dept of Indian Work in Little Canada, MN
In Little Canada, Minnesota, Department of Indian Work director Theresa Halvorson-Lee reported distributing 200 dental kits and 240 feminine hygiene kits, telling us, “We have many families who struggle with the day-to-day expenses of living, so being able to provide dental and hygiene items helps relieve some of the pressures.”
One of the families served is experiencing homelessness, and I explained to her that having these items in the hotel with them helped tremendously with getting their girls together for school in the morning.
“We are so blessed to be partners with Running Strong,” said Theresa. “Our families truly appreciate and enjoy having these items available.”
Hundreds of happy children in Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska
And in White Cloud, Kansas, Boys & Girls Club of the Iowa Tribe of KS & NE CEO Paula Walker reported distributing 150 dental kits and 120 feminine hygiene kits telling us “Everybody was so happy knowing that we had that for the community,” and adding, “and it got us new members.
“It’s a tough world and tough times. Anything to help our families is amazing. Knowing there is still kindness in the world is so refreshing.”
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