Community Memorial Quilt
Stoodis For The Next Seven Generations
Community Memorial Quilt
Stoodis for The Next Seven Generations
Christina Thomas – Sara Paschall
During the COVID-19 pandemic Native American communities have been hit the hardest. In a means to help alleviate the need for elders to have to go to the grocery stores to get food and supplies, Stoodis Sisters was created in April 2020 by two friends who wanted to do something to help protect the elders and their community. Christina Thomas is Northern Paiute, Western Shoshone, and Hopi, she grew up on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation and is a member of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony. Christina is a second year PhD student attending the University of California, Davis, in the Native American Studies Department with a Designated Emphasis in Performance. She was the driving force behind getting Northern Paiute established as the first Indigenous language at the University of Nevada, Reno. Sara Pashcall is Northern Paiute and a member of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe. Sara owns Pinenut Press, which is a small Indigneous Woman owned and operated printer of fine art and textiles based out of Reno.
Sara and Christina wanted to partner together to make elder medicine care packages to distribute to elders locally equipping them with personal protective equipment and traditional medicines. They gathered sawabe (sagebrush) and tsoodoope (Indian tea) and received donations for masks, gloves, and sanitizer. Stoodis Sisters posted flyers on social media for urban elders in the Reno-Sparks area, Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, and Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe. To their surprise a generous donor offered to help with the care packages. The packages then became more than just personal protective equipment and they were able to provide an array of cleaning products, paper goods, and food. Besides providing PPE and food Stoodis Sisters also wanted to include some items to keep elders occupied during quarantine. They added large print crossword puzzles, word searches, deck of cards, books about Northern Paiute, documentaries about people of the Great Basin, and CD’s sung by Judy Trejo. To date Stoodis Sisters has done 3 rounds of elder care packages serving over 400 elders in the urban areas of Reno/Sparks, PLPT, RSIC, and the Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe.
After the last round of elder care packages Christina and Sara wanted to do something to help students and families prepare for back to school. They began an online donation platform raising funds for backpack and back to school supplies, as well as partnering with local groups based out of Reno such as Project 150 and Altrussa. Through generous donations and collaborations Stoodis Sisters was able to provide 200+ backpacks for Native students K-12 in Lovelock, Winnemucca, and McDermitt. The backpacks included: lunchboxes, thermos, water bottle, notebooks, loose leaf paper, crayons, pencils, markers, scissors, pens, ruler, tape, erasers, pencil sharpeners, highlighters, binders, folders, chapstick, lotion, 10 masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer.
Stoodis Sisters are planning to continue to help their communities and Native Nevada not only during the pandemic but by creating partnerships that will allow them to give back after the pandemic as well.
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