BEMIDJI—Renee Walker and Justin Keezer’s lease ended when September did, and the pair have been living in Keezer’s truck and crashing on couches in White Earth while Walker goes to classes at BSU.
Both were in high spirits, though, as they chowed down at Thursday’s “Feast for the Homeless” at the university’s American Indian Resource Center. They were two of the first to show up for the feast.
“This is our date night,” Keezer said with a laugh. The pair spent this summer at Line 3 protests and working odd jobs, Keezer said, and Walker said a lot of their money goes toward her schooling. She has enough credits to graduate next spring with a degree festooned with three majors and a minor in Ojibwe, she said, and the help she’s received from resource center staff has been invaluable.
Nearby, Lawrence Goggleye said he lived in a trailer home around Bemidji and Sharon Heta said she lived in a house just south of the resource center on Birchmont Drive. But both said they’d been homeless before and wanted to help. Heta said she planned to open her home to some of the diners Thursday.
Volunteers from the university’s Council of Indian Students, Social Work Club and its nursing department put together a menu of fry bread, pork roast, mashed potatoes, carrots, celery, green beans, wild rice and pears and set out tables and placemats for dozens of people. Diners could choose ice cream, brownies, or an ice cream and brownie combo for dessert.
And the people served there received more than food—organizers spent hours beforehand putting together care packages of shampoo, socks, hats, gloves and more. They stuffed a few turkey bags full of puzzles and toys for children. Worried that some might not want to make the walk to the resource center, workers at the feast planned to bring leftover food and care packages to Bemidji-area homeless shelters.
Chelsey Jourdain, president of the Council of Indian Students and great granddaughter of longtime Red Lake tribal council chairman Roger Jourdain, said the feast—now in its third year—started after a handful of homeless people were found dead a few years ago.
“The primary ethnicity of the homeless in the area are Native Americans,” Jourdain said. “So…the resource center here at BSU thought it would be a good idea to try and help those in need, especially for the upcoming cold season.”
The feast is one of a trio of events scheduled at the outset of Native American Heritage Month. Staff at the resource center hosted James Vukelich Kaagegaabaw’s “The Seven Generations and the Seven Grandfather Teachings” on Wednesday and have a free screening of “Neither Wolf Nor Dog” scheduled there for 7 p.m. on Friday. The council has scheduled the annual powwow—one of the biggest events on campus every year—for Saturday, Nov. 18.