Tammy Eagle Hunter loves watching the kids grow up and is growing with her new job at the Cheyenne River Youth Project.
Participants in the Cheyenne River Youth Project.
Tammy Eagle Hunter loves giving back
It’s not just a job; it’s a personal fulfillment
By Christina Rose
Native Sun News Associate Editor EAGLE BUTTE — This month, Tammy Eagle Hunter will be starting her new position as Youth Programs Director for the Cheyenne River Youth Project. “Six years ago, I didn’t know anything about not-for-profit work, and I wasn’t even sure if I liked kids,” she remembered with a laugh. “Then I started having fun with our kids. I saw the impact CRYP made on their everyday lives, and I saw all the good things that this organization does. It gave me so much personal fulfillment. This isn’t just a job, and I’m not just working for myself and my family. I’m working for my whole community.” “I’ve known a lot of those kids since they were grade-schoolers at The Main, and now they’re teenagers at Cokata Wiconi,” she explained. “There’s a level of trust and comfort, which helps me do my job. These kids need someone to supervise them, definitely, but they also need someone to interact with them — to listen to them, to look at their report cards, to ask how their day was. “We need to continue to expand on what we’re already doing,” she continued. “We need to give our kids experiences that help them feel like every other kid, everywhere. We need to let them know that we understand what they’re going through, to help them feel normal, to give them outlets for their emotions and their energy, and to guide them toward being positive, whole, healthy people.” “I really like the not-for-profit arena, and I love doing something for my community,” she said. “I want to give our children a better future. That’s what I want to do with my life.” Born and raised on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation Eagle Hunter is a tribal member and graduate of Cheyenne-Eagle Butte High School. She completed coursework at Si Tanka Huron University, Presentation College and Oglala Lakota College in pursuit of her Bachelor of Arts degree in social work. She joined CRYP in 2007 as a youth programs assistant, a position she held for two years before taking a position with the Pierre Indian Learning Center in South Dakota’s capital city. A talented artist who remained dedicated to the Cheyenne River community, she returned in 2010 to run the youth project’s summer arts program. In January 2011, Eagle Hunter joined the CRYP staff as the wellness coordinator and has since planned and executed programs that include Midnight Basketball, Junior Midnight Basketball, sports camps, tournaments, dance classes, yoga, and walking and running clubs. She has earned a Cooper Fitness Specialist certification through the Texas Cooper Institute. Eagle Hunter has worked closely with other staff members and diabetes educators to help produce a powerful youth diabetes prevention campaign, and she oversaw the opening of the CRYP Fitness Center, which now provides circuit training and special exercise classes for Cokata Wiconi’s teen participants. In her new role, Eagle Hunter will be responsible for program development and implementation at CRYP’s Cokata Wiconi teen center and The Main youth center; youth and community outreach, grant writing and management, local fundraising, and managing CRYP organizational partnerships. She also will handle orientation, training and evaluations of new staff and volunteers. Eagle Hunter said her relationships with the project’s youth participants has meant so much to her, both personally and professionally (Contact Christina Rose at christinarose.sd@gmail.com) Copyright permission by Native Sun News
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