Red Shirt 2013 was a sad year for the Project since our co-founder, and leader for many years, Deane Winant, passed away of cancer in January. It was with heavy heart that Dr. Langdell met with the village elders in March, but at the request of the group members he was able to convey the project's committment to continue unabatted with the ministry to the children and the Red Shirt community.

Our projects this year were the construction of a memorial bench for Deane, to purchase and have installed a much needed cattle guard and a committment to refinish the many picnic tables used at the Pow Wow grounds and at Christ's Church.

Memorial bench: a work of love by many members of the team.

Deane's daughter, Pam, holding the plaque about to be mounted on the bench. The memorial bench is at the rear of Christ's Church, overlooking the Badlands, at a spot that Deane loved to sit and enjoy the view (right).

Kids Summer Session: this summer was one of our most successful in recent years, with over 30 children attending including the local young mom's and their babies.

As usual, our summer kids session ended with a BBQ "feast" to which everyone in the Red Shirt mesa was invited. This year, as every year, the event was well attended and much appreciated!

Picnic table refurbishment:

What seemed like a fairly quick and easy job at first, refurbishing around 20 picnic tables turned into a major task.

Cattle Guard: Deep, deep gratitude to our friends in the sister Red Shirt Project Group, and in particular Rev. Mike Cunningham, for helping transport and install the guard that our group purchased.

The guard was urgently needed at the entrance of the Pow Wow area near the village since cattle were about to start grazing in the surrounding fields and it was vital that no cattle were able to get into the Pow Wow area itself.