Buffalo Heart Project Benefit in CO

FIRST ANNUAL BUFFALO HEART PROJECT BENEFIT TO BE HELD AT COLORADO’S BOULDER THEATER

Through collective efforts and the help of friends, Nederland, Colorado band Elephant Revival has put together a benefit night at The Boulder Theater on February 5. The event will directly benefit The Buffalo Heart Project (BHP). The BHP is a newly created emergency heating and utility assistance program for the elderly, disabled, and sick on the Lakota Reservations, particularly Pine Ridge Reservation, in South Dakota.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m. with the show starting at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance, available at The Boulder Theater box office, and $17 at the door.

Along with Elephant Revival, Boulder Acoustic Society, Laura Goldhamer & The Silver Nail, and Reed Foehl of Acoustic Junction will come together for a night of musical celebration; raising awareness and funds for the start-up non-profit founded by Atashnaa Werner, also of Nederland.

Seattle musician and topical songwriter Jim Page will emcee the evening, as well as play songs from his vast repertoire.

A silent auction is planned, as well as other offerings to be announced. All proceeds of the evening will directly benefit the Buffalo Heart Project. Bringing people together through music, The BHP envisions this first event to be a great inauguration for the organization. The event will serve as a seed of awareness for change in regards to the plight of American Indian communities, especially on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

As Werner explains, “The event will be an investment in hope for the future of the families on Pine Ridge.”

“The buffalo represented life to the Turtle Island indigenous people of the Great Plains and Mountain West,” relays Elephant Revival bass player Dango Rose. “The buffalo nation provided the people with food, shelter, clothing, utensils and spiritual tools. We are compelled now to give back what was taken away when America’s Buffalo were destroyed and the Lakota people were forced unto inhospitable lands.”

The Buffalo Heart Project continues and expands upon the work of The Link Center Foundation, which disbanded after the death of its founder, Audrey Link in 2008 and her predecessor Stephanie Schwartz in 2009. With two untimely deaths in quick succession, winter coming on and not enough time to reorganize, the LCF Board unanimously but reluctantly agreed to shut down. Shortly after the closing Atashnaa, active for many years in Lakota ways, and familiar with the conditions that generations of families were living in on the Pine Ridge Reservation, became aware that spiritual and community leaders were seeking another non-profit to help them continue to assist the elders, sick and disabled meet their winter utility needs.

“The Buffalo Heart Project came to me as a vision to continue the good work of the Link Center Foundation and expand it beyond providing annual winter survival aid for generations to come. The Buffalo Heart Project envisions forming sustainable home building partnerships with organizations and eligible families on the Lakota Reservations, specifically Pine Ridge, to fulfill this vision.”