Wambli Ska Society, local organizations teaming up to help area’s youth

RAPID CITY, S.D. — There’s something about giving kids a safe place to engage.

In some cases – it takes a collaborative effort between organizations to provide that.

For Rapid city and Pennington County, local organizations like Black Hills Energy, the Pennington County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Wambli Ska Society came together to provide just that.

On Saturday, Black Hills Energy donated $7,500 to Wambli Ska – for their Footlocker shoes basketball tournament at The Club for Boys – which gives the winner of the tournament a free pair of kicks.

“Most of the funding will be supporting most of their basketball programs, which is very big for this organization,” said Mutch Usera, the Senior Program Manager of Community Relations for Black Hills Energy. “Again, it’s really a wonderful program as it takes kids out in the streets and brings them into a community area that’s much more productive. They have a lot of fun, and again they’re able to do something that’s very worthwhile for everyone.”

But for Chris White Eagle and his wife Tarah – it’s just the continuation of giving kids their own outlet and working to provide a diversion program.

In fact, they already have a shelter for the kids and continue to find ways to keep them together.

“We have our center, plus they come here on Saturday nights keep em’ out of trouble, they volunteer,” White Eagle said. “Yeah, you’ll see a lot of youth in shirts around here. And yeah, they’re wearing our shirts, so if you see them in their shirts, they’re a part of our crew.”

For the state’s attorney’s office – the collaboration comes down to being a bigger part of the community – and doing their part to help keep kids off the streets.

“We have a lot of kids in this community who are at a tipping point and who could either become regular drags on the system and get into a lot of trouble for a long time, or who can come out and be with a more appropriate group of people, discover and engage in their own culture and Wambli Ska makes that happen every single week,” said Pennington County State’s Attorney Mark Vargo.

Local organizations working together for the betterment of the area’s future generation.