Montana Blackfeet Reservation
This summer, VISIONS ran three community service program sessions on the Blackfeet Nation, breaking into three to five work crews on any given day. Our projects spanned physical labor, social service, environmental stewardship, and cultural exchange. This marked our 35th season working alongside Blackfeet partners.
Blackfeet Housing
- Prepped, primed, and painted a home for disabled adults.
- Removed a 16’ x 14’ rotted deck, staircase, and railing; rebuilt with new lumber, including frame boxes, carriage bolts, decking lags, stair stringers and stairs.
- Cleaned and mowed/weed-whacked small parks and homes of several elders.
- Supported Blackfeet Housing by staffing the concession stand during the Indian Days rodeo.
Blackfeet Land Trust & Yellow Bird Woman Sanctuary
- Replaced posts, repaired and rewired fencing, removed old chain link, and hauled debris from a former barn site.
Blackfeet Child Nutrition Program
- Prepared, delivered, and served daily meals to ~100 children across the reservation and distributed meals at Youth Days during Indian Days.
Medicine Bear Lodge
- Served lunches to 40–90 community members experiencing homelessness and poverty; helped with groundskeeping, laundry, and daily chores.
Blackfeet Animal Shelter
- Fostered, fed, and cared for puppies—several adopted by participants.
Glacier Volunteers
- Removed invasive weeds in Glacier National Park, collecting more than 90 bags of knapweed with Park rangers.
Glacier Two Medicine Alliance
- Joined a community weed pull to protect the Badger-Two Medicine Wilderness Area.
Ceremonies
- Transported lodge poles, erected tipis, cut firewood, dug toilet holes, and prepared ceremonial grounds for the Crazy Dog Society, Sundance lodges, and the Sacred Horn Society Circle Camp.
Spay Montana
- Helped run two vet clinics resulting in 250+ animals spayed/neutered and vaccinated.
Glacier Half Marathon
- Supported pre-race Expo operations, registration, and shirt distribution to raise funds for Glacier Two Medicine Alliance.
Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic, where our long-standing partnership focuses on education and housing, including school infrastructure improvements, youth programming, and homebuilding. This was our 35th season in the D.R.
In partnership with the Junta de Vecinos de Las Cruces, Escuela Leopoldo Morales Regalado, and the Parent Associations:
- Constructed a full home for community elder Ageda Molla:
Excavated ~64 meters of trench; assembled 192 linear feet of rebar; mixed and poured concrete for foundations, beams, and columns; laid 1,500 blocks; installed roof, windows, and interior plaster; and completed the flooring using hand-mixed concrete. - Facilitated Campamento (day camp) for 16 youth ages 8–12, integrating English lessons with environmental stewardship, animal welfare, arts, and sports.
Designed and painted a 4×6’ mural for the kindergarten playground at Leopoldo Morales Regalado school.
Peru
Peru, where service projects strengthen local infrastructure and support sustainable water use in high-altitude Andean communities. This was our 27th season partnering with Quechua leaders and families.
Irrigation Canales in Yanahuara
Alongside Quechua farmers, participants constructed long-lasting cement irrigation canals for family chacras. Work included trench digging, assembling wood and eucalyptus frames, gathering materials, hand-mixing cement, and smoothing canal walls. Crews mixed about ten bags of cement per day and completed roughly 550 yards of canals. These upgrades reduce water loss and improve flow in a region dependent solely on alpine snowmelt.
School Bathroom & Green Space at San Martin de Porres
At the kindergarten of San Martin de Porres, participants helped build a new bathroom facility and create a safe play area:
- Excavated and leveled the site; dug plumbing trenches; cleared debris; assembled rebar grids; and mixed and poured concrete for the bathroom foundation.
- Smoothed interior/exterior concrete walls and prepared the structure for final plumbing and electrical installation.
- Created a new grassy green space where children previously played on bare dirt, laying sod after leveling and clearing the area.
- Extended the paved area near the school store using rocks removed from the site and sifted soil for concrete mix.
The school currently has only three functioning toilets for all students and staff. The new facility will add two private bathrooms to meet the needs of a growing student body, and the green space now provides a safe and welcoming outdoor learning environment.
