Warm Embrace, Inc. has applied for status as a non-profit 501 (c)(3)organization and are awaiting approval.  Until that time, we will be operating as such an organization.  Warm Embrace began as “Project Warm Embrace”, a warm item comfort drive in October of 2003 partnering with local Lakota leaders on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota .  This initiative was inspired by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s Partners In Hope---Rural Poverty Initiative and assisted by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Missouri, the Mid-American Indian Fellowships, and Second Baptist Church, Liberty, Missouri.  Warm Embrace has now incorporated and exists to continue developing partnerships with Indian people in South Dakota and Missouri . 

Our Mission :  To assist Indian leaders in their efforts to reduce the impact of debilitating poverty in their communities.

By focusing on the following [1]:

1.  Reciprocity, which comes from the understanding that all things are connected or related and ideally live together in interdependent circles of harmony and balance.  To the Lakota people, reciprocity can be expressed by the words “Mitakuye Oy’ Asin,” which means “all my relations;”

2.  Reconciliation, for as Jesus Christ directed, “first go and be reconciled to your brother” (Mt. 5:24);

3.  Respect for individuals, communities, diversity, culture, identity, history and language; and

4.  Relationship building and strengthening,

Warm Embrace, seeks to address issues of poverty through temporary relief efforts such as the annual Warm Embrace “comfort item” drive, and through permanent, sustainable economic and community development efforts, such as craft cooperatives and retail/thrift store development.

 Warm Embrace---WE, together, you and me.