Julie Richards
Hi my name is Julie Richards, I’m from Oglala Territory in so-called South Dakota, Pine Ridge Reservation. I started my grassroots program called Mothers Against Meth Alliance 9 years ago when my oldest daughter became addicted to Crystal Meth. I started out doing education and awareness with the youth, soon the jail, the schools and other programs began to invite me to speak about meth awareness. I do my own patrols every day in my community to help make it safe. I do the search party for our missing relatives on Pine Ridge, I do sex trafficking prevention and awareness. I go into the jails to do meth awareness with the prisoners, most are in there for either selling meth or for ingestion of meth. I fight against the man camps at pipelines because a lot of the meth and sex trafficking are connected to these camps of male workers. I am here to support the addicts soon as they express wanting to sober up. I go with them to get everything that needs to be done for treatment. I make sure to be available to the addicts and their families 24/7 in case they need to vent and need somebody to just sit and listen to them and encourage them to be strong and to let them know that I believe in them and that I’m here for them. We do a Christmas gift drive every year for the grandparents that are raising their grandchildren due to meth addiction.
Grantee Information
