Snowbird Fund Doubles Grants For Missing Indigenous People

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The Snowbird Fund was established one year ago, in February, to assist communities in their hunt for missing Indigenous individuals. The federal government makes one-time payments of up to $1,000 to people (increased from a previous ceiling of $500) to help them cover the significant expenditures their relatives and friends suffer while looking for their loved ones.

Anyone involved in organizing a community search for a lost loved one is entitled to submit an application on the internet. The Snowbird Fund was established in response to the scourge of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP). Indigenous women and girls go missing in Montana on a yearly basis, with many of them never being discovered.

Native Americans make up only 6.5 percent of the Montana's population, yet they account for 27 percent of all reported missing persons cases in the state.

The advocacy of Kaysera Stops Pretty Places' family contributed to the growth of support for a march for missing individuals. During Whitney Williams' campaign for Governor of Montana, Whitney Bulltail, the aunt of Kaysera Stops Pretty Places, who was killed, reached out to her. The Bulltail says, "If you want my family's vote, along with the votes of other MMIW families in Montana, you must have meaningful plans in place that will allocate resources to assisting our families." Whitney spent time with Grace and other people who had experienced the loss of family members in an attempt to have a deeper understanding of their goals and needs.

As these families continue their search for their lost loved ones, the Snowbird Fund will continue to provide them with financial assistance.

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