Bemidji giving circle awards $17,000 to MMIW 218

MMIW 218 walked away from Bemidji’s fifth 100+ Women Who Care gathering with $17,000, a local infusion that can go straight into outreach, education and support for Indigenous families facing violence and loss in Beltrami County.

The donation came from the group’s spring fundraiser on April 30 at the South Shore Hotel, 1019 Paul Bunyan Dr. S. in Bemidji. Attendees brought a $100 donation, four organizations were selected at random, and the room voted on one nonprofit pitch after a social hour from 5 to 6 p.m. and the event from 6 to 7 p.m. The model is built to turn a single evening into roughly $10,000 in an hour, but this year’s Bemidji gathering topped that mark with the $17,000 award to MMIW 218.

For a group rooted in Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People advocacy, the money carries immediate local weight. MMIW 218 was founded in 2016 after violent cases involving Indigenous women in Bemidji pushed residents into organizing, and the group has since described its work as a place for grief, connection, culture and healing. In a community where people often rely on volunteers and donations to keep programs alive, unrestricted cash can pay for printed materials, gatherings, transportation, public education and the support that keeps families connected.

The cause has deep resonance in Minnesota. The Department of Public Safety marks May 5 as National Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Day, and the state’s MMIR Office has said Indigenous people go missing or experience violence at higher rates than other groups in Minnesota. In Bemidji, MMIW 218 has long held an annual Valentine’s Day ceremony and walk, and the group was scheduled to host its second annual Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives conference on May 17, 2025, beginning with a walk from Paul Bunyan Park to the Sanford Center.

Wenona Kingbird said the $17,000 gift was another sign of MMIW 218’s purpose and the need to keep pushing on. The Bemidji giving circle’s past winners include Evergreen Youth & Family Services, Village of Hope, Boys & Girls Club and Bemidji Community Food Shelf, and its website says more than 100 women attended the 2024 kickoff and raised $11,500 for Evergreen. For local residents, the result is plain: one night of collective giving turned into cash for a grassroots organization working right now on the front lines of grief, safety and healing.