My name is Kenny Merrick Jr. I’m the president and founder of the 501-C3 organization, Spirit Lake Foundation. This organization was started in honor of my late father, Kenny Merrick Sr. who passed away from diabetes complications.

My late father was a good basketball player in his youth years. But no one would have known this without hearing the stories from his peers that attended boarding school with him. When Kenny Sr. came home to the Spirit Lake Reservation, he took time to teach and coach the children the game of basketball. Not only did he take time to give to the children, he also helped with many of the ceremonies and cultural events that would take place on the Spirit Lake Reservation.

To help give back to the community here in Connecticut as well as help my tribal nation in North Dakota, I’ve created the Spirit Lake Warriors youth basketball team. This team is involved in fund raising and hosting the Annual Kenny Merrick Sr. Memorial Basketball Tournament. The memorial tournament helps the young Warriors to learn about Diabetes Awareness, Good Health, Team Work, Native Cultural and the great need for a Dialysis facility on the Spirit Lake Dakotah Sioux Reservation.

The Spirit Lake Warriors learned of the diabetes problem on the Spirit Lake Reservation, in Fort Totten, ND. Located in the south eastern part of North Dakota, the Spirit Lake Dakotah Sioux citizens have to travel to Grand Forks, Fargo, Jamestown and Bismarck to receive their Dialysis treatments, some as many as three times a week.

With the closest Dialysis facilities for the Spirit Lake community being more then a 100 miles one way and in the winter months the temperatures dropping well below zero, Kenny Merrick Sr. choose to enjoy the few months he had left with his family sharing native songs, stories and caring for his grandchildren. Many of the Spirit Lake Dakotah Sioux citizens that are dialysis’s patience’s give up and enjoy what time they have left with their loved ones. The Spirit Lake Warriors came to know how dialysis was the only way some of these tribal citizen’s would be able to live.

Try outs for the Spirit Lake Warriors were held on November 18, 2008 at the Gales Ferry School, in Gales Ferry, CT. Many young gentlemen came to show their basketball talents, but we could only take 12 players. After a long hard decision, the 12 Spirit Lake Warriors were selected.

These young gentlemen had practice 2 to 3 times a week and played their games on the weekends. During these practices, many tears were shed, but these young Warriors helped one another get through the bad times and the good times. They learned how all native people of a tribe had an important part in the survival of the people and what it takes to help keep each other going.

One way we show these young gentlemen this, is through the Buffalo Dance. The Buffalo Dance is shared at the Annual Kenny Merrick Sr. Memorial Basketball Tournament; too show how the Plains Dakotah Sioux people had to work as a team for the survival of the whole nation.  

Traveling with these young Warriors to their games was always very enjoyable. To hear them sing songs that the radio was playing or to hear them laugh with one another was a lot of fun. Sometimes they would share how they we’re feeling, but most of the time it was the great medicine of laughter. It was always good to hear the young Spirit Lake Warriors, talk about how they played for the people and hoped that one day they would be able to see them receive a Dialysis Center on the Spirit Lake Reservation.

You can help in this quest, by donating a tax deductible donation to the Spirit Lake Foundation.