True Christian charity at work

She’s living proof that one person can make a difference at the poverty-stricken Standing Rock Reservation, one moment at a time.
 
Whether it be a simple ride home, a hot meal, coats to offset the region’s brutal winters, packing lunches during students’ summer break or providing a place to sleep for the night, Corrine Iron Shield-Many Horses, 51, comes through.
 
The long-time Fort Yates resident will be presented with the North Dakota Catholic Charities Caritas Award for service to the community on Tuesday, May 14 at Spirit of Life in Mandan. The word “caritas” is the Latin term for the virtue of charity.
 
Fr. Basil Atwell, the former pastor of the Catholic Indian Mission at Standing Rock and now at parishes in Garrison, Max and White Shield, said Iron Shield is “a remarkable soul.”
 
“She has taken people in out of the cold and given them shelter. She has fed countless souls who have come to her door hungry and in need—not only in body, but in spirit as well. Corrine gives hope,” said Atwell.
 
Iron Shield is well acquainted with the risks that the reservation straddling the North Dakota/South Dakota border pose. She lived it.
 
Although, she succumbed to addiction and served prison time at the lowest points of her life, she says the grace of God has allowed her to fully recover and give back.
 
“I’ve always been compassionate because I’ve been there and done that. I’ve had to go without eating. I’ve had to go without a vehicle. I’ve had to go without lights and water. If I can help them, then I will. The Lord said, ‘What you do for the least of your brethren, you do for me.’”
 
Difficult start
 
Iron Shield grew up in an alcoholic family—first in Porcupine and later in Fort Yates. Both parents suffered from addiction, leaving her alone to raise her younger siblings. She was the second eldest of six and often found herself alone due to her parents’ absence and volatile relationship.
 
“I was like a mother at (age) 7. I knew how to cook and clean and do laundry. I got them to school. When I went and played, I had to take them with me. I watched them.”
 
When her brother was injured by a rock while the children swam, a young Corrine had to move him one-half a mile away so an ambulance could reach him.
 
Iron Shield’s father abused her mother severely. In a heated argument, her mother stabbed and killed him. Due to the abuse her mother suffered, Iron Shield’s mother was sentenced to five years of probation.
 
With limited role models, Iron Shield started using marijuana and drinking in her early teens to cope. She dropped out of school her junior year.
 
“School wasn’t a worry for me. I wanted to make sure my brothers and sisters were alright. I always worried more about other people,” she explained.
 
Her path to addiction
 
At age 30, Iron Shield turned to methamphetamine. The mother of three children said she first felt meth gave her the stamina to complete household duties. “Once I did that, it just took control of me,” Corinne said. “As I got more into it, I didn’t care.”
 
She was unphased, when her mother, longtime clean from her own addictions, threatened to take Iron Shield’s children.
 
“I said, ‘go ahead. I raised your kids. You raise mine.’”
 
There were more rocky times ahead. Homeless and without her kids, she lived in a vehicle at times. Iron Shield said she stumbled some more with dependency and mulled suicide, but glints of hope and serenity came to her when she prayed.
 
“I was just going to go wreck my car. I prayed. …A loving, comforting feeling came over me and I didn’t let it bother me. I knew it would be alright,” she recalled.
 
Prison time
 
For violating the terms of a deferred drug-related offense, Iron Shield found her sentence revoked and she was sent to the Women’s Correctional Center in New England, N.D. for one year in 2003. “It was my wake up call,” she said.
 
The local parish in New England hosted a weekly Bible study group for inmates at the women’s correctional facility. That’s when she first met Fr. Basil.
 
That Bible group wasn’t her first brush with God. A quiet faith in God subtly crept into her life since her teens.
 
Iron Shield attended church on again and off again and found God could console her in her worst times. “The day my dad died was the day I started praying,” said Corinne. “I prayed that he would be able to go to heaven and he would be forgiven. … That is how my faith started.”
 
Yet, in New England that faith started to take hold, thanks to Fr. Basil’s encouragement about her progress.
 
More trials
 
Despite an early release from the New England facility for good behavior, Iron Shield relapsed once more.
 
This time, she had spent the $50 cleaning supplies money that her now husband provided her instead to buy meth again.
 
She prayed once more, deeply sorry for breaking her promises to quit using. She was crying and praying that she was sorry. “That same feeling came over me and I was done.” She has not used meth since, she said. “I have not craved it ever.”
 
She said that when it seemed that God was answering her prayers, her faith got stronger.
 
“I healed from it and I want to talk about it,” she noted.
 
Iron Shield has since earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks in social work.
 
A helping hand
 
While her social work duties at the local school district constitutes three days per week, her personal mission to help people at Standing Rock nearly revolves around the clock. Many a night, coming to someone’s aid means not returning home until 10 p.m. for Iron Shield.
 
It is difficult to measure how she has helped.
 
For at least five years, she has prepared a Thanksgiving dinner for up to 150 people. She and priests from the St. Bernard Mission School have organized a brown bag lunch twice a week for children not getting noon meals over the school break between June and late August. She collects meat, bread and fruit for the sack lunch. Women volunteers pack them up for children walking as much as five miles away.
 
Spontaneously, she will also cook something up for someone she knows is hungry, especially if there are children in the household. “I’ll look in the freezer, see what we have and give them something for supper.” It’s often out of her own pocket.
 
Many residents find transportation limited at the Standing Rock Reservation. Iron Shield is there to provide a ride to the hospital, to employment, for shopping and to reach other family members and sometimes for those returning from prison. “I give them free rides. I am always busy.” She trusts in God to keep her safe and give her the sense to not give anyone a lift who might put her in danger.
 
It can be a back and forth process.
 
“It’s hard out there. It’s hard living there because our districts are spread out,” she said.
Iron Shield has cared for elders of the community as well.
When needed, she also has provided a room in her home or tents in her yard to sleep for those needing transportation. Breakfast will follow the next morning.
 
Others have proven generous to her cause. Offers for diapers, beds from hotels, couches, furniture, food and more will come in from private individuals, businesses and families of a deceased loved one. When they do, Iron Shield will find a way to haul it in or have the people in need access it.
 
Family, friends, volunteers, the priests of the mission and the Carmelite Sisters have all lent a hand when able.
 
Her husband, Kenny Many Horses, has jokingly asked to be penciled in for a date night, but hasn’t deterred her when yet another call for a ride comes in. He has not denied her gas for rides or to pick up supplies.
 
“As long as I can be a blessing to somebody, I will be,” said Iron Shield. “I would not be able to do what I do number one without God and number two without my husband… I always pray, ‘Lord put somebody into my path if I need to help someone. He sure does….’”
 
Corrine founded a prison ministry team for women at the local Tribal prison, said Fr. Basil. This ministry is still active and assists women who have been incarcerated and need a witness to hope.
 
“Corrine is an outstanding example of true Christian charity at work in a soul. Whether she knows it or not, Corrine is a corporal and spiritual worker; she is a visible and vital sign of the Christian virtue of hope on Standing Rock,” Fr. Basil said.
 
For more information about how to help her cause, call 701-455-0372.