Please help lay Dewlia F. Bird to rest.

My name is Amelia Bird and I’ve created this GoFundMe on behalf of my grandmother Dewlia Frances Bird.

At this time, Dewlia has been taken off of life support and needs help with the cost of her funeral and burial expenses. I and my family are doing everything we can in order to lay her to rest; unfortunately, we are unable to do so due to numerous financial strains we’ve experienced in the last year. Dewlia does have a small life insurance amount of $5000.00, but this is going to take some time to acquire. The Life Insurance company, Jackson National, has stated to us that they’re going to need her death certificate and in Nebraska, a death certificate can take anywhere up to 3-4 weeks to acquire, not including the amount of time the insurance company will take to process her claim, which adds on another 3 weeks.

The funeral home, Munderloh Funeral Services, will keep her body in storage until we can afford to bury her. Naturally, transportation and services fees come into play as well, which will need to be paid before we can take custody of her body.

Dewlia is an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe, but in order access their burial program, she has to be a current resident on their reservation. Dewlia resides upon the Omaha Nation Reservation, which makes her ineligible for their services. The Bureau of Indian Affairs offers an indigent burial program, but we are experiencing red tape and other obstacles as the Oglala Lakota Burial Office tells us we cannot access their program and the BIA office which oversees this section states that they disburse money to the tribes and the tribes decide what to do with it. As stated, it’s a lot of red tape and the final answer is a resounding no.

I and my family are desperate; it brings me no joy to ask as I understand other people are struggling in these hard times. Nothing is cheap; all we are asking is just a little assistance, whatever anyone, anywhere can spare for us to lay one of our most important family members to rest. I now beseech the kindness of strangers to help us in our time of need.

Anything, any amount of donations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.