Angels join tiny home project

One man’s vision of a tiny home for an Oglala Lakota family on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota is coming to life.

When John Cornelius III saw a shipping container, the Army veteran and an Oglala Lakota Native American realized it would make the perfect home for a small family on the reservation where he was raised.

He was born in Poplar Bluff, but Cornelius grew up with his dad’s family on one of the largest reservations in the United States.

While he’s built a life for himself and his family here, he cares for the needs of his family on the reservation. He believes one way to help is finding cost effective housing for them. His answer is the conex or shipping container.

An “Angel investor” joined Cornelius, his wife, Krista, and son, Kal-El, in their dream of buying the 20-foot by 9-foot by 9-foot container for about $2,500 to make into a home before shipping it to South Dakota.

Cornelius said, “a couple more Angels showed up and together will be purchasing most of the materials needed to build the tiny home. Now we just have to get to work.”

Along with the “Angels,” men in the community like Jimmy Hunt realized the project was an answer to prayers. He had asked God to provide him with a project to help others.

“Things are moving along nicely,” Cornelius said. “We are beginning construction on the tiny home. The plan is to spend our regular men’s group time on Tuesday evenings working on the tiny home.”

Cornelius, his Angels and the Tuesday evening men’s group are excited to improve others’ lives.

The men’s Tuesday evening group is made up of 12-14 men from nine churches, said Hunt. Anyone interested in helping may contact him at his shop, Boss Hogg’s Barbershop, or Cornelius on his email.

“We are still taking donations in preparation to start another tiny home once this home reaches a certain point,” Cornelius said.

The updated PayPal link for donations through Red Road Wellness Center is https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/RezTinyHome?locale.x=en_US&fbclid=IwAR1-EkBLU5lIF8tde35IxEA-ndOj0XU7c7FChEMNOVVRnOjJZCc1hCKrOgI

Paperwork to form a 501(c)(3) non profit is being prepared.

Anyone interested in helping may contact Cornelius at his email johncorneliusmbc@gmail.com. He asks people to include Tiny Home in the subject line of the email so he can identify them better.