With our glorious TWELFTH PATHSTAR Alcatraz swim October 13, we celebrated our success and recommitted to the vast amount of work still to be done. Huge thanks to each and every one of PATHSTAR’s remarkable champions for dreaming together, teaming up, and carrying the dream forward.

Years ago, as ideas for PATHSTAR began to stir, Nancy Iverson dreamed of being part of a team to encourage Native Americans to reclaim healthy lives of meaning and purpose, and she imagined accompanying someone on that journey. In 2003, when she swam in from Alcatraz with Richard Iron Cloud, the first Lakota to do the PATHSTAR Alcatraz swim, she knew others bore witness, and she no longer had to carry the dream alone. Each year since then, the team has grown, and a vital community of teachers, swimmers, pilots, coaches, gardeners, and untold others gather to manifest the dream.

“I firmly believe we as people—and I mean all people of all beautiful races—must stand together in each of our individual personal pursuits of a better quality of life. We must not only dream of positive change but we must take action— with every step we take, every challenge we meet, every event we promote, every person that we involve—every individual, group, and community. The key to a healthier future is to keep succeeding in opening one door at a time and to never to give up, because this is a never ending process.” Terry Mills, Oglala Lakota, 6 time PATHSTAR Alcatraz swim week participant.

At the start of the 2014 PATHSTAR Alcatraz swim week, 1st time participant Elizabeth Best, Colville Confederated Tribes, wrote: “All participants have arrived, bringing the total to 7. Two from Pine Ridge and five from the Colville Tribe. We ate our first meal together tonight. Can already feel and see the teamwork being created. Teamwork makes the dreamwork. This is going to be a powerful week for us all. I hope my heart and mind can be as open as possible to all the great things coming this week.”