Tikkun Olam is a faith based ministry established in the memory of Jana Elliott who came to the Fort Peck Reservation and worked as a teacher and foster parent. Jana was a loving wife, mother, foster mother, grandmother, sister, teacher and friend who had a passion for helping kids. Jana and husband Ken moved from her ‘forever home’ in Conifer, Colorado to Wolf Point, Montana where she worked as a teacher in the local school. She loved spending time with the kids and thrived on helping children who came from homes that lacked a stable environment due to numerous socioeconomic concerns. Kids in need of a warm smile and a little gravitated to her class and often followed her home for dinner or jumped in her car for church. Jana was touched by the numerous stories of kids coming from broken homes whose parents struggle with drug and alcohol abuse. Unemployment on the Reservation exceeds 50% and the life expectancy for a Native American man is less than 50 years. Hard times for those on the Reservation fall hardest on the children. Jana often picked kids up on her way to school to ensure that they made it to class and it was common to find her in the kitchen making supper for those who didn’t have food in the house.Due to the lack of foster families on the Reservation, Jana and Ken became foster parents and opened their home to kids with special needs. As parents struggled to cope with their problems, Jana provided a safe home, big smile and warm beds to kids with nowhere else to turn.While it is difficult to measure success on a Reservation, Jana’s metric was a smiling face and safe living conditions for her kids. By bringing shalom to chaos and encouraging those with little family support, Jana provided us all with a model on how to love kids and make a difference. Her philosophy was simple, invest in the kids. In her memory, we bring compassionate and inspiring teachers to the Reservation who, like Jana, desire to make a difference.
Tikkun Olam Documentary