Coco Eco Magazine has a great interview with Chaske Spence (aka Sam)  on using his fame to help others.   This is why we love Chaske.

During our recent interview, Chaske Spencer commented on the looming crisis at the Cheyenne River Sioux reservation in Montana, “I’m just trying to stay cool, you know? I keep telling myself to just stay cool,” Spencer said.

After interviewing this rising star, it’s obvious that Spencer is cool, quite cool, however that’s not the way he meant it. “New Moon’s” reigning werewolf Sam Uley, confidante to Bella Swan and enemy of immortal Edward Cullen in the Twilight series, Spencer intends to use his fame for something more important than the usual “celebrity as clothing designer, perfumer or bottled water face” avenues.

“I’m not really in to the spotlight. It comes with the job but I’m not comfortable with it. I never have been,” Spencer explained. “I want to shift the focus to bring it to something that needs it very badly. I’m very fortunate in that I’m in a position where I can do that.”

Spencer wants to help his fellow 15,000 Cheyenne River Sioux who have been living on a 2.7 million acre reservation, roughly the size of the state of Connecticut, without electricity or water since January. Spencer wants the Cheyenne River Sioux to get the water infrastructure they were promised over 150 years ago in a public treaty with the Unites States government. On February 1st, 2010 the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe was forced to declare a state of emergency after severe ice storms and a below zero wind chill devastated the reservation, toppling more than 3000 power poles and leaving 13,000 people with no power, heat or water. Although some private corporations have helped with supplies, no one in the US government and few outside of Montana have heard or cared about the Cheyenne River Sioux’ desperate situation.

Go to CocoEcoMagazine to read the entire interview!   To learn more about the Cheyenne River Sioux reservation crisis and what you can do to help, go to ShiftThePower.