Next Steps

Next Steps for the Navajo COVID Relief Project

Words cannot express how grateful we are for the outpouring of love, prayers and donations that are empowering Native Grace Fellowship and First UMC of Cortez to respond in record time to the COVID-19 crisis on the Navajo Nation.  This is our United Methodist connection at its best!

Including the final deliveries to be made this week, 500 households on the Navajo Nation have received Food, Household Supplies and Water from this United Methodist Relief Project.  Many of these families tell us that no one else has come to their homes to be sure they have what they need.  

First UMC of Cortez members and friends worked to break down bulk foods and supplies into family size containers.  First UMC, Mancos UMC, Native Grace, and community friends packed boxes and prepared deliveries.  Native Grace members drove hundreds of miles to deliver supplies to even the most remote homes in the Southeast Utah portion of the Navajo Nation.  None of this would have been possible without the generous support of the Mountain Sky Conference Disaster Relief Committee, Mountain Sky Committee on Native American Ministries, Christ UMC in Salt Lake City, and numerous donors from all across the U.S.  This outpouring of compassion included financial support, impassioned prayers and material goods--and we are beyond grateful!

This week will wrap-up the food and supply delivery portion of the Relief Project.  (We will keep some food supplies available for emergency use.).  Now that other groups have stepped up to provide food to families, our Native Grace leaders have identified a new direction for outreach.  Many Dineh families own sheep, goats or other animals.  These are either sold to help support the family or used directly to provide food.  With the current drought, there is already a shortage of grass for the animals to graze.  So we will be buying hay to help families feed their animals. It's an investment in the long term well-being of people on the Navajo Nation as they deal with dual crises of COVID-19 and extreme drought.

The third stage of the Relief Project will come near the end of summer when we will work to provide firewood and coal for heating and cooking during the winter months.  With signs that illness may stretch out through the summer, families and especially elders will need help collecting fuel for the winter months.  Just as this United Methodist Relief Project was able to jump into food delivery very quickly, we will be the first to supply hay, and then we hope other relief groups will join in with both animal feed and winter fuel.

I truly hope everyone involved in this project shares my pride in what we have accomplished and will continue to accomplish.  I am so grateful that our system of providing disaster relief allows us to respond quickly!  While other groups are (in some cases) still trying to figure out how to help--we Methodists are already moving forward to the next challenge.  Praise God for the people called Methodists and our absolute determination to do good in every way we can.  God is good all the time!

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."  Margaret Mead

1 John 3:18-19

Little children, let’s not love with words or speech but with action and truth. This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and reassure our hearts in God’s presence.

Peace and all good,

Pastor Jean