Volunteers, working 14-hour days and inspired with the power of k’e (inter-relationship of all things) are providing food to elderly grandmothers, many of whom are raising their grandchildren in isolated hogans without running water on the sprawling Navajo and Hopi Reservations.

The reservations, larger than West Viriginia, are hit with an infection rate equivalent to New York City, largely because of lack of infrastructure. A third of the homes lack running water or electricity. Fear of pollution from the area’s 500 abandoned uranium mines makes the quest for safe water even more difficult.

“It is so amazing to see our communities come together and respond proactively to the threat of coronavirus and COVID-19 on the Navajo and Hopi reservations.” said Ethel Branch, former Navajo Nation Attorney General and founder of the Navajo and Hopi Families Covid 19 Relief Fund. “I thought this would make just a small impact, but the great love and care that the public has for our communities, and their sense of justice to correct the inequities that exist in Indigenous communities has morphed this effort into a movement.”

DailyKos readers have been very generous in the past to our Democratic field team on the reservations of Northeast Arizona, but today we are asking for contributions to the Relief Fund. https://www.gofundme.com/f/NHFC19Relief

The group, with about 10 team leads, each with about five helpers, is migrating to a drive-through model, with families filling out request forms downloaded from Facebook. As donations are available, they order truckloads of food from a large grocery distribution company. When the goods arrive, the packages are disinfected and divided into boxes for the recipients.

When the order is ready, the family sends a vehicle to the drive-through and the goods are loaded in the back without the recipients getting out of the vehicle.

“We are losing elders, but we try to stay positive and are making progress,” said Cassandra Begay, a spokeswoman for the group who also consolidates the family requests into truckload orders to the distribution company. “When you lose an elder, it is like losing a library.”

The group has helped 1,000 families, and is prioritizing elders who are raising grandchildren, are wheel-chair bound or are asthmatic.

“We have a huge demand for baby wipes, formula and diapers,” she said.

The group receives no assistance from the state or federal governments, but the Navajo Nation’s Community Health Representatives help deliver boxes to those who have no transportation.

Brand started the organization when she realized that her mother, living in a remote area, had no access to food, with the closest grocery store many miles away in Flagstaff, AZ. There are only 13 grocery stores and a handful of hospitals on the 30,000 square miles of the reservations.

Though there has been some friction between the Navajo and Hopi tribes in the past, Branch’s partner is a Hopi and Branch has been able to build the cooperative organization, largely made up of indigenous women.

The pandemic hits the area hard because unemployment was already more than 50 percent before the outbreak. The state of Arizona has been slow to make the new Pandemic Unemployment benefits available, often rejecting claims for invalid pre-covid criteria.

Democratic field organizers are playing a minor role in the relief effort, asked to help where they can, including help with efforts to make water, hay, dogfood and sanitizer available to isolated communities.

“Stay home – stay safe, let us get food to you,” Begay said.