The volunteers of the 18th Annual Eastern Navajo Child Drive would like to say THANK YOU to all who helped us bring some happiness to some of the families in our region.

Kathy will have a full report soon on the results of this year’s Drive, but in the meantime we would like you wish you and yours Keshmish baa’ hozho – Merry Christmas. And may you have a prosperous and healthy 2012.

This really changes our capabilities to feed our families. Now, maybe we will look at a big refrigerator, in the spring, pending funding.

Celebrate!

We also had a private F2F sponsor send money so his family could obtain electrical service at their home. They are a single mother with 8 school age kids, living in a 12’ x 40’ trailer, no water, no electricity, no heat, no siding, etc. They currently run an extension cord from the mom’s sister home to theirs, which runs 2 space heaters. We believe we will be able to run electricity within 10 days, due to their sponsor’s huge heart & the generous pricing by a local electrician in Iyanbito (and “negotiations” with Continental Divide Electric Coop.). So they will have heat, lights, stove and all the other goodies that come with modern adaptations.

Our next big project for them is to get a 1,500’ water ditch dug to their home. We have another generous local plumber who is willing to provide lines & labor at a greatly reduced price. We may even be able to get the Navajo Nation to help with some of the main lines to their home.

Onto wrapping, tagging, sorting, bagging and such with our wonderful team of elves, extraordinaire!

Blessings,

Kathy

Snow in New Mexico

Thank you so much to all our sponsors, new & returning; Because of ALL of you, we will be able to make 2011 a wonderful experience for most of our target families.

Not too late to donate online or through the mail.

Last Wednesday, Maxine & I traveled to Gallup & placed our order for over 700 toys for our 370 children ages birth through 11! Mr. Baca @ Walgreens, allowed us to shop the sales, make our order & then pay for items on the appropriate sale days. This kept us at home with our families through Thanksgiving, which was a true gift for us. They stacked, wrapped & helped load all items, including all the batteries, on Friday morning. Since we live 50 miles from town, this was great!

Our son, Philip & our daughter, Rebecca, unloaded our vehicle early Friday morning of basketballs, footballs, gloves & caps before we headed into Gallup to pick up the rest of our toys. After loading up @ Walgreens (3 more large vehicles full) Rebecca & I headed over to Wal-Mart to purchase 150 $15 gift certificates for our 12 – 17 year olds still attending school.

As always, Wal-Marts’ Customer Service stood ready to meet our needs. One hour after arriving, we were leaving with all our gift certificates in hand. An enjoyable lunch @ David’s & we headed back to Bluewater.

Saturday & Sunday was focused on unloading, organizing, & age labeling all the goodies we brought home. We also had bought 300 caps & gloves from Walgreens @ $1 each! So, we’re feeling pretty good about our situation right now.

Thank you to all of our sponsors. If you have not made your donation, please help us achieve our goal! Donate today!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Why you should donate…

So what’s been happening…

• Been receiving schools’ family rosters, compiling them, calling for clarification, etc. We look good to have firm numbers so on Tuesday we will go into Gallup & place our orders with our friends at Walgreens! They are allowing us to select items, numbers, etc on items that will be going on sale various days Tues thru Fri. They will stack, wrap & help load. We just have to pay for & pick up stuff the same day of that particular sale. We live 50 miles from town; but with service like this… Mr. Baca, Walgreens’ manager, had been thinking about our 5 hours of shopping on Thanksgiving Day last year & worked out this plan; really helping our dollars stretch, I’d say!!!!
• I’m still calling for my husband & son to be in charge of frying the turkey & all the other cooking responsibilities. My daughter & I MUST go to town together with all our volunteers, of course.
• We are only getting our feet a little wet this year & placing the boxes for action in Gallup Gala Bowl, & Thoreau Elementary School. We’ll see how we fair.
•  We have developed a great working relationship with Gallup Community Pantry. Please check them out on their website the thecommunitypantry.org
•  We pick up food offerings about weekly and make deliveries to our most destitute families.
• Through our Family to Family partnerships, we were able to purchase & deliver over 30 Thanksgiving meals. Check out Family-to-Family on the web.

If I was to recommend collecting & sending items right now, it would be:

• toothbrushes & paste
• socks
• undies
• caps
• gloves & mittens.

They are all small items & we could really use them.

Hate to see folks spend $$ on shipping & taxes; but I do understand the reward of buying & sending tangible items.

We do need hoodies, jackets & other warm clothing, but the shipping costs may be prohibitive for you.

Don’t be shy about communicating with me.

Keeps me connected to what is going on with our sponsors.

Thank you,

Kathy

Contact information for the Eastern Navajo Child Drive

Keshmish baa’ hozho

Merry Christmas

For those who haven’t had a chance to donate yet, PLEASE find your way to either our website www.navajochild.org & donate through PayPal or drop a check in the mail: Navajo Child Drive HC 62 Box 3749 Thoreau, NM 87323

Either way, we sure could use your help, as we are only 50% toward our goal for our 150 families.

Otherwise, we will need to cut back on either our food baskets or our children’s gifts.

Neither of which we wish to face.

More photos from 2010 >

We purchased 206 pairs of shoes from Gallup Wal-Mart last week @ $5 each, as we had received some early donations. Their mostly young boys’ shoes, so we are still on the lookout for girls’ shoes.

Thank you to our early supporters. There is still time to give. Please use the link in the upper right side of this page “Donate on PayPal right now” to make your donation today.

Keshmish Baa’hozho! Merry Christmas!

In 2010, through the help & support of 64 sponsors across the USA, Santa & his Elves delivered food baskets & gifts to 155 families, which included 450 children, ages birth through 16.

Our numbers were down from 2009 as all our hardworking sponsors are balancing their checkbooks also.

We feel very confident that we will be able to match those numbers this season and have groups of “alternative” families that will be visited based on our fund raising success.

We have made application to Payless Shoes for a Shoe Grant; this is our third year applying and we are very hopeful that it may the magic year.

Can you help us out? Please give