Do you love Bears Ears? How about the wild, wonderful places of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona?

Our friends up on Hopi and Navajo, who live on and around these lands, and have for millenia, will be dramatically impacted by the cutoff of SNAP and WIC programs, due to the (likely) longest government shutdown in history. Both the Hopi and Navajo reservations are extremely remote, so food banks are scarce - folks have to drive hours to Gallup or Flagstaff. It is unlikely that food pantries will be able to keep up with the needs of such a large influx of need when SNAP benefits cease November 1. Prices are astronomically higher in these areas of the Southwest, too.

Most folks who are receiving SNAP benefits are working full or part-time jobs at places that don't pay a living wage. Four out of five households on SNAP have children, people with disabilities, or elderly individuals.

Working with partners on both Hopi and Navajo, we will send bulk shipments from Costco to both locations - buying items such as soap, food (canned goods, vegetables, other as requested), personal hygenie items, baby forumula, and more. Unfortunately, the state of Arizona has said they will not backfill, and the tribal governments are not resourced to do so, either. Our community - sharing resources to those who have systematically been denied the ones we readily enjoy - is what we've got to get through this!

(This fundraiser is being administered by Erica Prather in Tucson, Arizona. Navajo Nation primary partner is Nizhoni Baldwin, and Hopi primary partner is Clark Tenakhongva)