NM United to help Navajo Nation families

Volunteers from New Mexico United are teaming up with The Somos Unidos Foundation, Electric Playhouse, and Heart of America volunteers on Wednesday to assemble more than 1,200 education packs for nine schools and multiple health centers in the Navajo Nation communities of Pine Hill, Tohaali Community School, and nearby school districts surrounding Gallup.

A group that includes Mylo Fowler, a humanitarian and Navajo Nation tribal member, and Peter Trevisani, majority owner & CEO of New Mexico United, will assemble the packs at Electric Playhouse in Albuquerque.

In addition to the learning-from-home kits for students in grades pre-K through 12, the children will also receive a coronavirus “stay safe” packet containing hand sanitizer, four PPE masks and critical virus prevention information.

The Navajo Nation has been struck hard by COVID-19, as the hottest spot per capita in the country. The Navajo Nation and Native American reservations are faced with myriad challenges — including education, as school closures have pushed learning from the classroom to the home, where electricity, education materials and school supplies are sparse.

Fowler and representatives from NM United and its Somos Unidos Foundation will begin delivery of materials on Thursday to ensure kits arrive prior to weekend curfew beginning Friday afternoon.

Led by national nonprofit, The Heart of America Foundation in partnership with state-level officials in the Indian Affairs Department, the work is made possible by nearly 20 corporate sponsors and more than 100 individual donors from all across North America.