Many Native families find themselves under constant distress, facing issues from food shortages and subpar housing to limited healthcare and transportation access. As one of many efforts to ease their worries and spread cheer on the reservation this holiday season, Partnership With Native Americans’ (PWNA) Southwest Reservation Aid (SWRA) program provides its Elder Gift Bag service. Thousands of bags filled with holiday gifts are sent to program partners like Mike Benavidez at Pisinemo Senior Center in Arizona to redistribute to their Elders.

One beneficiary of this year’s service is Tohono O’odham Native Barbara. Barbara grew up in east Los Angeles before returning to the reservation with her parents. Now at 65 years old, she has experienced a series of heartbreaks in her family.

Barbara lost her husband to colon cancer a few years ago and two of her three children have also passed away – one at 13 and the other at 21 years old. Barbara cried, “That’s three hardships for me, but I talk about them to keep their memories alive.” She is always happy to spend time with her one remaining daughter and multiple grandchildren.

Retired after working as a business technician at her local elementary school for 27 years, Barbara shared that she is managing financially between her retirement and social security incomes. While she typically does not go into town, Barbara’s daughter usually shops for her at the Walmart in Casa Grande (about 1.5 hours away).

After getting one of her legs amputated due to diabetes, she is now in a wheelchair and has been on dialysis for five years. She pointed out that she has not missed a single dialysis appointment, despite the 45-minute commute to Sells, Arizona.

When asked about her Christmas experience as a child, Barbara smiled up at memories of a shiny silver Christmas tree and how it was “glowing in [her] eyes” on Christmas morning. Now, her favorite part of Christmas is “the spirit of life and getting happy in December.”

Typically gathering at her sister’s house and making a Christmas dinner with family, Barbara shared, “We do it more for the kids and the spirit of it all.” If she could ask Santa for one thing this year, she said she would simply ask “just to be happy.”

Grateful for the SWRA Gift Bags and other services provided through the senior center, she said, “Thank you for everything” and added a tearful thank you to our donors: “They don’t know how much it means to us. I hope they realize that it really does make a difference.”

Your contribution to SWRA can make a difference for more Native Elders like Barbara when many families are under stress during the Christmas season.