Native families suffer the highest rate of food insecurity and diet-related diseases in the U.S., due to racial prejudice as well as systemic and institutional barriers that existed decades before the COVID-19 pandemic. The Navajo Relief Fund (NRF), a program of Partnership With Native Americans® (PWNA), addresses these obstacles through its Food Pantry service, where food staples and water are provided to reservation food pantries for community members in need. 

Our Program Partner Maryline at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Chinle, Arizona, participates in the Food Pantry service and sees the hope it spreads among the Elders in her community. Though funding this year has been tough, community members like Elva continue volunteering for the sake of their peers. 

Elva grew up on and off the reservation. She briefly worked as a bartender at an Air Force base before moving back to Chinle to work at the local school district kitchen for 20 years. Now retired after her husband passed, Elva has five children and is happy to have her whole family living locally.  

As a grandma in her late 50s, Elva is not immune to the inequities that affect Elders across Indian country. Explaining how she is strapped for money with outstanding bills to pay, she said, “A lot of grandparents are in need and can’t buy things like toilet paper. Sometimes I’m in the same situation, so I know what they’re going through.” Elva added that there are few local affordable markets, so she and her daughter travel over 100 miles one-way to Farmington for groceries. 

Despite her circumstances, Elva continues to support her community by volunteering at Our Lady of Fatima Church and St. Mary’s, the organization that has since taken over the food pantry. “This is what I do,” she smiled. “I’m always outside helping people – I’m always busy.” 

Mentioning prevalent issues like lack of transportation, Elva emphasized that while they often don’t have enough supplies, the food pantry is important. “We try to manage with what we have… [the pantry] helps a lot of people when they really need it.” Native Americans are much more likely to have incomes below poverty than their white counterparts, so services like NRF Food Pantry can make all the difference. Thanking donors for their support, Elva said, “I’m really grateful; some of our Elders are in so much need, but we always try to help one another, too.” 

Donate to NRF today to help improve access to food for Native Elders like Elva and others in her community.