Today we’d like to introduce you to Linda Myers.
Hi Linda, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Over 40 years ago my life changed after watching a documentary called Broken Rainbow and listening to a Navajo activist named Rose Hulligan speak about the struggle facing the traditional Navajo Elders living on Big Mountain on the Navajo reservation in Arizona. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew I had to do something.
I began traveling to the land with Rose and another activist named Grace Smith Yellowhammer, Grace said something to me that I still remember. “The people are so despondent and helpless. They’re giving up caring. They need someone to care about them, even a hairbrush or a jacket, something that would make them feel good about themselves.” As I looked at the condition of their homes and the simple lives they lived, I knew I had a voice and somehow I would find a way to share with others not only about their simple needs and lack of resources, but about the richness of their culture, traditions, and way of life.
As I look back, I think of all the people who offered help to me. When I would get home from work at night I would sort through donations and pack food in recycled boxes I found behind stores. We have come a long way since those days, and even though times are challenging for us now, they haven’t changed very much on the land for the Elders over the last forty years.
Poverty on the reservation is hard to rise out of, but the wisdom and knowledge of these Elders is priceless. My goal today is the same as it was forty years ago, to help the old ones live out their lives in their traditional ways on their homelands.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Food is the greatest gift I know. Providing the Elders with firewood has helped relieve their greatest worry of freezing to death during the winter. In many areas of the reservation the only water that is safe to drink is bottled water that the families have to purchase. The Elders have taught me a lot about survival. To help sell their rugs for them is to touch each of their lives daily, to feel their hands in the rugs, to know even in their old age they will weave to eat and feed their families. They have shown me how giving and generous they are with so little. And they have taught me a lot about perseverance and strength.
Their strength has kept me going many times when I am tired and overwhelmed. I have experienced a different kind of love not in words but in the gentle touch of holding their hands and feeling their prayers. They have blessed me and all the volunteers who give their time and hands to help them.
With over 850 Elders now in the program, it isn’t often I visit each of their homes. We deliver to each of the areas we serve twice a year in the spring when it’s planting season, and in the fall during harvest to help them prepare for the winter. During the other months we send letters to them from the program letting them know we are thinking of them and, through grants and generous donations, we mail Food Certificates, Firewood Vouchers, and Yarn Bundles to weave their rugs with.
When I am able to visit their homes, I often see the letters we send taped to the wall showing pictures of the volunteers or kind words from their sponsors. This shows the hands of different cultures coming together, it’s depicted in our logo and it has been our mission from the very beginning.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Adopt-A-Native-Elder serves to help reduce extreme hardship facing traditional Elders living on the Navajo Reservation. Through 40 years of serving the Navajo Elders, A.N.E. has become a trusted humanitarian organization focused on providing traditional Elders with the resources they need so that they are able to live out their lives in their traditional way on their homelands. This is accomplished by delivering over one million pounds of food, medical supplies, firewood and other forms of needed Elder assistance each year.. Respecting the tradition and dignity of Navajo Elders, we create relationships to honor and serve the Elders, their families, and their communities.
Since 1984, Adopt-A-Native-Elder has served thousands of traditional Navajo Elders, and today more than 850 Elders over the age of 75 are enrolled in the program. Key programming includes twice-a-year, volunteer-led Food Runs to deliver critical support directly to Elders in need, Food Certificate and Firewood Voucher Programs that offer mailed support throughout the year, and the Yarn Program and Rug Shows, which give Navajo Elders the opportunity to support themselves in their traditional way by providing Navajo yarn to weavers who use it it to create stunning Navajo rugs, and then creating a marketplace for Navajo weavers and artists to sell their beautiful handmade rugs and jewelry. A.N.E.’s Yarn Program and Rug Shows not only provide needed economic relief for traditional artists, they also encourage the preservation of traditional Navajo culture and art by providing the only venue in the world where Indigenous artists set their own prices and receive 100% of the proceeds from their sales. We’re thrilled that this November, November 6th – 9th, our Navajo Rug Show & Sale will return to Deer Valley’s Snow Park Lodge in Park City, providing the Elders with the worlds largest not for profit rug and jewelry show that not only gives them a marketplace for their work, but also celebrates their culture and heritage.
Giving is a gift of love, not a handout. What we do for the Elders is based on the tradition of the Native Giveaway. We give our best as a gift and give it freely with no expectation of return so that the Elders are able to sustain their lives and culture in their traditional ways.
The Elders feel gratitude for these gifts, often expressing it through their shy smiles. Some give small gifts such as necklaces in return. Many are unable to make such a gift. Their gift is to touch our hands and our hearts and to offer their prayers. That is enough.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Today, with so many Elders in the program, we work with many senior centers and coordinators on the reservation to help us know when the conditions and needs of the Elders change. This helps us determine when we need to distribute extra food certificates or firewood vouchers as well as helps us to adjust the food boxes we distribute and the giveaways that we hand out.
One of our largest areas of expansion is our medical program. We distribute large amounts of wheelchairs, walkers, canes, and incontinence products that are all incredibly expensive to obtain on the reservation. Many of the Elders in our program from their late 80s up to 104 years of age rely on help from their families and caretakers to chop firewood, haul water, and take them shopping and to healthcare appointments.
We also have found many Elders as they age develop specific dietary needs, the food certificate program helps make sure these Elders are able to purchase the special food they need.
Today, our biggest challenge is having enough volunteer vehicles to transport and distribute all of the supplies to the Elders on the Food Runs. We rely on volunteers who give their time, energy, kindness, and pay for their own gas and hotel stays to bring all of the food and supplies to the Elders.
Pricing:
- $200 provides a load of firewood and gives the gift of warmth to an Elder during the coldest months of the year
- $50 provides a yarn bundle to a weaver and helps them weave a Navajo rug that will help them sustain their traditional way of life
- $25 provides a food certificate to an Elder in need and makes sure they have the resources they need to purchase fresh food
- $300/ year and a long term commitment sponsors an Elder and provides them with Food Boxes on the Food Runs
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.AnElder.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adoptanativeelderofficial/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adoptanativeelder/
