WEST JORDAN, Utah — The Navajo Nation has been hit extremely hard by the pandemic, and is getting some much-needed relief thanks to several groups.
Thursday morning at the South Valley Regional Airport, two organizations loaded up a plane with supplies, and headed for the Navajo Nation, hoping to make a difference.
“They just don’t have the services when they’re in northern New Mexico,” said Mike Evans, a pilot with Angel Flight West.
Evans is flying a plane to Arizona and New Mexico to deliver supplies to Fort Defiance and Gallup.
“I wanted to do something for somebody and this is a good way to do it,” Evans said.
The Navajo Nation has suffered tremendously with thousands of people getting sick during the pandemic.
“I felt kind of helpless from afar watching my colleagues and the community that I love suffering,” said Dr Christina Thuet, Founder and Director of With Love from Strangers. “And so I started reaching out asking what they needed.”
Dr. Thuet began collecting donated supplies from all over.
“So they get handmade masks,” she said. “Usually we’ve had people from all over the country that have been making handmade masks and sending them to us and then we distribute them.”
Care packages will also include hand sanitizer, paper towels, soap and bleach. The supplies total 500 pounds.
“The Navajo Nation is massive and so we're able to with Angel Flight West partnership flying to really remote areas, curate exactly what that community needs, which is different from another community several hours away and deliver exactly what’s needed and do it quickly,” Dr. Thuet said.
Thuet says they started delivering supplies back in April and Thursday’s mission is their 137th flight.