FOOD RUNS: AN OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE

Each spring and fall The Adopt-A-Native-Program delivers boxes of food, simple medicines, clothing, household items, bottled water, fresh produce, and yarn to Elders living in four areas of the Navajo reservation.

We deliver roughly 400,000 pounds of assistance to Elders in need, an amount that equals the capacity of seven semi-trucks to the Elders every Food Run. Most of the Elders are in their late 80’s to over 100 years of age and the food is much needed assistance.

These boxes are delivered to the Elders each spring and fall by volunteers who provide their own vehicles, gasoline and travel expenses to be of service to the Elders.



The Adopt-A-Native-Elder Program has always been built upon the labor and dedication of volunteers. It has had to be. If all of the work in support of the Elders was performed by employees, it would require a staff of dozens and a fleet of trucks.

On the Food Runs the Elders often speak about the volunteer’s “footprints”. The Elders say that when the volunteers come to the reservation they leave their footprints behind. This is a way of saying that the impact you make when you serve is everlasting.



We deliver items to the Elders in four Food Run areas. For each of the Food Runs, volunteers load their vehicles with items from our Salt Lake City warehouse. The volunteers then drive on their own to meet up with the Adopt-A-Native-Elder team at a designated lodging base close to the Food Run delivery areas.

FOOD RUN DELIVERY AREAS ON THE NAVAJO RESERVATION

Our Food Run delivery areas include:

Oljato, Navajo Mountain areas in Southern Utah, and Kayenta in northern Arizona.

Out of Chinle, Arizona, located in the Northeast section of the Reservation, we deliver Food Run items to Elders in:
Many Farms, Tsaile, and Forest Lake.

From Winslow, Arizona we serve Elders in the following two Food Run areas:
Big Mountain, Sanders, and Teesto
Dilkon, Leupp, Birdsprings, and Tolani Lake

PLEASE JOIN US

Each Food Run takes five to six days (including travel time), for all of the many items to be delivered to each of the locations within the Food Run area. You choose which of the four Food Runs is best for you. The dates and locations of each Food Run are given in our newsletter a few months before the Food Runs begin. Food Run applications are provided online at this time as well.

After an application is submitted, you will receive a packet with your itinerary, lodging information to make your hotel reservations, along with information on what to expect during the Food Run.

The Elders that we serve today are the last generation of traditional indigenous people left in the United States. They have never entered our culture, continue to practice their traditions, ceremonies, and the way of life lived by generations before them. Serving them and touching their lives is a fleeting opportunity that is not to be missed.