St. Mary's Food Bank and Navajo Lutheran Mission become Agency Partners
Read the full newsletter and find out how you can help here.
Feeding America has revealed a new statistic – 25% of children living in the US will face food insecurity for the remainder of 2020. We believe that you have helped us overcome that statistic here in Rock Point. The Mission staff have worked diligently to transform limited resources into daily meals, ensuring that no child and every family has access to healthy food and water.
Still, we are only one small community in a vast region of true need that likely exceeds the Feeding America statistic. That’s why we are expanding our mission field to include the communities immediately around the Mission. With the help and partnership of St. Mary’s Food Bank, semi-load deliveries of food are now distributed from our campus to hungry households from miles around.
This past week, the Mission staff geared up to receive, sort and distribute pantry goods, water, milk, eggs, meat and fish, fresh fruits and vegetables. Rivaling Walmart’s contactless delivery, over 300 households were registered, loaded and drove away (or in one case, rode away) with a bounty of options for delicious meals.
Renovation for St. Mary's Food Bank
The renovation for the permanent home for St. Mary’s Food Bank is making good progress. Thanks to our in-house maintenance team, the two large rooms are fully enclosed and insulated, and the exterior walls and roof are water tight and looking great. The lighting and electrical requirements have been completed. Before the week’s end, the concrete floors will be poured and the overhead doors installed. We have applied for a St. Mary’s Capacity Grant that will allow for the installation of walk-in refrigeration bid at over $22,000. Our hope is to be fully operational on November 1 or before.
Projects of this scope could not be possible without the commitment and financial assistance of a team of participants. Design, labor, funding, operation plan, training and staff execution – all work together to beat the statistics so that our Navajo neighbors can live in a healthy, well-fed and productive community in the heartland of the Navajo Nation.
For all of you who have helped make this possible – congregations, foundations, individual donors – thank you for being our support and encouragement, thank you for your prayers, and thank you for believing that together we can accomplish much more than first imagined. Thanks be to God!
Did you know?
In many Native communities like Rock Point, practiced horse skills are part of a daily routine - feeding, grooming, riding. What is not immediately evident is the all-important connection between horse and human. Horses are honored for their strength and willingness to partner with their rider to accomplish great good, protect the community or succeed in battle. For this reason, the relationship of horse and rider is as much about the horse’s ability to transform the rider’s mental and physical abilities as it is about the rider’s ability to train the horse.
Through history, the instinctive qualities of the horse have informed the spirituality of Native peoples, challenging the human counterpart’s humility to sustain a healthy bond based on loyalty and trust.
Several families in Rock Point sponsor spring and fall trail rides, rodeos and roping contests, involving old and young in the traditions and life lessons gained from the relationship of horse and rider