Community partners quickly organize and establish necessary supply chain, production and dissemination.
MCKINLEY MUTUAL AID
McKinley
Mutual Aid.
Food is essential to Indigenous cultures, strengthening community bonds, traditional knowledge, and relationships. However, colonization and resource extraction have led many Indigenous communities to experience food deserts and limited access to nutritious foods, causing dependence on processed foods that are often low in nutrients.
Economic turmoil has further exacerbated access to food, and families are struggling more than ever. Indigenous Lifeways is the lead coordinator for McKinley Mutual Aid efforts. With funding from Seventh Generation, Indigenous Lifeways will restart its food distribution program, originally launched during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Background
In 2020, the organization partnered with various groups to deliver groceries to McKinley County and surrounding areas via the McKinley Mutual Aid network, which includes volunteers from intertribal, interfaith, and interracial backgrounds. The network was comprised of an intertribal, interfaith, and interracial group of volunteers. As leaders of community-based nonprofits, the group had a strong pre-existing network that allowed us to quickly organize and establish a relatively immediate supply chain, production and dissemination.
Currently
Indigenous Lifeways will also host five community dinners around the winter and summer solstices, the spring and fall equinoxes, and the Diné New Year. Through these activities, Indigenous Lifeways can address key issues such as food insecurity, health disparities, the loss of Indigenous culture, and economic hardships, helping to improve the overall well-being of Indigenous communities disproportionately affected by economic hardships.
Our network includes valued partners.
As leaders of community-based nonprofits, we will use our strong connections to quickly coordinate a reliable supply chain for both production and distribution.
Our focus will be on:
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Elderly
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Single Parents
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Multi-generational indigenous households
Our goals:
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We will host 5 Community dinners
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We will host time for volunteers to assemble 30-45lbs food boxes for unhoused relatives, elderly and single parent families.
- We fill feed 500 families this year through our distribution.
Through combined efforts of community meals and network distribution we intended to serve at least 700 families this year by providing household necessities, including food and hygiene products.
