Preventative measures against the virus can be a challenge in the Navajo Nation, which spans over 27,000 square miles in sections of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. The Associated Press reports that roughly one-third of Navajo homes do not have running water and isolation can be difficult due to that fact that many close-knit Navajo communities live in crowded homes.

Lucas Garcia is the executive director of Compassionate Colorado, a Denver-based organization that provides aid to indigenous communities in New Mexico, including the Navajo Nation.

Garcia said the idea for Compassionate Colorado started during the pandemic, but he knows that many of the issues faced by the Navajo Nation began long before COVID-19 arrived in the United States.

“It is a systemic issue that has been happening for generations,” Garcia said.

Compassionate Colorado co-founder Ashlee Lewis said the group heard “a calling” during the first quarantine at the beginning of the pandemic.

“We saw news where there was a Navajo elder that was crying for his community and his people that he was so concerned,” she recalled. “And that was the first time that Lucas and I got connected and we started immediately organizing. And what we realized was that as he and I wanted to help, there were so many other Coloradans who wanted to help.”

The weekend of January 16, Compassionate Colorado is traveling down to New Mexico to deliver essentials—masks, food, medical supplies, person hygiene products—to the Navajo community.

Garcia explained that while this past year has been especially difficult, he tries to focus on the things that have “sprouted from this darkness,” like “all of the people that have stepped up in this time to help our neighbors.”

Lewis said the community mindset in Colorado has made their organization’s mission possible.

“It’s the whole state of Colorado that has this incredibly special culture where we help each other here,” she said. “And we will help each other locally, we will help each other in different states. I mean, that’s what compassion is all about.”

For more information on Compassionate Colorado, including ways to donate, visit compassionatecolorado.org.

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