The meeting room was filled with members and guests alike and Navajo Tacos were the HOT menu item on Friday as Nancy Bo Flood and Debbie Wilde shared the story of the blossoming of Chinle Planting Hope. The room was also filled with love and support for the remarkable energy and tenacity of the Navajo women who dreamed for a better life for their children… and then made it so!
The relationship between Chinle Planting Hope (CPH) and GS Rotary started in 2021 when Nancy and Bill Flood retired to their home in Glenwood Springs after working 10+ years on the Navajo Reservation. Bill thought he was going to “take it easy”, but then they met Debbie Wilde! She helped Nancy get Rotary's support for a wonderful youth literacy for Navajo young people called, Read at Home. That year, the club members donated $10,000 to ensure Highlights magazines where sent to the homes of all Chinle elementary school students! And that was only the beginning
The next year (2022) nine GS Rotarians traveled to Chinle with a truck full of stuff to help set up Chinle Planting Hope's Thrift Store on a dry, dusty dirt lot with nothing but six shipping containers and a big dream. They worked very hard under the hot Arizona sun and fell in love with the people, the project, and the plan for what CPH wanted to be, and they brought their enthusiasm back to the club to fuel more collaboration. Five years later, the Store is transformed into a “merchandise mall” bringing in over $3000 per month (with the continued influx of market items from Rotary clubs across the region). Check out this beautiful video about CPH from 2022.
Chinle Planting Hope is the central organizing entity for several support efforts for tribal members. I think of it as separate puzzle pieces focused on specific populations and their needs, all facilitated and connected into a cohesive vision by the staff of CPH. The pieces of the CPH puzzle are: 1) Read in Beauty Bookmobile, 2) Imagination Station Learning Center, 3) HOPE Thrift Store, 4) Community Garden, 5) Elder Support, 6) Solar Light Installation, and 7) Polar Express Holiday Store. These pieces work to address the major foci of Chinle Planting Hope - literacy, children, vulnerable elders and others.
Chinle Planting Hope started with the vision of several Navajo/Dinė women “to do better for our kids and families" by building a community center where they could find their own solutions. They are doing that with the support of Rotarians, foundations, tribal leaders, school leaders, and technical support from many others.
CPH now enters a new phase to raise operating funds to KEEP THE LIGHTS ON. This three-year campaign seeks $30K per year to move from building programs to sustaining programs. Please consider contributing - either through our Club's Foundation (see Charlene) or through a sustaining donation directly to Chinle Planting Hope.
With every dollar WE are planting hope in Chinle and walking in beauty with the Dinė .
