Fundraiser for St. Mary’s Mission community

By Andrew Baldwin

ROSSMOOR, Calif.

My Eagle Scout project will take place Nov. 12 and 13 in Tohatchi on the Navajo Reservation at St. Mary’s Mission.

I belong to Troop 642 Rossmoor/Seal Beach, Goldenwest Council.

The Diné (Navajo) people have been hit hard with COVID-19. The Navajo Nation’s population is 173,667 people, which covers 17.5 million acres of vast land.
There have been 34,360 people on the Navajo Nation who have tested positive with 1,454 deaths.

My Eagle Scout project is to raise money through GoFundMe and in addition I had a Navajo frybread fundraiser in my community on Oct. 16. With the money I raise I will buy supplies for St. Mary’s Mission community, including 50 knapsacks for each child filled with school supplies such as paper, pens, markers, snacks such as Fruit Roll-Ups, no-nut granola bars and fresh fruit.

(The supplies will make) 15 large family boxes with flour, oil, baking powder, coffee, sugar, salt, Spam, bottled water, surgical masks, and hand sanitizer.

It may not seem like much but any help the Navajo Nation can receive will be appreciated during this pandemic. The more money I raise the more I can purchase for them.

I am also accepting donations of office supplies and personal hygiene supplies to place in the knapsacks.

I have never gone without food or fresh water but when being in lockdown, like I was, we saw how difficult it was for my family to find basic essentials like bottled water and toilet paper.

These families are in need of any help we can provide. It is not like they have the convenience to walk to a corner store and buy something, but even if they could they may have no money.

Right now, with the Navajo Nation open at only 50%, Code Orange, many people are still unable to work. I would like them to remember a Scout of America helped them and perhaps one day become a Scout or have their children in Scouts.

This will be an amazing “good turn” and is only possible with your help.

My fellow Scouts and family will be helping me assemble all the boxes and bags, and my family and I will be distributing everything ourselves at St. Mary’s Mission in Tohatchi.

My dad, Richard Baldwin, and stepmom, Louise Littlemouse, are both Intensive Care Unit nurses and understand the impact of COVID-19. My stepmom is Navajo, and the reason I understand the need of her people.

Thank you for helping someone you may never know, but you will make a difference. Ahéheé (Thank you).

Information: gofund.me/9443975d

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