UTAH Navajo Santa gives needed supplies to nation's poorest

Many self-help items including tools, vegetable seeds and sewing machines are distributed to the Navajos.
SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
A year ago, while handing out toys, tools and other items to families living on the Utah strip of the Navajo Reservation, Michael Yei watched a young boy joyfully pick out an item.
It wasn't a toy, though.
"'We got toothpaste,'" Yei recalled the boy excitedly telling his mother.
Yei, a board member for Navajo Santa, tells the story to illustrate the degree of poverty that affects many people living on the Navajo Reservation.
Navajo Santa, which also goes by the name Ya'at'eeh Keshmish -- Merry Christmas in Navajo -- has delivered needed items to American Indians living on the reservation in southeastern Utah for 14 years.
"Truly, some of the families we serve are not just the poorest people in Utah. Many are the poorest people in America," Yei said.
According to the nonprofit organization, half of the 6,000 people who call the Utah side of the Navajo Reservation home are living below the federal poverty level. The average annual income is just over $7,000, and the unemployment rate is 38 percent. More than half don't have indoor plumbing.
In early December, the Navajo Santa program brings needed everyday supplies to about 600 people there.
"We try to do things that are self-help, not just a handout," said Kathy Kankainen, president of Navajo Santa.
What's on list
The list of items distributed include tools, such as axes and shovels, plus vegetable seeds, jackets, blankets, sewing machines, lanterns, hygiene kits and dog food. Toys, books and stuffed animals are given to children.
The concept for the Navajo Santa dates back to the 1940s when an Episcopal priest in Bluff began gathering and giving out Christmas gifts to the poor in the area. The program, however, ended when the priest died in the 1960s. Kenneth Maryboy, a traditional medicine man and a Navajo Tribal Council member, remembered the gifts from his childhood and revived the program in the late 1980s, Kankainen said.
Maryboy was honored recently as one of the 10 most caring people in America by the Washington-based Caring Institute. The award was given to him largely because of the Navajo Santa program.
The program has grown from meager donations of used equipment to about $20,000 in grants. The program also buys new items with cash donations as well. All of the items handed out are new.
Cash donations can be sent to P.O. Box 58365, Salt Lake City, Utah 84108.
Donations are accepted year-round because the Navajo Santa program makes additional trips to the reservation during the year. It also gives out needed items when it learns of families in crisis, Kankainen said.
XVisit www.navajosanta.com.