Islamic Group Donates 9.000 Pounds of Food to Diné Relief

Working with New Mexico State Reps. Abbas Ahkil of Albuquerque and Anthony Allison of  Fruitland, the Islamic Circle of North America donated 9,000 pounds of food to the Northern Diné COVID-19 Relief Effort.

The ICNA organized the food donation on May 25, which arrived in Shiprock that evening in a semi-trailer. "We want to make sure people have food," Salina Imam of the Arizona chapter of the ICNA told the Farmington Daily Times. "They don't have to go hungry."

The food will help the Diné relief organization continue with its efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by delivering care packages to families in need in the Navajo nation in the safest way possible.

"As of June 1, the Navajo Nation reported 5,250 positive COVID-19 cases, 1,745 recoveries and 241 deaths. In the Shiprock area last month, three siblings who buried their mother, father, and brother were forced to watch the burial services remotely because they, too, were infected with the disease," Rolling Stone magazine said in a June 3 article.

"In mid-May, the Navajo Nation surpassed New York and New Jersey for the highest per-capita coronavirus infection rate in the US -- another sign of Covid-19's disproportionate impact on minority communities," CNN said in a May 18 report.

"With coronavirus running rampant on Navajo, it has been up to local community members to help with items and supplies so elders and young families don’t have to go to the store and put themselves at risk. But if volunteers aren’t careful, they risk becoming vectors themselves," The Navajo Times said in a recent article.