GET OUT GET DIRTY GIVE BACK! “Hopi Reservation June 2013” …Jorge Barahona a States Logistics Team member from our San Bernardino facility volunteered for our first sponsored employee projects of 2013. This is the fifth year States has partnered with Clif Bar’s In Good Company foundation as part of our mission to enrich our community through volunteerism. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has reported that of the 2.5 million tribal members living on American Indian reservations, more than 60% lack adequate housing. About 40% of the residents within the Hopi Nation live in poverty, and approximately 69.7% have an annual income of $7,850 for a family of four. The project is fortunate to be partnered with Kii Nat Wan Lalwa (KNWL), a local nonprofit supported by the Red Feather Development Group. KNWL, a fairly young organization, is working in community to preserve ancestral stone homes in the villages of Hotevilla and Mishongnovi. While there the volunteers will work alongside the women of KNWL to mix sand, clay and water into a slurry and remud the homes by hand, in the traditional Hopi way. They will learn about ancient Hopi traditions and culture–including dry farming—and experience the Hopi concept of “na’ya” which translates as “the coming together of people to work toward one goal”.
