Navajo Nation receiving truckloads of donated firewood for warmth

The Navajo Nation has been hit extremely hard during the COVID-19 pandemic, and an organization is now helping out with a specific need: firewood.

A wood hauling effort started by Collective Medicine is providing some much-needed help through the "Sasquatch Fellowship" campaign.

The goal is to bring firewood from the forest to the homes of elders in need in the Navajo Nation.

Zoel Zohnnie is the creator of Collective Medicine and says, "A lot of homes, in the traditional hogan homes, there’s a fireplace right in the middle of the house and that’s the central heating so firewood is very important. It’s very hard to get because it requires equipment. It requires physical capabilities. It requires a truck and it requires time."

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"It's about $300 per truckload," Zohnnie said, adding that with coal production being down, it drove up the cost of firewood.

From October until now, with the help of multiple organizations, the group has delivered truckloads of firewood. They also deliver to the Hopi Nation.

"Per volume, we’ve been able to move 120 tons of wood. That comes out to about 60 quartz which is 120-150 truckloads depending on how big the trucks are," Zohnnie explained.

Until the weather warms up, truckloads will continue to be delivered.

Learn more about the effort: here https://www.collectivemedicine.net/sasquatch-fellowship