Thanks to your generosity, over 80,000 Native youth, families and communities have benefited from our programs. Without your help, many of these Native youth would not have had the opportunity to lead healthy and active lives.
In January, we started our 15th year with optimism and growth as we began to implement our new five-year strategic direction, our NB3FIT team traveled to take part in the Nike N7 Golf Expo and we celebrated our cross-country teams’ accomplishments. Unfortunately, like everyone else, we quickly realized we needed to change our direction as the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic became apparent. On Friday, March 13 our team packed up thinking that we would be back together in a week or so, but that was not the case. We didn’t realize that we would not be returning to our regular work routines for the next eight months.
The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a devastating blow to our local Native communities as well as Native communities nationwide. The numbers kept rising and we decided that it was not our style to sit back and wait for others to help. Our COVID-19 Response Fund was established to help our relatives near and far during this uncertain time. With the NM Governor’s stay-at-home orders in place, our team including staff, board, partners and volunteers packed, delivered and distributed 67,000 pounds of food to our relatives in need. In addition to food, we provided $46,000 in direct support to other organizations and relief funds, water, PPE, cleaning supplies, hand sanitizer and much more. By the end of 2020, we will give an additional $300,000 in direct support to Native communities and Native-led nonprofits.
Despite the setbacks we’ve all faced due to the pandemic, we are proud to have hosted the inaugural All-Native National Youth Golf Tournament providing Native youth golfers with the opportunity to qualify and compete on the national-level at the first ever Notah Begay III Junior Golf National Championships. NB3FIT was able to continue their work with the children in their program as they administered virtual programming and hosted a virtual cross-country program for local Native youth. Our Evaluation and Research team completed the first draft of the Indigenous Evaluation Toolkit and shared it with community partners for feedback. We also successfully hosted our annual NB3FIT Week as well as the NB3FIT Virtual XC Community Race.
Moving into 2021, it is clear that our work advancing cultures of Native American community health is more essential than ever. In order to ensure Native communities thrive in the face of continual adversities we ask for your support so we can continue our commitment to:
- Provide healthy youth prevention programming
- Empower Native youth to pursue healthy and active lifestyles
- Work with Native communities to counter existing and future pandemics through comprehensive health strategies.
Your support now is critical to provide broader health and potential of Native youth and communities. Will you help us ensure all children have the opportunity to live healthy, happy and fulfilled lives? Donate today.
Thank you for your continued support.
Jon Driskell
COO/Acting President and CEO
Notah Begay III Foundation