{"id":52365,"date":"2020-08-03T18:44:42","date_gmt":"2020-08-04T00:44:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/navajo-man-travels-four-corners-for-supply-drive\/"},"modified":"2020-08-04T00:44:42","modified_gmt":"2020-08-04T00:44:42","slug":"navajo-man-travels-four-corners-for-supply-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/navajo-man-travels-four-corners-for-supply-drive\/","title":{"rendered":"Navajo man travels Four Corners for supply drive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Lindison
Lindison Webb, along with his wife, Jessica, and their daughter, Eden, 5, pick up a trailer July 9 in Durango to deliver flour to the Navajo Nation in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Next stop, Cortez Milling Co., then onto a distribution point for Navajo Nation relief in Kaibeto, Arizona.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

When Lindison Webb first delivered about 1,500 pounds of supplies to the Navajo Nation in May, it was the volunteers\u2019 reactions that told him he needed to do more.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a shock and awe for the contribution,\u201d said Webb, himself a member of the Navajo Nation. \u201cSomeone said it was the largest contribution anybody had made, which for me, was bothering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Webb has traveled hundreds of miles gathering essential supplies for the tribe because of his family: their experiences seeing the worst of the coronavirus and their tradition of giving back.<\/p>\n

The Navajo Nation has experienced one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks so far, and the tribal government has responded by imposing curfews and shutting down daily life. Tribal members struggled to get necessary supplies, prompting widespread relief efforts. Webb\u2019s travels brought him to Southwest Colorado last week for a special delivery of Bluebird flour, a favorite for making fry bread.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe need is huge, given the amount of impact there has been both personally and to the tribe at large,\u201d Webb said. \u201cIt\u2019s a compelling drive for me to do it. There\u2019s also a tribal piece for me \u2013 to help my lineage, my people.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 400 Navajo tribal members had died from the virus as of Thursday. Because some residents do not have running water, electricity or a nearby grocery store, supplies have been both needed and difficult to access.<\/p>\n

The reservation, about the size of West Virginia, spans three states, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. Webb has traveled from Utah to Colorado, Arizona and back to Utah to gather supplies. He has delivered 5,000 to 6,000 pounds of essential materials, such as water, nonperishable food items, cleaning supplies and hygiene products, to Kaibeto and Page, Arizona. He raised about $7,600 through a GoFundMe to support the effort.<\/p>\n

He decided to make an 800-mile trip to get Bluebird Flour, made by Cortez Milling Co., after hearing \u201cGrandma doesn\u2019t like this flour. Grandma only likes Bluebird Flour,\u201d from community members, Webb said.<\/p>\n

\"Lindison
Lindison Webb, left, loads a trailer with flour on July 9 at Cortez Milling Co. to deliver to volunteers in a Navajo Nation Relief group in Kaibeto, Arizona. The volunteers then deliver the supplies to others on the reservation, sometimes traveling hundreds of miles.<\/span>Courtesy Jessica Webb<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Bluebird Flour is popular among Navajo customers because its unique elasticity makes it perfect for fry bread<\/a>. Webb contacted Cortez Milling, which offered a wholesale price, and last week, Webb delivered 1,000 pounds to the Kaibeto COVID Relief Group.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to find donors like Mr. Webb to drive hundreds and hundreds of miles to find something to donate, and actually come out and deliver it,\u201d said Nelson Dayzie, a Navajo Nation member and Kaibeto distribution volunteer. \u201cWe would not be doing what we\u2019re doing \u2026 without any of those donations, including Mr. Webb\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

In honor of family<\/div>\n

Some people in his community in Cedar City, Utah, still doubt the virus is real, Webb said. But for his community, the virus\u2019 impact has been pervasive.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy teacher wanted to hug me, but she said, \u2018I don\u2019t want to hug you because I don\u2019t want to kill you,\u2019\u201d Webb said, after seeing his former teacher volunteering at a distribution point.<\/p>\n

\"Nelson
Nelson Dayzie, a volunteer with Kaibeto COVID Relief Group in Arizona, helps unload the flour delivered by Lindison Webb on July 9 at the distribution site. Webb delivered 1,000 pounds of Bluebird Flour from Cortez, a favorite ingredient for making fry bread.<\/span>Courtesy of Lindison Webb<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Webb\u2019s aunt died from the COVID-19, as did his cousins, the Thinn sisters<\/a>, two public servants who died days apart from the disease.<\/p>\n

His sister was treated for COVID-19 at Mercy Regional Medical Center. She later told Webb that 10 days into her treatment, the doctors considered stopping her ventilator treatment, Webb said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe psychological impact has been heavy for her and for me, as I continue to piece more and more of what happened together,\u201d Webb said.<\/p>\n

Webb wanted to help support community members in need, motivated by family members who set an example of giving back, like his father, Sam Webb, a councilman for the Ts\u2019a Bii Kin Chapter, and his great-grandfather, Preston Scott, a former vice chairman of the Navajo Nation. That legacy might continue with Webb\u2019s daughter, who often joins him on supply runs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll this terrible stuff that\u2019s happening \u2026 maybe a good outcome is that we go back to that structure of spending that time with family that sometimes we neglect,\u201d Webb said.<\/p>\n

smullane@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lindison Webb aims to \u2018help my lineage, my people\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,1655],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-52365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-navajo-nation"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52365"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=52365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}