Ethan L., who will be a senior this year at Waterford is a member of the Boy Scouts of America, and is nearing the rank of Eagle. One of the requirements to obtain this rank is to complete a service project that will benefit a group of people or organization, and Ethan has chosen a project that embraces this year's theme and Waterford's core value of CARING. Read below from Ethan L. about his project focused on the Navajo Nation, many who live in Utah, and how you can help. Please reach out to Ethan directly via his school email or his family's contact information in the directory of the parent portal.

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My name is Ethan Lam.  I am an aspiring Eagle Scout from Draper. One of the requirements to obtain the Eagle Rank is to complete a service project to benefit a group of people or an organization. For my service project, I am setting up a donation drive for medical and cleaning supplies (gloves, masks, disinfectant, hand sanitizer) to deliver to the Navajo Nation.

 

The Navajo people are struggling from the current pandemic, and are facing a scale of hardship much more severe than the rest of our nation. Their current per-capita infection rate is twice that of the general American population & greater than any other American state. 1/3 of the Navajo people have additional chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart or lung disease. Many Navajo cannot adequately shelter-in-place as one-third of the population lack electricity or running water, 40% live at or below the poverty line, and there are only 13 grocery stores and 12 hospitals spread over the 27,000 sq miles of reservation. All these factors have resulted in the highest per capita number of deaths among any single population in the US.  

Therefore, I am dedicating my project to help the Navajo people. I have been in contact with the Oljato Chapter, a township of 1500 people in the Utah portion of the Navajo nation. They are in dire need of the following common supplies and protective equipment:

• gloves
• masks/shields
• disinfectants such as bottles of bleach and household cleaners, alcohol based sanitizers and wipes 
• Nonperishable foods

Please reach out to me if you would like to help. All monetary donations will be used to purchase more supplies and incidental materials. My family and I will be delivering these materials to the Oljato community on Aug 24. Please know that any donation will provide an astounding benefit to the Navajo community. Thank you for your time and consideration.