Native Americans living on the rural and remote reservations of the Southwest struggle daily with isolation, limited employment opportunities, and a harsh and resource-poor environment. Many communities on these reservations are not accessible by paved roads, and are reachable only by four-wheel drive vehicles and in some instances even helicopters. Most of these communities receive no revenue from casinos, and provide few employment opportunities.

SWIRC supports the most fragile - especially infants, children, young mothers and Elders.

Poverty weighs heavily on those most fragile ’ especially infants, young children and young mothers, and Elders. The needs of this fragile population are huge.

The Southwest Indian Relief Council exists to bring support and encouragement to these Native Americans, who seek to live in dignity despite horrendous economic pressures. At the same time, we believe that it is important to provide help in a way that reduces dependency and draws on the strong sense of pride and community, so prevalent among Native American people.

Helping people help themselves.
Our approach is to help Native Americans improve the quality of their own lives by providing opportunities for them to bring about positive changes in their own communities. Through the Southwest Indian Relief Council, we offer a helping hand, not a handout.

From Elder nutrition to home improvements.
The Southwest Indian Relief Council sponsors programs that address a wide variety of needs, from Youth programs for infants to home improvement initiatives, for Native Americans on rural and remote reservations in the Southwest. We work with Gift-in-Kind organizations and donors who provide items like food, clothing, shoes, blankets, baby goods, personal hygiene products, and cleaning supplies. We store these goods in the SWIRC distribution center, process them, match them up with the appropriate programs, and ensure the delivery to the program site. All of SWIRC’s programs are guided by nine guiding principles, the SWIRC Way.

Parents look to SWIRC to fill the gap in health and nutrition resources for infants and children on rural and remote reservations.

Community involvement is the key.
This is where SWIRC differs from many other social service programs. SWIRC insists that substantial community volunteerism be a part of the processing or distribution of these goods, or that the goods be used in an incentive program. Volunteerism by those who benefit from our programs is the key to SWIRC’s vision of strong, self-sufficient Native American communities.

Program Partners.
We achieve community involvement by working through Program Partners.

SWIRC Program Partners are members of the community that will benefit from a SWIRC program and who have an intimate understanding of the needs of their community. Program Partners identify needs, arrange volunteer support, provide lists of people who need assistance, obtain facilities for events, and volunteer their own time to help their communities.

Working with Program Partners, SWIRC ensures that we are addressing the genuine needs of a community. As important, working on our programs helps Program Partners develop their capabilities and establish a volunteer base. The community develops a shared purpose, and the Program Partner grows in ability to seek resources from other institutions and from the people in the community.

Program Partners are SWIRC's greatest asset in reservation communities. These local volunteers ensure that resouces are correctly targeted and effectively delivered to those in need.

Community volunteers.
Volunteers carry out much of the preparation and distribution work associated with SWIRC programs. Volunteers of all ages give of their time to help with projects such as delivering food to homebound Elders, sorting bulk deliveries of diapers into family-size packages for Cradle Club baskets, or making quilts for babies. This unique relationship with the communities we serve makes SWIRC’s programs more of a partnership and less like charity.

Incentives.
In many SWIRC programs, incentive items such as baby food, clothing, and personal care items are distributed to program participants to thank them for putting forth the extra effort to improve their lives or their community. Many recipients face overwhelming challenges in their daily lives, such as finding transportation to get to a prenatal appointment or enduring difficult medical treatments such as dialysis, and incentives encourage people to make the substantial effort required to engage in healthy activities. Incentives are also used as positive reinforcement for youth activities such as community clean-ups or assisting Elders with household chores.

Gift-in-Kind organizations and donors.
SWIRC works closely with corporations and Gift-in-Kind charities who donate a wide variety of supplies. SWIRC staff work with Program Partners to match these supplies with appropriate programs. These donated items allow SWIRC to distribute new, quality goods in the most cost effective manner.

SWIRC distribution center.
SWIRC’s warehouse in suburban Phoenix, Arizona, is the hub through which supplies flow from our Gift-in-Kind partners and donors, to Native Americans in need. SWIRC staff efficiently receive, sort, pack and ship millions of dollars worth of goods ranging from diapers and baby food to blankets and coats. SWIRC’s fleet of trucks and drivers deliver the goods to Program Partners for distribution to reservations in our partners in the Southwest.