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Success Stories

Special Delivery

Adella

Giving and giving thanks is a central focus for Adella during the holidays.

The Elder Christmas Stockings distribution this last holiday was a huge success. Getting out over 6,800 stockings to American Indian Elders on 14 Southwest reservations in 50 communities takes a lot of coordination and can only happen with the support of our holiday donors, Program Partners and (CIN) Program staff.

We were honored to help distribute the stockings to the San Carlos Apache tribe Elders. The San Carlos CHR, or the Community Health Representative program, was one of the 56 program partners that held events or delivered in their community. San Carlos Apache tribe is located in southeastern Arizona approximately 90 miles east of Phoenix. The landscape varies between forest/mountainous, desert and plateau areas. Conducting home visits and delivering the stockings to the Elders would take some time, so as soon as we arrived at the CHR offices, the staff split up with one team covering the San Carlos community and the other covering the Bylas community. To make the deliveries more festive, Daniel sported a pair of Elf Ears and carried the bags to each Elder.

Daniel and Celia
After making several successful stops, there were several Elders not at home. It didn’t take long for the CHR’s to realize that this was “dialysis” day. They knew which Elders would be gone based on their lists and would schedule another delivery for those that were not home. No one would miss out.

After delivering about fifteen of the bags, it was nearing lunch time and the CHR team stopped in at the Older Adult Center, which agreed to distribute the bags to those Elders eating at the center. While there, we met Adella. She happily talked about Christmas. Giving and giving thanks was central to her holiday season. She recalled Christmas as being mostly a happy time, including lighting the tree and sharing a meal as a family. But in the early 70s, her husband passed near the holiday. Now she focused on giving to her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Even with her loss during the season, she kept positive and gave thanks for her family and everything she still had.

It was very rewarding to experience each Elder's pleasure with receiving their stocking filled with useful items. The holidays were special for everyone involved.

Thank you for helping to make this service possible!




Community Health Representatives (CHRs) have a long history of serving the Native American community. Over 40 years old, the CHR program is 1,400 members strong and serves 250 tribes within the 12 Indian Health Service areas located throughout the United States. Working on behalf of their tribes and communities, CHRs are paraprofessional health care providers serving as promoters and advocates of health and wellness.