2022 Tewa Holiday Project Wrap Up

Grateful; a feeling or showing an appreciation of kindness. I am truly grateful for of all of the kindness you have shown to the Tewa Community and children at First Mesa on the Hopi Reservation. Many of you have made the delivery trip to Tewa and have heard and felt the gratitude of the Tewa people, but I will share one quick story. One of the Tewa Elder ladies got out of her car, came up to me, gave me a hug and whispered in my ear how much she appreciated what you all are doing. It was so intimate and so personal, it shook me to my core and re-enforced how important the Tewa Holiday Project is to the Tewa Community.

2022 was was an incredible year for the Tewa Holiday Project, unequivocally the best ever from all metrics. We raised over $27,000, we delivered more tons of goods to the Tewa Elders than ever before. We delivered 211 coats to First Mesa Elementary, and the entire Hopi Head Start Program. Over 500 hand made hats were knitted by ladies from Sedona, Sedona Kind, and knitters from the Culver City Senior Center in California. The Culver Senior Center knitters also provided hand knit lap blankets, baby blankets, shawls and sweaters.  And we also collected over 150 brand new toys. Truly amazing!

You might be surprised to see turkeys in the photo above, after hearing from me over the last couple of months that I could not get turkeys. I could not get any Grocer to commit to turkeys. Chris at Safeway said that he could get hams, OK hams would work. When I went to have the hams delivered, no hams! But he said “I got turkeys”, so Turkeys it was, whew! Along with the turkeys, each Elder got a 25 pound bag of beans, a 20 pound bag of Blue Bird flour (the preferred brand up at Hopi), 10 pounds of potatoes, 5 pounds of carrots, 5 pounds of apples, 5 pounds of oranges, sugar, cooking oil,  oatmeal, pancake mix, hominy, soups, shampoo, hand sanitizer, tooth paste and tooth brushes and many many more items. All thanks to you.

On Friday December 9th Caroline Diehl and several students made the Coats4Kids delivery. Each student received a brand new coats and a hand knit hat to go with it. Masks were worn everywhere at Hopi, but the smiles still came through! 100 Coats and hats were delivered to First Mesa Elementary. 88 Coats, hats and blankets  were delivered to every child enrolled in the Hopi Head Start Program, and 23 coats, hats and blankets were delivered to foster kids at First Mesa. We delivered about 25 coats to the Head Start Program last year. This year they asked Caroline if she could do all 88, and she stepped up. You cannot imagine what an undertaking it is to ask for 211 coats from our community, then wait for them to be purchased and returned, get them organized by grade, or class and get every child the coat they asked for. Not for the faint of heart. Caroline Diehl is one incredible lady.

Every November and early December for the last 16 years the Tewa Holiday Project has been a focus for my wife and I. The Tewa Holiday Project could not happen without what I call the “Tewa Holiday Project Community”, those of you that give your money and time. Think about the woman hours alone for knitting 500 hand made hats.

I want to give a shout out to the following groups and individuals: 

Manzanita Outreach, Ben Burke, Jimmie Treakle, Michael Grover, Bob Reed and Greg Noyes. The make the delivery possible.

Bashas in Sedona, Dan Reierson , Willy and Rich. It is not easy to get 85 of everything .

Caroline Diehl and her students from Verde Valley School, without her the Coats4Kids would not happen.

Rosedale Hair Salon, Dale and Rosemary Stellick, they make the Toys4Tewa happen. 

Sandy Immerso, Mike Wise, Nick Wise, Joel Bowers, Jeremy Ivy, Kendra Ivy, Jeff and Theresa Felzenberg, Nick Pabst, Delta Dental, Paul Favorite, Sedona Kind, Christi Bulot, Jan and Roy Reimer, Christina Lembert.

“Thank You” does not even begin to describe the feelings that we have for each of you that helped make the 16th year of the Tewa Holiday Project a success, We are sincerely grateful. Mark your calendar for December 9, 2023, the date of the 2023 Tewa Holiday Project. Plans are already under way.

Randy and Milton Crewse