While the Western Navajo Fair began as a small celebration on the Navajo Nation, it is now a pillar of community— and even health and hygiene—as the Health Command Center for the Western Agency. The Western Navajo Fair serves as both one of the largest community events on the Navajo Nation and as a centralized location for food, safety supplies and water distribution. This center is crucial to the Navajo Nation, where one in three homes does not have a tap or toilet. This means the Navajo community not only faces a lack of clean drinking water but also lacks access to the basic right of daily hygiene. Through Kohler’s partnership with DigDeep, a human rights nonprofit organization working to address water issues in the United States, we are working to solve this challenge. It is no surprise why the latest grant recipient chose the Western Navajo Fair as the focus of their project.
Through the Water Is Life microgrant program, DigDeep and Kohler provide grassroots funding directly to individuals with immediately actionable ideas that address universal access to clean water and sanitation. Grant recipients used their funds to install water stations equipped with sinks and ten water faucets at locations throughout the Western Navajo Fairgrounds, with the potential to serve more than 30,000 people on the Navajo Nation. These water stations fill a need for access to handwashing that has long existed in the Navajo community and was exacerbated by the pandemic. As an emergency distribution center, access to safe water and sanitation at the Western Navajo Fairgrounds is an absolute need.
With projects like these, we can bring safe water solutions to the communities that need them most. On Global Handwashing Day, we’re proud to highlight the important work of our grant recipients as a reminder of the need for access to global hand hygiene.
Learn more about Kohler’s work with DigDeep.
At Kohler, innovation never stops. We’re excited for a new hand hygiene solution coming soon from Innovation for Good.
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Whether practicing good hospitality hygiene or combatting COVID-19, Kohler’s Food and Beverage Business understands the importance of handwashing access.