Thoreau, New Mexico – Located in northwestern New Mexico near the “four corners” region where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado meet,  Thoreau is the location of the Eastern Navajo Child Drive, an organization that provides Christmas gifts and food baskets to impoverished Navajo children. It is also Family-to-Family’s coordinating agency.
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, in the Navajo Nation:
- 62.7% of homes have no telephone
- Over 33% of homes have incomplete plumbing facilities
- 78% of the 9,286 miles of reservation roads are unpaved
- Over 34% of families have annual incomes of less than $15,000
Kathy Spitz, who started the Navajo Child Drive in 1993,is F-to-F’s community coordinator. She says many Navajo families have no running water or electricity, and heat their homes with coal or wood.
 Many have no available transportation; cars, if they own them, are old and often broken-down. Distances on the reservation are vast; without phones or transportation, communication is difficult and families are isolated.
The Navajo Child Drive currently helps 250 families with special needs children. And each Navajo family receiving food boxes from Family-to-Family also includes at least one special needs child.
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