View additional project photos here.
By Rosanne Gain
Chinle Planting Hope offers Rotarians International Service opportunity in the United States.
Located in northeast Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, Navajo Nation is the largest and most remote Indian reservation within the United States. The nation has its own largely autonomous government while still being part of the United States. Traveling there to perform service is a memorable trip to a unique and beautiful culture.
Rotarian Debbie Wilde first heard about the service opportunity, Chinle Planting Hope, from Glenwood Springs Rotary member Nancy Flood and her husband, who lived in Chinle for 20 years before they returned to Glenwood Springs. Debbie first started going to Chinle in 2021. The first-year participants were from the Glenwood Springs Rotary Club only, but as of 2026, 15 clubs have participated in the yearly gathering in June.
Chinle Planting Hope was formed in 2016 and, according to the website, the organization, "practices asset-based community development and invests in projects that build up the physical, social, educational and spiritual health of all community members.”
CPH currently has a variety of programs, including the HOPE Community Thrift Store, R.E.A.D. in Beauty Bookmobile, Community Garden, Elder Support Project, and Imagination Station Diné Learning Center and Solar Install Teams.
For the past five years, Rotarians from multiple clubs across the southwest have spent a long weekend in June volunteering and donating in many capacities. Many bring with them books for the library/bookmobile, items to donate to the thrift store and many other assets. But more importantly they bring their love of service.
Over the course of three days Rotarians, friends and family spend hundreds of hours on various projects. Many sort and catalogue books for the library. Others build shelves and load them with items in the thrift store. Another team plants various items in the garden that will provide food for families. Still others make repairs.
Teams travel out into rural parts of the reservation to deliver mattresses to residents. Teams install solar lights in remote homes that lack electricity or water connections.
Volunteers also get the opportunity to interact with tribal members at social and reading events at the local elementary school and to eat and play bingo at the senior center. Plus, they get to enjoy true Navajo tacos during the social events.
Many of the volunteers also took the opportunity to enjoy a guided tour of magnificent Canyon de Chelly National Monument. This was and still is the home to the ancients Dine predecessors. The deep canyon features multiple cliff dwellings, ancient rock art and other historical cultural features. It is still home to many families who raise livestock and grow food including peach and apricot trees. Visitors can only enter the Canyon with approved tour guides, but many of the sights are also visible from the north and south rim drives.
How do the yearly participants rate the Chinle Planting Hope experience? Quite highly. As a matter of fact, in the 2026 Volunteer Survey when asked how they would rate the experience, everyone marked the following response to one of the questions: “This experience strengthened my feelings about the collective power of Rotary to do good.”
Want to be included in the emails regarding Chinle 2027? Send Debbie Wilde an email at wildefam_1@msn.com.