Larry Mullen, Jr., the drummer for the Irish rock band U2, has donated $100,000 to the Navajo-Hopi relief fund. It follows a surge of donations from Ireland for tribal assistance during the coronavirus pandemic. KNAU’s Ryan Heinsius reports.
According to the Navajo and Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund, Mullen’s donation will subsidize a week’s worth of food and water deliveries to about 1,000 households. They include especially vulnerable individuals who are at high risk of infection.
Donations began to pour into the relief effort from Ireland in early May. More than 25,000 Irish citizens, including Mullen, have so far contributed $870,000. They’re reciprocating support the country received from the Choctaw Nation in 1847 for starving families during the Potato Famine.
Donations to the relief effort’s GoFundMe page have exceeded $4.3 million and volunteers have served 6,400 households in nearly 70 communities on the Navajo Nation and 12 Hopi villages.
The Navajo Nation now has the highestper-capita COVID-19 infection rate in the country.
