Allen Bryant waited nearly 70 years for electricity to come to his modest wooden home in the sagebrush-covered Chuska Mountains foothills of Navajo Nation.

At last, on a rainy June day that turned the dusty dirt roads to mud, the lights came on at the homestead his parents and grandparents created long ago on a remote patch of New Mexico rangeland still roamed by mountain lions, bobcats and bears.

Thanks in part to volunteer lineworkers from Colorado’s Delta-Montrose Electric Association, 7 miles of poles and lines now stretch across the lonely landscape to reach the isolated homes of Bryant and eight other families, bringing life-changing power to U.S. citizens who have lived decades in darkness.

Bryant and other tribal members in the remotest corners of Navajo Nation would have had to wait at least a decade longer for power if it weren’t for the lineworkers from Delta-Montrose and other utilities who came from around the country to volunteer for a project called Light Up Navajo, says Deenise Becenti, the government and public affairs manager for the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority.

The project—which began in 2019 as an initiative of NTUA and the American Public Power Association—has brought power to about 900 homes in Navajo Nation, an area the size of West Virginia where more than 13,000 of the approximately 56,000 homes do not have electricity.

Without volunteer help, NTUA estimates that it would take another 30 years to bring power to every home, at a cost of about $40,000 each to obtain federal and tribal permits, erect poles and string lines for miles to connect isolated properties scattered throughout the reservation. The utility serves, on average, about five customers per mile, but the Light Up Navajo homes are among the hardest to reach.

The number of volunteer crews has grown each year, with 48 utilities—including 16 electric cooperatives from five states—participating this year. Co-ops came from Alabama (Alabama Rural Electric Association, Dixie Electric Cooperative, Joe Wheeler Electric Membership Corp.), Arizona (Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative, Trico Electric Cooperative), Colorado (Delta-Montrose, Gunnison County Electric Association, Mountain Parks Electric, Mountain View Electric Association, Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association, Sangre de Cristo Electric Association, United Power), New Mexico (Columbus Electric Cooperative) and Wisconsin (Central Wisconsin Electric Cooperative, Eau Claire Energy Cooperative, Riverland Energy Cooperative). The Navajo utility calls it “mutual aid without a storm.”

“Bless the hearts of these volunteers, who have traveled from all parts of the country to be a part of this initiative that brings such positive change to families,” says Becenti, who grew up on Navajo Nation using propane lanterns.

“It’s for today, tomorrow and the day after that. And for generations forward.”

'Our Lives Will Be So Much Better'

For the six-member crew from Delta-Montrose Electric Association—which included CEO Jack Johnston—the work brought unique challenges and memorable moments.

After driving more than five hours in work vehicles, a bucket truck and a digger truck to get to the work site, crew members received a safety training session from Navajo utility officials that was unique to the wild terrain. The volunteers were warned to look out for black widow spiders and rattlesnakes, which like to crawl into open vehicles and curl up around engines. Baby rattlers are especially likely to strike, the Navajo safety officials cautioned.

The lineworkers were also urged to stay hydrated as the sun beat down on them, with few places to seek shade in the dry, unrelenting heat with temperatures rising into the 90s.

But most of the co-op’s crew members knew full well what they were getting into. Delta-Montrose was one of only a handful of co-ops to volunteer for the project in 2023, and it was the first Colorado electric utility of any kind to participate. Their enthusiasm for Light Up Navajo helped convince six additional Colorado co-ops to volunteer this year.

Tim Brandon, a line foreman for the Montrose-based co-op, says the experience has given him more appreciation for the conveniences of his own life. He has volunteered twice and vows to “come back every year as long as they’ll let me.”

“You take so much for granted back home, like having power,” he says. “It’s pretty amazing to be able to help the people out. When we’re done, there are people who won’t have to haul wood anymore to burn for heat in the winter. They can have electric heaters. It’s very emotional to see their reactions when the lights come on after they’ve been waiting so long.”

Brown says she is looking forward to cooking on an electric stove and stocking a refrigerator with fresh meat and produce instead of eating canned meat or having to make frequent trips to the grocery store 50 miles away. The family has had limited power through a solar panel, but not enough to keep a fridge running 24 hours a day.

“Now we can enjoy the luxury of fresh meat and fresh food,” Brown says. “Our lives will be so much better.”

The elder Bryant is also hoping to install security lights to scare away the mountain lions that have killed four of his colts in recent years.

On a lighter note, he can’t wait to use the electric blender that Delta-Montrose gifted him to make his favorite chili.

“And I’ll have more time to play with the horses,” he says. “I love those horses very much.”

Left Behind

The simple pleasures that Bryant and his family will now enjoy should have come to Navajo Nation decades ago. But it was left behind when other areas of rural America got power in the 1930s and ’40s through the Rural Electrification Act of 1936, says Johnston, the CEO of Delta-Montrose.

The volunteers, he says, are getting a sense of what it was like for the original co-op lineworkers who brought electricity to American farmers.

“We were fascinated and dumbfounded at the same time that there were that many U.S. citizens who still don’t have electricity,” Johnston says. “The Rural Electrification Act was supposed to eliminate all of that, but clearly it did not happen in this part of the United States.”

That failure occurred on tribal lands throughout America, according to a 2023 report to Congress by the U.S. Department of Energy.

“These are citizens who have proudly served this nation through numerous conflicts, and they haven’t been afforded the basic quality of life that electricity brings,” Johnston says. “How can you not be inspired to help individuals like that who have been patriotic and served our nation?”

Once homes are connected to electricity, Navajo families can stop using the wooden outhouses that dot the landscape and install electric pumps, septic tanks and indoor plumbing. The Navajo utility—which provides water and wastewater services as well as power—also offers broadband to its customers, using the newly planted power poles to string fiber lines.

That’s especially good news for Jay B. Muskett, a 43-year-old community college English and playwriting teacher who moved back to Navajo Nation to help his grandparents a few years ago after living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for a decade.

The younger Bryant says he’s especially looking forward to being able to stream New Mexico-based TV series “Breaking Bad” on Netflix.

“That’s gonna be awesome,” he says. “I can’t wait."

‘It's for the Future’

The Bryant family was among the tribal members who attended an appreciation ceremony for the volunteer lineworkers the night after their homes were connected to the electric grid. It was an event to celebrate the achievement and a way for residents to show “Ahe'hee' Nitsxaago," which is Navajo for extreme gratitude.

The Delta-Montrose crew—still caked with mud from working all day to finish their portion of the project—was treated to a steak dinner and gifted with special Light Up Navajo T-shirts and handmade thank-you plaques as they were feted at the local tribal chapter meeting house.

They were honored along with volunteer lineworkers from an Ohio municipal utility—men they worked alongside for a week to bring power to Navajo families.

“It's just a good feeling," says Isaac Chacon, a Delta-Montrose line foreman who volunteered for the first time this year after hearing his coworkers describe last year's experience. “I'm happy to be able to help someone who needs it."

CoBank has established a matching fund of up to $350,000 for donations to the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority to cover the cost of volunteer lodging and equipment. Anyone can donate, and all donations are tax deductible. Donations can be sent to: NTUA Public Affairs, c/o Deenise Becenti, PO Box 170, Fort Defiance, AZ.