2. The Episcopal Church Navajoland Area Mission
Embraces Navajo Community
Licensed by the Florida Bar Board of Legal Specialization & Education to practice
city, county, and local government law, Heather Lueke Smith has served Saint
Lucie County as an attorney for more than 10 years at institutions including the
Nineteenth Judicial Circuit Court, the Saint Lucie County Board of Commissioners,
and her private law practice, Heather Lueke Smith, P.A. Outside of her duties as a
lawyer, Heather Lueke Smith makes financial contributions to St. Simon the
Cyrenien Episcopal Church in Fort Pierce, Florida, which supports the outreach
and development programs of The Episcopal Church, such as the Navajoland Area
Mission.
3. The Episcopal Church Navajoland Area Mission
Embraces Navajo Community
Encompassing approximately 26,000 square miles across the southwestern states
of Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona, the Navajoland Area Mission was established
by The Episcopal Church in 1978. Members of the Navajo tribe have belonged to
The Episcopal Church for more than 100 years. The mission is currently focused
on serving this community through projects that develop and rehabilitate
infrastructure used by tribe members and improve integration of Navajo people into
both the clerical leadership and lay body of the Church. Donations from the greater
Church go toward efforts to establish a self-sufficient Navajo community with an
indigenous clergy .
4. The Episcopal Church Navajoland Area Mission
Embraces Navajo Community
Among the Navajoland Area Mission’s activities to improve the facilities available
to people in the region are renovations of rental residences that had fallen into
disuse and collaborations with local governments to construct new low-income
housing units. Navajo culture is being preserved with new education centers in the
form of hogans, traditional Navajo residential structures made with wood timbers or
stone walls packed with mud. The mission is also incorporating optimization of
land use into its goals, and the Church is working with the community to develop
plans for sustainable farming and aquaponics.