Mount Calvary Outreach Response to Minneapolis
| Dear Friends, Like many of you, I watched heartbroken over the last week as our city has torn itself apart in response to the murder of George Floyd. As the crisis escalated, it quickly became apparent that communities in and around Minneapolis would soon be in great need of basic resources. With stores closed and transportation shut down, thousands of individuals and families have been left stranded in a food desert. Ever present champions of social justice, our brothers and sisters of Gethsemane Lutheran were some of the first to identify need and organize aid. Amidst looting, rioting, and daily drug trafficking, they set up their grill and established a secure food distribution on the corner of W Broadway and Lyndale Ave N late last week. Pastor Jeff Nehrbass reached out to Mount Calvary asking for us to walk alongside them in this mission, to step outside our circle and into a potentially uncomfortable space most of us do not experience daily. Often in crisis scenarios, we find ourselves without the luxury of time to ponder the perfect solution or provide a comfortable lead time to plan and execute. This was certainly true this weekend as hundreds of people lined up at Gethsemane’s distribution site. However, last Friday, through an amazing and generous response, Mount Calvary was able to provide 720 lbs of charcoal to keep Gethsemane’s grill cooking brats and burgers throughout the next several days. Then, on Sunday and Monday as the need grew, you responded. A call for aid went out, and within hours, we filled 9 vehicles with food, supplies and volunteers (3 on Sunday and 9 on Monday). Volunteers who arrived on site Monday afternoon were immediately put to work filling boxes and distributing supplies to the long line of people. Moving forward, we have established a sustainable system for supplies and volunteers that will hopefully bring a bit of stability to these communities. Donations Donations will be received at Mount Calvary Monday-Thursdays, 9:00am-4:00pm and Fridays, 9:00am-12:00pm. Click here for the list of requested items. Volunteers Every Thursday Mount Calvary will send a team of volunteers to the distribution site (Cub Foods parking lot on the corner of W Broadway and Lyndale Ave N) from 12:00pm-5:00pm to help organize and distribute donations until the local stores reopen. Interested in volunteering? Look here for more information and the volunteer sign up. To everyone who has called, emailed, donated, shopped, delivered and prayed, THANK YOU. You are making an incredible difference. Please continue to respond as an allied voice to demand justice and equality. Change must come. Peace, Heidi Busch Director of Outreach and Global Vision |