Mpls and Lake St unrest response:
A Month of Prayer, Serving and Art
Let The Healing Begin
Racial Reconciliation & Restoration
Source to Provide
80 Tons of Fresh Produce / Diapers
10,000 Homeless Meals in June
Riots Multiply Homeless & Poverty Covid Food Crisis
Source has served E Lake St for 25 years
Links:
– Food Donation and Distribution
– Get Involved
– The Plan: Prayer, Serving and Art
– Mural Project
– Art Show
E Lake St, Our Neighborhood Is Devastated
Our city was already being hit hard by COVID-19, and with the tragic death of George Floyd, our city is in shock. After witnessing another senseless loss of life and the loss of much of our city, the neighborhood is in anguish. We are in shock that something like this could happen here and now. We had just begun to mourn and respond to the racial injustice when the riots and destruction came.
The riots, fires and destruction on East Lake Street have devastated an already oppressed area of the city. Ground zero, Lake St and Nicollet, on day 3 and 4 of the riots (5/29-5/30, when the post office and bank were destroyed) is within 3 blocks of Source buildings. Protesters / rioters were confronted and diverted by the National Guard in front of one of our staff residential homes, at the end of the block of the Fallout Urban Art Center.
Since 1995, East Lake Street, between the 3rd and 5th precincts (Hiawatha to Nicollet), has been our main location for street outreach as well as the home to the families that access our food shelf and resources. With COVID, we were bringing hot meals to the Kmart parking lot and a homeless encampment off Lake St at least twice a week.
Over 200 small businesses, a vast majority immigrant-owned were significantly damaged on E Lake St.
Covid Food Crisis Multiplied
Before the riots, our neighborhood was already consider a “food desert” (a location with no close access to grocery stores), which is significant to an impoverished community with limited transportation. Covid already created a food crisis for the Homeless and Those in Poverty. Many of the immigrant and families of color we serve do not have unemployment benefits and do not receive stimulus checks.
The closest grocery stores (Target, Cub and Aldi) and pharmacies were all destroyed by the riots and now shut down.
Already a Food Desert, Covid and now riots destroying grocery stores has now multiplied the Mpls Lake St food crisis
God Prepared Source for a Time Such as This
We believe God has prepared us for a time such as this. Yes we need lots of help making all this happen and we always are depend on God’s leading and power to effectively love people.
We have been preparing since early in 2019 to expand our food shelf (which started in 2005).
- In March we had our final building inspection after 3 years of renovations focusing on expanding our capacity to provide food at our community center, The Fallout Urban Art Center. We have increased our food distribution throughout the COVID crisis as we have partnered with Involve MN to provide 20,000 meals with 2,000 meals made weekly at the Fallout. The Fallout has also been providing 20 tons of food monthly.
- We had our final inspection from Second Harvest, a Food Shelf resource, just a week before George Floyd’s tragic death.
- Partnerships with Fruit of the Vine, Lavina, Homeless service providers, women’s and homeless youth shelters, and trafficking recovery centers have allowed us to serve the at-risk population in our city.
- Our facility and staffing have increased our capacity to serve for a time such as this.