Homeless & Pregnant in Winter

“You understand me, Mama”

Great things are happening at our Women’s Drop-In site! Women who are facing single parenting, addiction, homelessness or unsafe housing are receiving services such as showers, laundry, personal hygiene products and meals. Additionally, our staff and case workers provide encouragement, prayer, as well as practical steps for the hope of a better future.

A woman – we’ll call Hadijah – has come often throughout the winter months. She’s living in a tent community not far from us. She was very pregnant and came consistently to use the shower and receive food. She also came to get out of the cold and received the warmth of our friendly staff that made her feel safe and welcome, “You understand me, mama.”

In February she gave birth and left her baby girl with a cousin, since she was living on the streets. Hadijah showed us a photo of the newborn and our hearts were touched.

Join us in praying for Hadijah and all at-risk homeless women and the work of Source Homeless Outreach and Women’s Drop-In. Pray for the many challenging situations that often include mental illness and abuse. Pray for our staff and that individuals experience restoration, redemption, and God’s love and forgiveness.

“I want to learn about religion (God).”

Latino Family Outreach & Lopez Family See Hundreds of People Weekly

Currently we are seeing 400-500 families each week (serving approximately 6,000 individuals monthly) at our food distributions where 80% are Latino. Along with serving physical needs we continue to see many with a hunger for prayer resulting in spiritual fruit. Over 400 made first-time commitments in 2021-22 and thousands received prayer. “I want to learn about religion (God),” a new recipient at the food shelf said recently.

Source has seen the East Lake Street neighborhoods of South Minneapolis’ Latino population grow from probably 5% to 30% since the mid 90’s. With the constant flow of immigrants moving into the city, this population represents the poorest of the poor. It is also the population that is forced to live with the record high numbers of crime and violence since the unrest in 2020.

Source launched our Latino Family Outreach with the expansion of the food shelf in June of 2020 (which got shot out of a cannon due to the riots of 2020 in Minneapolis). Many years of prayer, building renovations and planning before the summer of 2020 that also included meeting Pastor Fernado Lopez and his wife Mally. They were pastors for 15 years in Colombia before moving to Minneapolis summer 2022.

Fernando and Mally visited Source for the month June of 2021. They then led a Spanish-speaking class of Alpha over Zoom. They engaged in pastoral counseling through follow up international phone calls over the next year until they moved their two kids to Minneapolis in August of 2022.

Beyond helping run the food shelf they are involved with ESL, weekly Alpha/Bible study, homeless outreach, Women’s Drop-In, social media messages and worship nights. Fernando has established a YouTube channel posting encouraging messages in Spanish. This has become a fruitful bridge to establish contact and gain trust for further relationships. Mally is incredibly gifted with counseling those in need, and on many occasions has proved to be a valuable translator.

We pray that many of our Latino neighbors will be built up by these interactions and know they are not alone in their struggles. Together Fernando and Mally are forging ahead as part of the Source team to welcome the Latino neighbors in our community, help serve physical needs and share God’s love and forgiveness with the poorest of the poor.

ESL classes

“ESL helps me communicate with my kids’ school.”

Mally teaches ESL: Many are grateful for the free classes.

English as a Second Language (ESL) is a vital way to serve our immigrant neighbors and provide practical needs and opportunities. It also allows us to gain trust and build relationships to speak God’s love and forgiveness into lives.

“I know some words [in English], but it’s hard to have a conversation,” commented one ESL student. “I have missed jobs in the past,” said another ESL student.

The Cities are currently seeing record numbers of Latino immigrants. Understanding English is an essential for basic needs: employment, school, housing, transportation, medical, and finances to name a few.

They often are surprised and grateful we offer ESL for free as well.

Get Involved!

Thank you for your continued partnership with Source MN! We rely on churches and businesses that share the vision of bringing hope and opportunity to our communities. The significance of stabilizing and building Kingdom foundations is critical and dependent on partners who want to invest and be there for the long haul. We want partners who are willing to commit to join us in praying, volunteering (hands-on) and investing resources and time.

Here are some recent highlights:

• 498 households served in a single food distribution
• 2022: $2.6 Million in Food Relief
• 100 first time commitments in 2022

Pray

Please pray for us and with us! You can actually sign up to be a prayer volunteer during our regular food distributions! Just send us an email at volunteer [at] sourcemn [dot] org.

Upcoming Annual Golf Benefit! 

• Participate
• Sponsor the event
• Donate prizes
• Volunteer