Plymouth Outreach
Opportunities & Education

March is Minnesota Food Share Month.  Donations are especially needed because of a matching grant for this month only. Did you know that food shelf use has increased more than 40 percent in the past year? More neighbors are becoming first-time users of this service to help supplement their family budget.  Tours will be offered of Groveland Emergency Food Shelf located at Plymouth after 10:30 worship on March 21 and 28. Come take a look at what they do and how they help families in need.

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Downtown Congregations to End Homelessness (DCEH) mission is to work together to end homelessness by using our civic voice to educate and push the community from managing homelessness to ending homelessness and poverty through our support of Heading Home Hennepin and multiple relationships with the homeless and near homeless, congregations, volunteers and community organizations. Plymouth is represented on the Interfaith team and the Steering Committee of DCEH.  Contact Connie Marty to get involved. DCEH Newsletter

DCEH opportunities:
Lawyers to offer legal advice at Currie Ave Partnership [PDF]
Blessing of the Bikes May 2 [PDF]

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Plymouth Church Neighborhood
Foundation tours [PDF]

PCNF is sponsoring once-a-month tours of affordable housing sites on the fourth Tuesday at 4 p.m.: Creekside Commons on March 23.

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“Taking the fear out of
talking with your elected official”
At Plymouth Church
Sunday, March 14, 12:30-2:30 p.m.
Sponsored by HHP & DCEH

Are you motivated to end homelessness but feel uncomfortable talking face-to-face with your elected officials about it?

Attend this workshop and gain the confidence to take your message the next step forward or simply learn what questions to ask an elected official when given the opportunity at a town hall forum, candidate debate or public gathering.

This is an important election year so there will be plenty of opportunities to engage our public officials in dialog.  Facilitated by Rev. Dr. Nancy Maeker, Director of A Minnesota Without Poverty.

It's free but we request a reservation by contacting Jan Neville at 612/581-4554 or janeville@comcast.net      Flyer [PDF]

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Heading Home Plymouth advocates make a difference by using their gift of citizenship to speak out for the vulnerable in our society through legislative action.  Check out opportunities

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Caring for Creation working group has opportunities for you to practice sustainable living. Check out opportunities

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Fundraiser for Plymouth’s Drop-In Center
Camp Knutson Scholarships
March 20 at 3:00 p.m.
Midwest Mountaineering,
309 Cedar Avenue South, Minneapolis

THE SHADOW KNOWS - ONLY TOO WELL
A Celebration of World Storytelling Day
On or around March 20, storytellers around the world will gather in events, large and small, to celebrate WORLD STORYTELLING DAY at www.freewebs.com/worldstorytellingday. The theme this year is LIGHT AND SHADOW, produced by Larry Johnson and Elaine Wynne, KEY OF SEE STORYTELLERS, who brought the original EVERYONE TELL A STORY DAY (Alle Berattres Dag) from Scandinavia to the U.S. in 1995 and helped transform the event to World Storytelling Day in 2003.  Their performance (once called a MIXTURE OF MIRTH AND MYSTERY in London), always encourages listeners, especially "non-storytellers," to go out and tell a story. They will be joined by several other local storytellers who emerge from the shadows into the light.

Anyone and everyone is welcome, but the stories are definitely aimed at upper grade school to adults.  There is no admission fee, but the performance is a benefit for the annual Camp Knutson environmental experience for low-income adults who attend the drop-in center at Plymouth Church. Donations, large and small, are gladly accepted. For more information about the event or about World Storytelling Day, call Larry Johnson at 612/747-3904.

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Connecting Beyond
the Walls of Plymouth

The Art Squared fundraiser for Stevens Square Community Organization (SSCO) will be on Saturday, March 13, 7-10 p.m. at Tillie’s Bean, 1931 Nicollet Ave. (northeast corner of Nicollet and Franklin). The event will feature local art for sale and raffle; live art by Andrea Tedford and members of the Rogue Citizen art collective; live music by Tortuga and Georgia Leigh; food, coffee and drinks for sale. Tickets are on sale at Tillie’s Bean for the pre-sale price of $5. At the door, they'll cost $8. Buy early and buy for your friends!    http://sscoweb.org/

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Restorative Justice opportunities
March 18 at the Cookie Cart/PEACE Foundation (1119 West Broadway). Come to a community gathering for time to visit informally and talk about what’s going on in the community. Please RSVP if you plan to attend: trunck@rjca-inc.org or 612/746-0784.

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News for the Common Good from the
Minnesota Council of Churches [PDF] 3/10/10

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Heading Home Hennepin, a plan to end
homelessness in Hennepin County by 2016.

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The final report of the Legislative Commission to End Poverty in Minnesota by 2020 is now available. The Commission at its last meeting unanimously approved the report and released it for distribution. Bills are now being drafted to make the recommendations a reality. Stay tuned for updates on this legislation.

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Connie Marty, conniem@plymouth.org
Director of Outreach Programs
Plymouth Congregational Church
1900 Nicollet Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55403-3789
612/977-1284

 

 

Plymouth's Outreach Working Groups

 

Small acts of kindness

By Sheila Rafert

Since I live close to Plymouth, I began attending last spring and became a member last fall. Connie Marty, Director of Outreach Programs, asked me to share my experiences because they show how one person can make a difference in the lives of neighbors who cross our paths.

Prior to moving about two blocks from Plymouth two years ago, I’d always lived in a small town or the suburbs. I wasn’t used to inner-city life but have come to love my neighborhood as I walk through it each day. Last spring, I began walking along Nicollet Avenue every day and was surprised at the number of homeless along Nicollet Mall. At first I was somewhat fearful and embarrassed and would not look at them; but then I stepped out of my comfort zone and began to stop and talk with them. I was amazed at their stories. Some have been affected by the economy as evidenced by the number of young families and single parents on the streets last summer; many are veterans; many more have mental health issues; and still a few choose to be homeless because they no longer trust the system. I quickly realized that it could be me (or any one of us) homeless, alone, hungry and cold walking the streets of Minneapolis.

I began to research information about homelessness and was astounded to learn that on any given night, 9,200 Minnesotans are homeless; 5,547 children were identified as homeless in the Minneapolis schools in 2008; 25 percent of homeless men are veterans; and 20 percent of homeless adults have steady employment. I wondered what, as just one person, I could do to help these individuals. I consciously decided not to give them a few dollars for two reasons: I would have no way of knowing what they would use the money for; and more important, a small bit of money is a short-term fix for long-term problems. Instead, I contacted various charities to find out where they could go for help and gathered information for resources in the neighborhood, including everything from food, shelter and mental/medical assistance to showers and laundry facilities. As I accumulated this information, I made cards and put them in Ziploc bags with a candy Lifesaver, which I began to hand out to the homeless on my daily walks. (The cards are available in church literature racks.)

The first month, I gave out more than 30 bags. Now I know many of these individuals and continue to hand out two or three bags a week even in this cold winter weather. Recently I overheard two individuals at the library discussing which shelter they were going to stay in that night, and I offered them each an information bag. The weeks prior to Thanksgiving and Christmas, I handed out information with locations and times of free holiday meals, along with candy canes. As I learn more about our neigh-borhood and the resources available to people in need, I add more information to these bags.

As I became aware of the Outreach programs at Plymouth, I began volunteering at the Third Sunday Meal. I learned that a different downtown congregation provides this free hot meal each Sunday evening of the month. On weekends, I started passing out the monthly meal schedule with that week’s location highlighted. I’ve since seen more of these individuals at the Third Sunday Meal. Also through Plymouth, I volunteered at the Downtown Congregations to End Homelessness Sofas & Spokes Day where people donated gently-used furniture (which is distributed free of charge through St. Vincent DePaul to individuals coming out of homelessness) and bicycles (which are now being refurbished to be given to individuals to use for green transportation to and from jobs). I also volunteered to interview the homeless in the Wilder Foundation Homeless Count in Minnesota, which is done every three years. I was with other Plymouth members at YouthLink, a drop-in center that serves 1,300 young people a year. I was both saddened and encouraged by the stories the youth shared with me. Project Homeless Connect Day was an amazing day where I served as host to three gentlemen, one of whom had just become homeless; the others were just getting shelter. I assisted them in connecting with resources to meet their long-term needs. Through all of this activity, ending homelessness has become a focus in my life. This fall I said yes to becoming an advocate with Heading Home Plymouth because I understand that we must make a paradigm shift in the way we see the homeless and make community-wide decisions about homelessness. We need to end it, rather than just continue to manage it.

Many times I wonder what if any impact my giving this information to others has had. However, one day as I was walking along Nicollet Mall, a woman came running after me. She had been on a bus and had seen me walking. She jumped off the bus and ran after me to tell me that she now has shelter and food as a result of the information I’d given her. As we hugged, we were both in tears. Another Sunday, I was walking on Nicollet when a gentleman on the other side started waving and yelling, “Dinner Lady.” He was one of the people I’d given a Sunday meal schedule to each weekend, and he needed to know where to go that evening for the free meal. He said there were a number of others looking for me, and that he would give them the information. Two other people have told me that they now have food on a regular basis because of the information I’d given them. And, best of all, I was talking to a gentleman when it was so very cold outside. As we talked, I told him I wished there were more I could do for him. His response was that being recognized as an individual – not a homeless person, a panhandler or a worthless bum – and knowing I cared about him were the best gifts I could give him.

The homeless no longer feel like strangers to me; they have faces and I see each of them as a child of God and the precious, innocent baby they each were at birth. I’ve simply done small acts of kindness along my daily walk – it’s very gratifying to know that these small acts have had an impact on people’s lives, some of which I’ll never know. What small act of kindness can you do?