December 2023 Year End Update
Published on December 21, 2023 by flan
2023 Year End Updates
Accomplishments
- We distributed an unprecedented amount of supplies in 2023- stay tuned for final numbers in early January. We are extraordinarily grateful to our community for stepping up, and heartbroken at the level of need.
- We became fiscally sponsored by Open Collective Foundation this year (hooray!), allowing our donors for the first time to make tax-deductible gifts!
- We moved out of our longtime home at Boneshaker Books (love them!), and after 3 months of not having a location, have settled into a new space with our partners at GMCC on Lake and 11th.
- We now have a “pop-up” crew that visits encampments and connects with residents weekly on Wednesdays, which has allowed us to stay in touch with the constantly shifting landscape for our residents.
- In addition, we are part of GMCC’s Friday drop-in services, where unhoused neighbors can take a shower, have a hot meal, and access services. With our new space, we are able to both offer the survival supplies that we have always provided, and also clean clothes and outerwear.
Challenges
- Encampment evictions in Minneapolis continue at an unprecedented rate, including particularly cruel evictions across the city in both blistering heat and freezing cold. More and more of our neighbors are unhoused, and we are struggling to keep up.
- More families and disabled neighbors are unsheltered, and we've had to change our model to purchase larger tents, which are often at least twice the cost of the tents we distributed in 2022.
- In addition, we’ve seen a substantial increase in recent immigrants on the streets, primarily Spanish speaking Ecuadorian refugees.
- When we moved out of Boneshaker Books (all love to them), it required us to change our model on the fly. We spent 3 months operating out of a member’s garage, and our supplies were scattered across South Minneapolis.
Looking Ahead
- We are excited to grow our partnership with GMCC - and will be seeking new volunteers now that we are settled in.
- We also hope to leverage our new location and fiscal sponsorship to purchase more supplies in bulk - ultimately hoping to reduce the cost per item in 2024.
We are grateful to each and every one of you - those who can contribute financially or give supplies, those who boost our posts and spread our message, and those who show up in solidarity with unhoused neighbors.