Reposted from www.startribune.com
The sheer scope of support, pouring in from Minnesota and the nation, has surprised and relieved exhausted Minneapolis communities.
As the world sees images of soldiers and armored vehicles patrolling Minneapolis streets, an even larger army is quietly gathering strength. Their mission: to put out financial and emotional fires still smoldering after last week’s violent protests.
Lines of vehicles stretched 14 blocks after Sanford Middle School requested 85 bags of food to help families after local stores were looted and burned. They wound up with 20,000 bags of bread, fruit and more.
All My Relations Arts on Franklin Avenue has been transformed from a gallery into a food pantry that the Native American Community Development Institute plans to operate until at least October.
A refrigerated truck carrying 18 tons of fresh produce rolled into a Cub Foods parking lot Tuesday, a gift from the Zakat Foundation, a Muslim charity based in Chicago.
The sheer scope of support, pouring in from Minnesota and the nation, has surprised and relieved exhausted Minneapolis communities.
“These people are coming out of nowhere,” said Mark Graves, director of the Southside Village Boys & Girls Club, watching a group of young men who spontaneously offered to unload groceries from a Richfield food drive Tuesday.
