Scott Maida

Helping people experiencing homelessness January 28, 2010

Welcome to my maiden voyage on WordPress.

I have been blessed with a unique opportunity to help the homeless in Downtown Minneapolis.  I have a long time friend who has been homeless off and on for the past couple of years. We reconnected last fall and that sparked a grass roots donation drive in my community in SW Minneapolis. I wrote a story about the project for the Downtown Journal, reprinted in the SW Journal.

http://www.downtownjournal.com/index.php?&story=14884&page=65&category=95

Since the published article, I met my friend for a 3rd time outside two shelters and was joined by a homeless man who attends my church.. who has since found an apartment. It was -20 wind chill. I saw some familar faces.. and met some new folks including a cheerful woman, Angie, who used a cane. She was thrilled to get some new boots. Angie told me she was hoping this would be her only day on the street. I told her I didn’t want to see her again.  I continued to expand the donations beyond the church walls. http://www.stjohns-mpls.org/ This time around I loaded several bags of lost and found articles donated by two Dunn Bros coffee shops in my neighborhood, http://dunnbros.com/ as well as several donations from friends who read the article on my Facebook page. My friend and I went into the Salvation Army Chapel across the street to warm up and talk to a couple of his friends. We took our leftovers,  children’s clothes and a donated bag of food to House of Charity Downtown Minneapolis. We celebrated with a cup of coffee and cocoa at the Loring Park Dunn Bros, our usual spot.  I can’t get my friend off the street.. that’s up to him… but in the meantime we are sharing a fulfilling experience.. which will continue throughout the winter. If you want to help, contact me or drop off items at the 3 locations I listed at the end of the published story.