Our Neighbors, "The Unhoused"

Community Bridge has been feeding people who live in the encampments or on

the streets. We work with Minnesota Central Kitchen, a program of second

harvest, to provide 650 meals a week to these neighbors. We have learned a lot

along the way about the people and about the problems they face when living in

an encampment. The winter was especially hard due to cold and snow. We now

face problems related to heat. We have set up a way to bring drinking water as

well as hot food. We wonder what is the best way to provide showers, avoid heat

related problems, help people deal with mental health issues, addiction issues

and find permanent housing.

We have learned that the people we serve are better seen as unhoused rather

than homeless because most people have been able to create a home in the

encampments. A home is a place of refuge and a place where a person feels save

and accepted. We have met families with children, elderly, folks with health

challenges, young people estranged from their parents and people in poverty as

rents and housing cost continue to climb who have created a home and look

suspiciously at those who offer alternative indoor shelters. The issues are

complex and as unique as the individuals we have met. We don’t have answers

we try to listen and learn from our neighbors and do what we are able. We talk

among ourselves about showers, advocacy, job possibilities, ways to get laundry

done and most importantly how to be respectful, kind and open to all that we

meet each time we go out.

If you would like to join us in this work we need people with open hearts, time

and a desire to make a difference. There is shopping, cooking, packing food,

driving, advocacy, and more.

Please give me a call to get involved.

Mary Lundquist: 612-321-1967