February: Our community is strong and full of love, but struggling to meet basic needs. Our small group of school parents has grown into a powerful network of 175+ neighbors providing comprehensive support for 130+ families in our elementary school. We have trucks to collect and distribute donated food, needles to knit a sweater for each new baby, and so many extra booster seats to get kids to school. Each family has an assigned neighbor who checks on them regularly and picks up prescriptions at the pharmacy, takes the cat to the vet, or drops off tres leches birthday cake (happy 10 to E and happy 29-again to M!).

But we are running out of funds. The utility companies will resume disconnections in March, and rent is daunting for parents who haven’t worked in two months. Money may be a social construct, but the need for it is so real. Many of our families have informal housing agreements requiring cash payment, which means we can’t help them apply for most formal assistance programs. They are relying on this mutual aid fund, and we are so grateful for your support.

Thank you for seeing us and standing with us! YOU are a huge part of this work, and we couldn’t be doing it without you.

(PS – if you happen to know one of us personally, and speak conversational Spanish confidently enough to assist families who can apply for assistance programs, please connect with us offline.)

January: Our community is being threatened and people are afraid. This is a hyper-local fund to provide groceries and rent assistance for South Minneapolis elementary school families in need of support. We -- a small group of school parents -- will use these funds to help neighbors who are unable to leave their homes for work or to get food.

Sean S. (Organizer of this GoFundMe) is overseeing withdrawal of the donated GoFundMe funds into his personal bank account to be used to reimburse purchases made by volunteers. Sean S. is a parent at the South Minneapolis elementary school being aided by this fund, and a neighbor of the beneficiaries receiving the funds. Sean S. is responsible for the management of the funds used to reimburse purchases of supplies (groceries and personal hygiene items), and reimburse payments made for rent and bills. The supplies are purchased and distributed, and bill/rental payments are made, in response to requests for help with demonstrated need (e.g. supported by bill statements, weekly requests for food) from beneficiaries (neighbors and community members in need). Supplies are purchased by volunteers with the volunteers' personal money and then the supplies are provided directly to the beneficiaries, and the cost of the supplies are reimbursed to the purchaser using the donated funds from the GoFundMe. Rental and bill payments are made on behalf of the beneficiary by volunteers with the volunteers' personal money, and then the volunteers are reimbursed with the donated funds from the GoFundMe. Aid is provided to beneficiaries with need within one week of request for need.

Update 1/17/26:

Thank you all for your generous support of our school community. It goes such a long way to provide basic needs and is a reminder of humanity for families who are grateful for both. As of today, we are supporting 77 school families (+40 families from last week, and including 300+ total individuals) with food, bills, and rent.

This week, we distributed $18,078.74 to cover:

Rent due: $4,461.41

Groceries to supplement donated food: $2,075.85

Bills due: $1,541.48

Cash to families for their urgent needs: $8,000.00

I am also passing along texts from a few of our sheltering parents who received grocery deliveries yesterday. Your support spreads so much light -- thank you again.

AA writes:

Thank you for everything I thank you very much for what you do for me and my child God bless you for everything for your good heart for being such a good person when all this is over what we are going through I will invite you to eat Ecuadorian food because I am from Ecuador I thank you seriously I am very moved by all this. [prayer hands]

VP writes:

We are very grateful for the help you are all giving us, and may God bless each and every one of you 1000 x 1 times over and over. [prayer hands, hearts]