Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Come in from the cold [Urban Neighbors in north Mpls]

[On December 11, 2010 the Twin Cities was hit with one of the "worst snowstorms of this generation." It virtually paralyzed the metro area for several days, and it even got it's own nicknames: Snowmygawd, Snowmaggedon. In the midst of that deluge of snow and wind emerged a touching story of inviting a stranger in from the cold, from one of our Urban Neighbor houses in north Minnepolis]

My roommate and I were outside in the driveway attempting to shovel the driveway after the big snowstorm. We noticed a teenage girl was walking down the street holding her baby, and there were two little boys following behind her. The mother was crying and said something aloud that she needed help and didn't know what to do. I asked her if we could help her. She stated that she didn't have anywhere to go: she had been staying at her friend's mom's house but she was asked to leave. The mother,"Marquisha", stated that she tried to go to Mary Jo's Place, a local family shelter, but was told she couldn't stay there because she hadn't been in north Minneapolis long enough (she'd only been in Minneapolis one day).

We invited her in. All of them were shivering and Marquisha told us her daughter had bronchitis. We got them food and soon they all fell asleep for a few hours. After they awoke Marquisha told us more of her story: she was from Rochester and is trying to start a new life in the Cities. She told us that she had a friend from Rochester, who had a friend in St. Paul who was going to take in Marquisha and her kids (confusing?!?...yes!). With the weather and road conditions post-snowstorm, there was no way of getting her to St. Paul. We invited her to stay.

On Sunday morning my wonderful mother came and picked up me, Marquisha, and her kids and drove her to St. Paul. Marquisha took my number, however I haven't heard from her. We think of them and pray for them, and thank God for the blessing it was to be able to help her and her kids out.

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