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Hi there!
I am reaching out with an ask for support for my community right now. As I’m sure you’ve seen in the news, South Minneapolis has become a temporary food desert, as well as pharmacy and community center desert for many people. More than 100 buildings burned in South Minneapolis, where I live & where I grew up, last weekend. The destruction done to local businesses and establishments that serve the vital needs of a largely BIPOC & working-class community disappeared overnight incited largely (we now know) by violence from the police & white nationalists in response to our local uprising fighting for Justice for George Floyd and rebelling against the police state.
Right now, the reality here is that many people are struggling to feed their families — our grocery stores are either burned down or boarded up, buses are running limited schedules, and the closest open grocery stores are far away in the suburbs. People are not only running out of food, but also hygiene & sanitation supplies, and many families don’t have fire hydrants, which is scary given that local buildings keep going up in flames. We’re providing direct support right now to fill the needs of our community, providing food, hygiene & sanitation supplies, and safety equipment to neighborhoods in South Minneapolis that have been hit the hardest, and we will as long as we can until we can rebuild our community.
We’re collecting donations on Venmo (@alettabrady) and PayPal (clairealettabrady@gmail.com). This is a concrete way to provide direct support to our community as we respond to the myriad of crises right now. So far we’ve raised almost $7,000 & have been able to serve hundreds of families here. After one of my food drops, my childhood best friend texted me that she was able to collect food saying, “Just finished bringing my grandma food!!! Thank you so much. She should be good on food for a while now ❤.” This is the type of direct impact we’re having as a community showing up for one another right now.
Bless those of you who have already supported us these past couple weeks!!
Love, power, and solidarity to y’all !
- Aletta Brady
#BlackLivesMatter #AbolishThePolice #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd