Putting love into action
The recent death of Minneapolis resident Renee Good in the wake of an immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities by federal ICE agents has stoked growing tensions and turmoil among local immigrants and citizens.
ICE agents’ targeting and apprehending immigrants for possible incarceration and deportation has torn apart our Twin Cities community. These days, plenty of immigrants are leery about answering their doors and/or going out in public, for fear of getting unjustly apprehended.
When you know how this immigration crackdown is adversely affecting the Twin Cities, it’s hard to ignore the plight of neighbors, who are scared and hurting.
So when a local Spanish-speaking church put out the call in mid-January asking for help; St. Anthony Park Lutheran Church was among many local churches that answered the call.
SAPLC member Mary Mergenthal tells this story:
“SAPLC issued a call to its membership for immediate assistance to help donate a list of specific items to the Spanish speaking church,” Mary said. “That call was then also extended to the SAP listserv on Jan. 13. The hope was to fill Pastor Jill Rode’s minivan with groceries on Jan. 15.
“Thanks to the generosity of church members and the neighborhood, more vans and volunteers were needed to load and unload and transport items” said Mary, a former Bugle editor.
Here’s the list of items that the community donated to the Spanish-speaking congregation: More than 300 bags of groceries; over 6,000 diapers and nearly $10,000 in cash, checks and gift cards.
As SAPLC Pastor Rohde told Mary, “What a joy to be part of this collective action. Thank you for putting love into action!”
New tenants at Milton Square
Exciting changes are coming to St. Anthony Park’s Milton Square retail center. In our February issue, the Bugle shares stories of three new tenants. They are:
Acorn Bookshop, which is being housed in the former upstairs Micawber’s Books space.
The new store, scheduled to open in March, will offer a collection of new and used books across genres. It will emphasize women authors, diverse and underrepresented stories, historical fiction and YA, plus jewelry, greeting cards, candles and toys.
Present Company, the recently opened retail store/workshop space/mini mart/hangout spot is devoted to analog activities.
“The shop in the rear courtyard behind Nico’s Tacos looks as if it were plucked out of a ’90s sitcom or teen drama,” says Bugle reporter Seth Richardson.
Mind’s Eye Comics. This store, also located behind Nico’s Tacos, features a panoply of pop culture products.
Freelancer Richardson notes, “There’s the rack just to the left of the entrance that includes that week’s new releases as well as rows of graphic novels lining the walls from the big two of DC and Marvel to independent publishers.”
I’m looking forward to checking out each one of these newbies to St. Anthony Park.
Scott Carlson is the managing editor of the Bugle.