08/10/2026
What a weekend we had!
We got to meet (in person) some of our new clients and get to know them better. We got to hug other clients that have been with us a bit longer. Our mamas got to take home clothes for themselves and their kiddos plus all the school supplies on their lists. Our mamas with littles (or pregnant) took home the remaining diapers and wipes we had from a previous diaper drive. It was a fantastic day!
THEN we had a successful 3rd Annual Community Garage Sale on Saturday. Lots of new faces, including a wonderful grandma that was shopping for all 7 of her grandkids (more to that story later). A couple came in towards the end of our day, didn't see anything they wanted to buy, but handed us a cash donation. They left and then a few minutes later the gentleman came back in and gave us more cash and told us a bit about his life:
He grew up in an abusive home and began working at age 8 on a farm. He's been working his whole life and is now in his 50s, trying to help every person he can that he sees in a tough spot. A few years ago he helped a teen mom that was a victim of SA. He said she recently reconnected and has a wonderful life with her child and is helping a 12 year old escape an abusive home. We all had chills with the ripple effect of helping a DV survivor and his willingness to share with complete strangers and as a brand new transplant to MN from Pennsylvania.
Something we hear time and again from our clients and other DV survivors, "I was helped, I want to help." or "I don't want anyone to experience the struggle I did in starting over."
THANK YOU incredible community for all your donations to our garage sale, for your time in helping us prepare, work, and clean up the sale, and for coming to shop. I don't have an official total of funds raised (we were all pretty wiped by the end of the day Saturday), but it looks like we raised about $1200 to cover school supplies and diapers for our families. WOW!
P.S. If you'd still like to donate, we could use funds for new tennis shoes for a few of our kiddos. Anythings above and beyond that need, will be used to purchase more diapers and wipes.
