Your House Just Burned Down

MERRY CHRISTMAS

On Christmas Day, a raging fire took the homes of 250 people living in the Francis Drake Hotel in Minneapolis. Erupting in the middle of the night, the fire tore through this historic building serving as rental housing for low income people and temporary homeless shelter for Hennepin County families. That first night, city busses provided safe sources of warmth – the first step to refuge while the Red Cross, the Minneapolis Foundation, churches and other organizations mobilized to provide care for these newly displaced neighbors.

And the city turned out in force. Downtown near the still-burning Drake became an open air rescue site where we brought whatever might be useful to someone who had just lost everything. That part of downtown became a beautiful traffic snarl as people from every neighborhood brought everything from diapers and blankets to coats, shoes and toothbrushes.

And it was a wonderful feeling to bring some Hats for the Homeless to this site of tragedy.

We brought the colors of 

warmth, care and neighborly 

support to people who had just 

lost their precarious place in 

life one more time. We will 

continue to work with service 

providers to bring the gift of 

warmth as these disaster 

victims work toward stability.

Hats 4 the Homeless began distributing hats and scarves in early November to schools and social service agencies serving those in need.  Luckily we still had hats on hand to deliver to folks who had just lost their home in the fire.   

Thank you KNITTERS!  We do make a difference.