More than protests: Anti-gun violence group helps beautify Minneapolis youth shelter

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – As a part of an advocacy group devoted to stopping gun violence, native volunteers with Mother’s Demand Motion for Gun Sense have expertise with protests, petitions and calling elected officers. However on Sunday, greater than two dozen of the group’s members took motion otherwise — by gardening and cleansing exterior a shelter for youth experiencing homelessness.

“Our purpose is to assist deliver consciousness to gun violence in our neighborhood and to assist make Minneapolis a safer place to stay. We’re very obsessed with it. And as a substitute of simply calling our senators or simply doing marches, we really feel like actually getting our fingers soiled by doing this sort of work makes a distinction in beautifying the neighborhood house for everybody,” mentioned Michelle Hanson, the social media lead for Mother’s Demand Motion. 

About 30 volunteers had been choosing up trash and mowing, trimming, and weeding exterior of Avenues for Youth in Minneapolis’s Oak Park neighborhood from about 1 p.m. to five p.m. The shelter, which has been round for 27 years, is a transitional dwelling program for youth between the ages of 16 and 21 who’re experiencing homelessness. In addition they run three community-based applications and work with about 250-300 youth a yr, in response to the nonprofit’s improvement director, Kevin Kjonaas. 

Kjonaas, who was additionally serving to with the “cleansing and greening” effort, mentioned the work is vital, as research have proven that beautifying an space may help hold violent crime down. It additionally helps the youth who go to the shelter in a extra direct method.  

Memorial exhibits human price of rising gun violence in Minnesota and throughout the U.S.

“The shelter and the home right here, the youth take into account this as a part of their dwelling. They arrive out right here to shoot hoops, do homework, socialize, and take heed to music. We’ve got barbecues again right here. So throughout the summer time months, that is an extension of their dwelling and we need to be certain it appears like a house,” Kjonaas mentioned. 

Hanson mentioned the group is on the lookout for new members to become involved of their work — and never simply mother’s both, because the group is made up of “moms and others,” or anybody who believes of their mission and is keen to take part and even sometimes get their fingers soiled 

“I believe that it is such an vital time to actually take motion and take part,” she mentioned.