Northern Minnesota outfitters donate gear to help Minneapolis’ unhoused community

MINNEAPOLIS — Hikers in northern Minnesota are hoping some of their supplies can help unsheltered people in the Twin Cities.

Jeff Bauer cold-called some outfitters along the Gunflint Trail asking for help then drove north to collect the supplies.

The outfitters, he explained, use the equipment for one or two seasons and then retire it. Usually they sell it, but in this case, they’ve decided to donate it to help unsheltered people. 

“Some people have the feeling that this is a nuisance, that this is something that needs to be cleared out just like the trash or something like that but these are human beings,” Bauer said. “They have a community here, just like anywhere else “

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There are no porta pottys or trash bins, and churches and other organizations drop off food. While many people pitch in to help, others who lives close by are frustrating, saying that living near an encampment is not safe for them or the people who live there.

“People can find the humanity and just come talk to the people who are out here makes it hard to every see them as a nuisance again,” Bauer said.

The City of Minneapolis said in a statement that “The City’s Homeless Response Team continues to connect our unsheltered community members with available services from Hennepin County and other community partners. We continue to prioritize the health and safety of those living in encampments and surrounding neighborhoods.”

Bauer says this is a humanitarian issue and he and many others will continue to do what they can to help their neighbors.

“Remember how when you were a kid when you are outside your feet are getting cold your hands are getting cold you go back in the house and you can warm up?” he said.  “Well, people out here, they don’t ever get to feel that feeling like their hands are cold, their feet are cold. They got nowhere to go inside. They have no way to feel that warmth. So for me it just kind of gets me right in the heart.”

Neigbhors have complained of trash, open air drug dealing, and drug usage in the area. People who live in this encampment say they’ve been told they have to leave by next Tuesday.