East Side Neighborhood Services Is Helping Hennepin County during COVID-19, and You Can Help

Minnesotans are stepping up and making a difference during the COVID-19 pandemic, and I want to make sure people know about all the organizations out there doing great work and helping during this crisis and beyond. I’m profiling a different nonprofit each day to share their information and their story.

East Side Neighborhood Services (ESNS), led by my good friend Kristine Martin, has been a staple of the Northeast Minneapolis community for over 100 years and more recently has been expanding across Hennepin County. Born out of the legacy of its predecessors—the North East Neighborhood House, the Margaret Berry House, and the Greater Lake Country Food Bank—ESNS continues to serve people in need. It offers high-quality out-of-school time programming; an employment amd training program that works with low-income, unemployed, or underemployed job seekers; creative arts therapy; food support for those who have difficulty accessing traditional food shelves or grocery stores; and and so much more.

The COVID-19 crisis is not the first pandemic that ESNS has had to support the community through, as it was just a few years old when the 1918 flu pandemic hit. As it did then, it continues now to be a stalwart resource for people in need. As with many other organizations, most of its programs are operating remotely or temporarily closed at this time, but the mobile food shelf continues to operate in most buildings and is working to prepackage food so it can be distributed directly to the apartments of people who need food. ESNS’s senior food shelf and Glendale food shelf also remain open, adjusting practices to accommodate COVID-19 restrictions, and childcare continues to operate as well.

East Side Neighborhood Services is a mainstay of the Minneapolis community and deserves your support. Head over to the ESNS website to learn more.

East Side Neighborhood Services