Content about People Reaching Out

July 14, 2011

Minnesota Churches Scramble Amid Government Shutdown

The Minnesota state government has shut down because legislators failed to agree on a budget by June 30. Now churches and church-related agencies are scrambling to help vulnerable families and children who are bearing the burden of the government's failure.

“You can cut the anxiety in the air with a knife,” said Anne Carlson, director of the Dignity Center, a ministry at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church that helps people in poverty obtain a level of self-sufficiency.

The Rev. Kevin Schill, who is watching more people visit the food shelf at the Simpson Center for Servant Ministries, said, “People might be responding out of fear” and stocking up on food.