Written by Tyler Mathiesen
This Winter Quarter, in Aneesa Adams’ Global Citizenship course, our classroom focused on finding a cause close to home that would help kids in any way we could. Although the term “global citizenship” may seem more broad scale, part of the term is also being connected to what is going on in your own backyard. After looking through many organizations that help at-risk youth in Minneapolis, we decided to choose the Crisis Nursery.
The Crisis Nursery is an organization in Minneapolis that works to end child abuse and provide a safe environment for children in abusive households. The Crisis Nursery provides shelter, meals, activities, and counseling for children who have been neglected or abused in any form. We felt that if we could help anyone, it should be children who haven’t had a great start to life in hopes to assist them in any way towards a brighter future.
As a class, we donated over $2,000 worth of household items we may deem as common but would be crucial to families unable to return to their homes. These items include toiletries, hair products, pillows, socks, detergent, Kleenex, and much more. It is incredible, especially as students who may not think we have enough to give back, to be able to provide what basic items we do have for those who need it most in our immediate community. The experience of organizing our donations and figuring out what we can do to help has been stressful, educational, and extremely rewarding. Having the opportunity to give back as a class project is unique, valuable, and is something we are proud of IPR for continuously doing to benefit the community we call home.