Mary Jo

Richard Sennott

Minneapolis Star Tribune

She's become a Minnesota institution, but she's also street talk in Chicago, Detroit and other cities, this woman who helps people fleeing abuse, poverty and violence. Mary Jo Copeland's daily guests can be from anywhere when she opens the doors to her Sharing and Caring Hands Shelter at the edge of downtown Minneapolis. 'I think everybody in the country who's poor is here,' Copeland joked recently as she surveyed a long line of men, women and children waiting for the help they needed beyond the free meals and the clothing giveaways. She takes them one by one, hearing their stories, approving assistance, offering prayers and sometimes washing their blistered feet. 'I can't look at the crowds,' she said. 'I look at the person in front of me.' Mary Joe Copeland revels in delight as two young children pray before having breakfast in sharing and Caring Hands Shelter in Minneapolis. the two boys had traveled all night on a bus from Detroit with their mother who was homeless and looking for shelter at Mary's Place.

Richard Sennott, "Mary Jo," in POYi Archive, Item #29493, http://archive.poy.org/items/show/29493 (accessed November 23, 2024).