MINNEAPOLIS — The 40th annual running of the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon will feature more than 40 nonprofit partners in the greater community.
Among those teaming up with the celebrated event is a Minneapolis coffee shop that helps young adults experiencing homelessness, and a St. Paul church helping to bring clean water to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Wildflyer helps young adults spread their wings
On a recent Tuesday afternoon, Wildflyer Coffee on Minnehaha Avenue in south Minneapolis was buzzing with energy and purpose. The staff there – a combination of youth workers, career baristas and young adults experiencing homelessness – were again serving up a steady stream of coffee and opportunity.
“I started in 2017 as a cart, so we were at farmers markets, private events — things like that. And then we opened this retail location in December of 2020, which was kind of a scary time to open but we did it,” said Carley Kammerer, executive director of Wildflyer Coffee.
Kammerer “did it” by blending her childhood appreciation for coffee – she worked in her parents’ coffeeshop during middle school – with her social work degree and extensive experience as an advocate and case manager for vulnerable young adults.
“I’ve been a youth worker for about 10 years now, and I was just seeing young people struggling, kind of, [with] that final step out of homelessness. And a lot of that revolved around employment instability,” Kammerer said.
And so Kammerer, officially a cofounder, concocted Wildflyer. She says the coffeeshop gives young adults an opportunity to earn money while also learning life skills through a four-month program that includes “20 hours a week on the floor,” plus “financial literacy, housing, mental health and other supports to help facilitate success on the job.”
The program also gives participants – all youth between the ages of 16 to 24 – the opportunity to work with an employment counselor throughout their participation in the program, and up to a year after their completion.
“This is a safe place for youth to come and be, that maybe don’t necessarily have that homebase or that community,” Kammerer said.
And now the unique nonprofit organization, which raises 60 percent of its funds through sales and 40 percent through donations, has another valuable source of revenue. For the first time, the coffee shop has partnered with the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon. And so far, they’ve already earned more than half of their $10,000 goal.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Kammerer said, before adding, “We just decided to try it this year and we had a lot of people want to help out and do it, which was great.”
First Covenant Church St. Paul finds connection with the DRC
From its prominent location on an Arcade Street corner, First Covenant St. Paul has long been a beacon of community and connection in the city’s East Side.
But starting in 2013, the church also connected with a community a world away, by supporting Team World Vision’s mission to provide clean water in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“Some would say, because we serve the east side of St. Paul, and there are already countless needs, they would say, ‘Well, why are you caring about what’s going on on the other side of the world where you’re not living or breathing?’” Senior pastor Anne Vining said before offering the church’s response. “This local and global vision is necessary. Who is going to care about the Democratic Republic of Congo if it isn’t those who are living out their faith in very tangible ways?”
For the last 10 years, that support has manifested itself in members of the congregation running the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon or 10 Mile, while raising money for Team World Vision. Team World Vision is a division of World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to fighting poverty and injustice throughout the world.
“It brought this community together. We ran in our community, we trained in our community,” Vining recalled.
The First Covenant teams have varied in size over the years, but the participation has been across the board, Vining noted, with one team including Vining herself – a notable feat, the pastor observed, given her self-assessed lack of athletic skills.
“I did run that marathon, along with this incredible team. Barely made it, as far as before that pickup bus comes that picks up slow runners,” she said, adding, “Won’t ever run one again, but it was a wonderful experience for everyone who participated.”
Team World Vision uses the money raised to ensure access to clean waters in remote communities in the DRC. That access, Vining noted, is a foundation from which the community can begin to thrive.
“It starts with water. It starts with kids being able to go to school. They can’t go to school if they’re walking twice a day to go and get dirty water,” she said, adding that the broader World Vision outreach includes other community investments, such as education, prenatal care and advocacy.
Vining saw those investments firsthand when she traveled to the DRC in 2018.
“There’s a whole array of work that World Vision does to change a community, so that they are self-sufficient and can continue this transformation long after World Vision leaves,” Vining said about the outreach in the DRC, a country that has long been the focus of the church’s international mission work.
And with that, the international mission will continue. But for First Covenant — a nearly 150-year-old church that remains an east side beacon — the mission also always hits close to home.
“Our whole philosophy is really about serving the community; being the hands and feet of Christ," Vining said. "By being here locally, but then it also allows us to serve globally."
For more information on how to support First Covenant St. Paul’s Team World Vision mission, click here.
And to donate to the Wildflyer TCM fundraiser, click here.
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