MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — Minnesota Transitions Charter School is boarded up after last week's unrest around the Minneapolis Police Department's 3rd Precinct.
It impacted the MTCS district offices, MTS Secondary school, General Colin L. Powell Leadership Academy and Banaadir Math & Science.
"We had a humongous resource room in this site that was completely destroyed and that housed our clothing, our school supplies, our food, our hygiene products for our whole, not just families in this building and students in this building, but all over the city, all over our school district. So that will have to get replenished and rebuilt and teachers will have to rebuild their classrooms. We have nothing salvageable," said Courtney Stenseth, a MTCS social worker.
On Wednesday, MTCS hosted a food and donation drive to help its students and their families.
Many of their operations are right next door to the Target on Lake Street. Both Target and Cub Foods are closed right now.
"We have a lot of families who have just been really significantly impacted by not having to access to grocery stores," Stenseth said.
Omega Lindsey, who will be a junior at MTS Secondary in the fall, said, "This is educational. This is stuff that helps people move on in life, get good jobs. So I think that was bogus for them to start tearing down schools."
While students are upset about the destruction to their school, they're also processing how it came to be.
"They could've told the other one to get off his neck because he couldn't breathe. They heard him keep saying, 'I can't breathe; I can't breathe,'" said Aronique Jackson, also entering 11th grade at MTS Secondary this fall.
"In all of this travesty I think it's really important that we remember that we're here for each other and we're human beings and we have a purpose to serve. We're going to continue to do that regardless of what we're faced with," Stenseth said.
About 250 students go to school in this building. Stenseth said she's unsure what school will look like in the fall, but they plan to be open.
In the meantime, Stenseth said they plan to distribute any extra donations from Thursday's drive to families throughout the summer.
There is a GoFundMe Page set up to help MTCS.