February 20, 2026
Dear Church,
One of the realities of supporting our immigrant neighbors right now is that the needs keep shifting, or unfolding, the longer this surge goes on. And, to be clear, it's not that the needs of food, shelter, and medical care were not here before, or that they will go away if ICE leaves; it's just that these needs have become very urgent and very widespread right now, as many of our neighbors approach nearly two months of sheltering in place.
A few weeks ago, the needs were primarily food and household items - and our community has helped build and support those systems, which are still running. Then we learned of the need for rides to appointments and translators to help fill out important legal documentation. Now, with many of our neighbors unable to work for several weeks because they're too afraid to leave their homes, need to stay home with their children, someone in their family was deported, or their places of work have closed, the need that is rising urgently to the surface is rent relief.
Eviction filings are rising in Minnesota, where a new analysis estimates that immigrant households statewide may have missed up to $51 million in rent payments as a result of lost income during the ongoing Operation Metro Surge. That compounds residents’ existing struggles with housing costs: in previous times, the total average rent owed by Minnesota tenants to their landlords already exceeds the state’s budget for emergency rental assistance twentyfold. Within the South Metro, many of the requests for rent relief are coming in from neighbors in Burnsville and Apple Valley. These neighbors are us. They live right next door. And we want them to stay!
And so the Church Council decided this past Tuesday to give the first benevolence gift out of our Capital Campaign funds to rent relief in the South Metro. This gift directly reflects the input we received from the congregation about where our Campaign benevolence could go - by far, what was most important to our community was to directly support those in need; to focus our generosity on food insecurity, immigrants/refugees, and homelessness; and to make a local impact rather than global.
Grace will be sending $25,000 to South Metro Aid & Rent Trust (SMART). SMART is a recently formed collaborative effort of several ELCA congregations in the southern metro of the Twin Cities, with the purpose of helping neighbors impacted by recent immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota. Funds received by SMART are distributed through local congregation partners to supply groceries, basic hygiene and household necessities, and rent assistance as available. SMART is managed and housed at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in Eagan, Minnesota.
You will hear more about this in worship on Sunday, but I invite you to consider adding individual donations to this, so that we can send an even larger gift from Grace. You can give a gift to Grace (check, cash, or online). For an online gift, please use the "SMART rent relief" option in the dropdown menu. You can also pass along this direct link to SMART to friends and family in other states who are asking how they can continue to support Minnesota through this time. The need is immense, and the dollars go quickly, so extending the invitation beyond our local area will help us meet the need.
Thank you, church, for living with such generous, caring hearts. I see the love that you are pouring into our community, and I hope you know how much it matters!
Pastor Sarah
Every Friday, we send an email to the congregation and any others who would like to learn more about the Grace community. The last four Friday emails are posted below.