ZIMMERMAN, Minn. — There was plenty of anxious energy throughout Zimmerman Elementary School on Friday, as students counted down to the start of holiday break.

But in some homes around town, there was a different kind of anxious energy.

“You worry, like, what am I going to do now?” said Nicole Heinz. “My kids, they eat a lot, so I’m like, ‘Are they going to eat me out of house and home while I’m sitting here trying to be merry because it’s Christmas?'”

Heinz remembers the first year she faced those questions. In December 2021, she was a single mother of two, who had just bought a home for her family, which included her mother.

“My mom was like my daycare with the kids,” Heinz said. “She took care of my kids for me so I could work, and then she just suddenly passed away.

I was at rock bottom. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I couldn’t work as much, without her. When you’re a single mom and you have two kids and you just bought a home, the first thing you think of is, ‘What am I going to do? How am I going to feed my kids?'”

Fortunately, the social worker at her children’s school helped answer that question.

Minnesota nonprofit Every Meal had just begun working with local volunteers to provide bags of shelf-stable food to help ensure children, and their families, had enough food to make it through the weekend.

“It’s a very smooth system and families can sign up anonymously,” said Paul Gisselquist, a social worker at Zimmerman Elementary. “Kids, at this age, don’t even know the story behind the bag, they just know somebody is dropping off something… for their family.”

“At the time, I didn’t know what it consisted of,” Heinz said. “I just saw the paper when (my son) brought it home and I said, ‘We’ll check it out.’ It took a lot of weight off. Granted, it wasn’t much but it worked, and it helped knowing that I’m not exactly alone doing this.”

Four years later, Every Meal serves 20 kids at Zimmerman Elementary.

“It’s just less than 10% of the students that are taking advantage of the program,” Gisselquist said.

Thanks to a Twin Cities warehouse, and countless volunteers and donors, Every Meal is now serving 12,000 kids in 375 schools.

“At the same time, we have 181 schools on our waiting list,” said Every Meal’s founder, Rob Williams. “Almost all of us, at some point in our lives, need support from an external source; whether it’s from the government, our faith community, our neighbors, our friends, our family. And that’s okay. That’s what community is.” 

“Not only did it help me, but my kids, love bringing the bags home,” Heinz said.

Speaking of kids, Heinz’s family continues to grow. She now has a two-year-old son, two new foster sons and a husband who works two jobs.

“He works a lot,” she said. “It’s a lot on him too to wonder, is it going to be enough?” 

But this year she’s a little less anxious, thanks to a little bit of help.

“I have a cupboard full and my kids always know where to go to get a vegetable for dinner time,” she said. “It warms my heart knowing that they’re going to go to sleep with a belly that’s full.”

That’s the kind of feeling she wants to help spread this holiday season.

“I just want people to know that it’s okay to ask for help,” Heinz said. “It’s okay to struggle and ask for help at the same time. One day at a time, that’s all I can say.”

For more information about Every Meal, click here.

ST PAUL, Minn. — If you live for last-minute Christmas shopping, the Minnesota Merry Market might be the holiday season’s best gift to you.

The indoor/outdoor market is located at the North End Event Center at the State Fair. The Merry Market has over 80 vendors, some food trucks, a train ride, live music, two bars, games, horse and carriage rides, and the most important person of all, Santa.

Last year, 18,000 people shopped at the market, so they added an additional weekend for their second year.

“It’s super fun for us because we get to take something that we make in our shop and then we can share that with other people,” said Travis Goerish, owner of Ricki and Son’s, a metal fabrication company.

Goerish and his wife started the business in 2012. Five years later, they quit their regular jobs to do this full-time.

“My wife does all the design work because I’m not good with technology… I do all the welding and metal work from there.”

He said he started working with metal in high school. When he came back to it years later, he started to make furniture. Eventually, they started to make smaller, more intricate signs they could ship around the country.

Goerish said being a part of shows and markets has helped their business grow.

“Especially around the holiday season where, you know, we get to be a part of so many Christmases where people open a present that we made and then they get to keep that in family for years to come,” Goerish said.

Missy Fisher along with her sister, Shelly, started Saintly Sisters a year and a half ago.

“We’re sisters and we both live in St. Paul, so as much as our mother would have liked us to be nuns we are not, but we’re good people, so you know Saintly Sisters it works,” Missy said.

They sell a variety of items online, but are showing off their shadow boxes at Merry Market.

“It gives me a chance to express things I think are funny or important. We have a lot of feminist type items that I’m very passionate about, so it gives us a chance to express ourselves but still make people smile and find things that connect with them,” Missy said.

The shadow boxes are based on popular culture ideas, things they find funny, or custom orders. Missy said they started their business after they both were laid off from their corporate roles. She said being in markets and shows has given their business a big boost.

“It’s huge, but we’re also on Etsy too, so having the exposure here, people see our boxes and then they can also go and see the other things we sell on Etsy, so it’s made our business grow quite a bit,” she said.

The Merry Market is run by Homespun Events. It will be open next weekend Dec. 21-22 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. There will be some new vendors, but both Missy and Goerish will be there. You can buy your $5 ticket online or at the gate.

MINNEAPOLIS — With winter upon us, the risk of cold weather injuries is increasing, especially for those in our community’s unsheltered population.

That’s why every year, the union representing Hennepin County paramedics, EMTs and emergency medical dispatchers works to collect warm weather gear, especially socks, hats and gloves.

Paramedics say cold weather foot injuries are especially common for unsheltered people, and the number one request they receive is for socks.

“All of our winter clothing is distributed directly to people either by paramedics on the ambulance, to patients being discharged from the ER, or through our human service partners in the community,” organizers wrote on the drive’s website.

You can donate online to the Hennepin EMS Holiday Sock Drive through either of two gift registries:

Items purchased through the registries are sent directly to the union hall, which then packages the gear to be distributed to those in need.

Last year’s drive collected more than 30,000 pairs of winter socks.