Metallica donated $40,000 to People Serving People, a downtown Minneapolis shelter, following the band’s weekend run at U.S. Bank Stadium.
People Serving People announced on Monday that it received the donation from Metallica’s All Within My Hands Foundation, which supports workforce education, the fight against hunger, and other critical local services. Metallica donates a portion of ticket sales to a local charity in every city that it visits, according to the foundation’s website.
People Serving People operates an emergency shelter for families experiencing homelessness at 614 Third Ave. S in the Mill District neighborhood. It originally launched there in 1982 as a shelter for single men with mental illness or chemical dependencies.
“Gifts like this make programs like financial literacy, emergency assistance, and high-quality childcare possible at People Serving People,” the organization said in an Instagram post announcing Metallica’s donation.
People Serving People incorporated the opening lyrics of “Fuel” by Metallica at the end of its post. “Thank you, Metallica, for fueling our work, firing up our community, and helping the families at our shelter achieve their desires.”
Meanwhile, another downtown Minneapolis shelter is shuttering in October due to “increasing financial pressure on nonprofits serving the homeless.”
Agate Housing and Services announced last week that after Oct. 9 it’s closing its 42-bed shelter and 95-bed low-income housing facility at 510 S. Eighth St. in the Elliot Park neighborhood. Agate was unable to secure $3 million in funding for much-needed repairs to the 100-year-old building.
“We have worked over the past year to identify private or government resources that could save this building,” executive director Kyle Hanson said in an Aug. 15 statement. “Unfortunately, we were not able to secure any such funds, and we don’t see a way to do so within at least the next three to five years without a truly unexpected windfall.”
The closure will impact 29 people living in the shelter and 53 people living in the low-income housing facility, whom the organization is looking to rehouse, according to Agate’s announcement.
“It is vitally important to us to provide safe, dignified shelter, and the current condition of this building does not allow us to do that,” Hanson said.
Agate will continue operating its nearby shelter for couples out of First Covenant Church at 810 S. Seventh St., but it’s pausing operations at its food shelf at 714 Park Ave. in the wake of the 510 S. Eighth St. closure.
Agate is partnering with Trellis on a $25 million building in south Minneapolis that will provide 54 shelter beds and 50 apartments for people transitioning out of homelessness. The building is under construction and expected to open to residents next winter.
