Lake Street business owner joins with Latino nonprofit to raise $1M for families

On a recent morning, a normally cheery Daniel Hernandez was visibly distressed at his eerily quiet Colonial Market on Lake Street in Minneapolis.

Customers suddenly are scarce. And 11 of the dozen tiny shops that rent space inside his Colonial Market building have shut down as the immigration crackdown deepened its effects on the Latino community in the Twin Cities.

Hernandez is determined to help and has paired up with north Minneapolis nonprofit Nuestra Lucha to raise $1 million to buy food for struggling Latino families and from struggling Latino businesses negatively affected as the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement activity increased.

It is one of several mutual-aid efforts popping up statewide to address what economists and business leaders say is a crisis hitting main streets and neighborhoods.

This week, the state’s economic arm, the Minneapolis Foundation, churches, unions and small shops like Colonial Market and Ingebretsen’s Scandinavian Gifts & Foods all launched food and fundraising drives to mitigate the crisis.

Hernandez said the crisis has been building for weeks as the immigration crackdown surged.

Of his 12 family-owned business tenants, “all of them told me they are not going to make it,” he said. “And some of them, I cannot [now] find.”

Civic and elected leaders have held several press conferences and made public pleas for more Minnesotans to spend money at small restaurants, groceries and other businesses impacted by what the Department of Homeland Security is calling “Operation Metro Surge.”

The Minneapolis Foundation also announced 28 corporations created a $3.5 million emergency response grant fund for local small businesses hurt by the ICE crackdown.

The Food Group on Jan. 30 started an outreach to get foods to impacted immigrants as well. The nonprofit has raised $50,000 so far for the Ready Response Fund, said Executive Director Sophia Lenarz-Coy.

“Increased ICE presence in Minnesota has been negatively impacting equitable food access,” she said. “Food shelves are seeing dramatic declines in visits from many communities of color because so many are afraid to leave their homes.”

Hernandez said he will push for the Nuestra Lucha campaign to spend money at the Latino merchants to “help sustain these struggling businesses.”

Yet he knows he is not alone. He turned to Nuestra Lucha because it already had started a rent relief fund and knew how to get aid to people quickly.

Julie Ingebretsen, who owns the 105-year old Ingebretesen Scandinavian Gifts & Foods on Lake Street, started a food drive for two area food shelves on Monday, Jan. 26.

By noon Jan. 27, neighbors, friends and customers filled two rooms with donations three times already.

Minnesotans have been incredibly supportive, Ingebretsen said. “It’s just really heartening.”

It was a respite after a tough six weeks.

“That’s really horrible and hard to watch, but we watch,” she said. ”All of a sudden we’ll hear a lot of whistles, and [see] a lot of people running towards the intersection here. And then there will be a bunch of the big SUVs that they drive, blocking traffic and just being there. What they’re targeting is the customers going into the [Somali] store.”

Most of the businesses by her are run by Latinos. They are all locking their doors.

Her traffic is down roughly 25%, she said. Some customers call, saying they are too fearful to shop in person. Other customers intentionally trek in and spend a little extra at her deli counter.

She, like Hernandez, said their employees are terrified. Most live in the area as well.

Hernandez said he will continue to try and help them and neighbors.