UPDATE 6/5/2020: Free Geek Twin Cities will remain closed through the weekend of 6/5/2020. Our building is still safe, but we've seen a number of our neighbor's buildings destroyed. We've seen a lot of destruction around our block, and we're blessed and thankful that Free Geek has been spared. We hope that the level of danger in our neighborhood will make it possible to safely be open for donations and pickup of online purchases.
We appreciate the support and patience of our community during this time. Especially for our customers who have made purchases and must wait, we understand this delay can be frustrating. Please bear with us—the world is changing in such an extraordinary way and we too are seeing the profound impact of the last week on our community. We will resume normal hours of operations as soon as we are confident that we can do so safely.
Sincerely,
The Free Geek Twin Cities Staff.
Original Post:
Free Geek Twin Cities will be closed until further notice, out of a profound sense of caution for the still-developing situation in our neighborhood. A lot has happened over the past few days, and our hearts ache for the family of George Floyd, our neighboring stores and shops, and the people who rely on Seward, Longfellow, and Minnehaha.
Free Geek Twin Cities will still allow people to make purchases on our website, but will be unable to be picked up until we re-open again. Any orders that are currently open will have the option to cancel them, or pick them up within a week after we re-open. Please check your email if you’ve made an order with us and haven’t picked it up yet.
This comes at an incredibly heartbreaking time, as we just re-opened our doors on Wednesday, but we care deeply for the safety of our customers and our staff. It’s going to be a different world when we get through this, but we hope that we get to see you when this is all through.
Free Geek Twin Cities would like to take a moment to share with you a message we received from one of our partners, Jake Blumberg of GiveMN, about the current events happening in our community. They were able to word it better than we ever could. We stand with our community. Stay safe out there.
Dear colleagues,
Today, we had planned to email you regarding an event announcement—but, we are going to send that email at another time. Instead, we want to acknowledge the heartbreaking events which have taken place in Minneapolis this week. As you read this, we hope you are taking care of yourself in whatever ways you can.
GiveMN joins our community in mourning the death of Mr. George Floyd, who died while in Minneapolis police custody. We think of Mr. Floyd’s family and friends, and of Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) in our community and around the country who are again suffering trauma because of systemic injustices.
Communities of color have also been the most impacted by COVID-19, with more critical hospitalizations, more impactful loss of income, and more economic instability caused by the pandemic. The death of Mr. Floyd amplifies this pain and reminds us that even when a virus brings our community to its knees, social injustice can knock us down even further. We feel the pain today of not just Mr. Floyd’s family and friends, but of BIPOC people everywhere.
Our board and staff recognize that the nonprofit sector also has significant inequities and bias within it. Systems are never easy to change, but we are committed to making change where we can. Our mission of igniting generosity and growing giving isn’t fully addressed until we center and act upon anti-racism and equity in our own sphere of influence around fundraising and philanthropy. Our team is committed to consistently engaging in that work, sometimes imperfectly, as we map our course forward in partnership with our community. We stand together in unity and demand a better tomorrow.
Our hearts are heavy as we mourn the devastating loss of a member of our community, and the injustice it represents. We are deeply grateful to organizations and leaders who are in the work of changing our broken systems on a daily basis. COVID-19, and the tragedy of this week, is testing our community resilience, amplifying every critical issue our most vulnerable neighbors face. As nonprofit and school leaders, you are on the front lines, holding our communities together, and we hope you are able to find ways to care for yourselves as you do all of your critical work for our community.
Together we will prevail though all of this, and reimagine Minnesota as a more prosperous, just, and equitable place.
Take good care,
Jake Blumberg
Executive Director, GiveMN
