The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office has the horrible task of finding drowning victims. Because they have removed the bodies of too many children of color from local lakes, they have teamed up with the Minneapolis Park Board to offer low-cost swimming lessons to vulner...

Minnesotans have truly earned a stretch of warm weather and blue skies this year and with any luck that time is getting close. With the promise of summer comes the great switchover. No more flannel sheets, parkas, and mittens; bring on the shorts and flip flops.

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 So have those goldfish from the school carnival multiplied beyond the capacity of your bowl or do you have an overly aggressive fish eating the rest of the aquariums residents? Some folks in your position free their extra finny friends to live in one of Minnesota's 10...

Overwhelmed by craft stuff? Embarrassed by your sewing room? Have no idea where all those half skeins of unused yarn came from? Need to get rid of your ex's loom so you can store more fabric?

Well, the Textile Center in Minneapolis has an amazing one-day, drive through...

The folks, dogs, cats, and even bunnies at the shelters need your stuff. Turns out they go through lots of blankets, towels, and washcloths keeping the animals warm, clean, and dry. Best of all the animals aren't picky so those stained towels, ugly blankets, and even w...

Inspired by Marie Kondo's book, Netflix show, or a cold day in January you now have a whole pile of  things that no longer spark joy in you and now need to figure out what to do with them. Trash, treasure, donation, sale? So many choices.

From the regular phone calls, m...

Not only do stuffed animals breed in the captivity of our children's rooms, they rarely practice birth control so the herds keep growing. Very few charities seek donations of stuffed anmals, but this December there is a special exception.
Minneapolis Toy Library in Ric...

This year , thanks to your extra stuff, you can be Santa to your struggling neighbors.

When you haul out the boxes of holiday decorations do you notice how many you don't use?  Maybe you've simplified and your need for baubles has decreased or you are no longer obligate...

This week I checked in with a friend who teaches pre-school in St Paul. Sometimes her students come to school without boots and mittens so they can't build snowmen and play outside with their classmates. I help her fill the winter wardrobe gaps so all thess kids can pl...

 Your kids sure looked cute as little skeletons and pumpkins but they've long since outgrown those cute costumes and those witches hats and wigs are just adding to the clutter at your house.
Families that are just scraping by want their kids to celebrate Halloween too...