Tiny Home Fundraiser Goal Met!

Over the past few weeks we held a fundraiser to help our partner organization, Settled. We’ve wanted to build a second tiny home and support the first Twin Cities settlement to serve our neighbors struggling with homelessness. We’re happy to say we’ve surpassed our goal of $35,000 with a total of $38,049 — thanks to you! Continue reading to learn more about Settled, and the positive impact reaching this goal will have on our community!

A BRIEF HISTORY

Since 2018 our church has been partnering with Settled, a non-profit exploring the idea that tiny home settlements on church properties can help tackle chronic homelessness. Last summer we helped complete the construction of the first prototype home (nicknamed Lil Peach), and since then Settled has been using it to bring people on board with this vision for how the Church can serve our neighbors experiencing homelessness.

And it’s working!

• Colonial Church in Edina is adding to our tiny home display and building another prototype home this summer.
• A group of volunteers from Woodbury Lutheran has raised funds and plans to build a home in our parking lot.
• Faith Lutheran in Forest Lake is considering a partnership with Settled that would bring a tiny home pilot settlement to suburban Washington County.
• Mosaic Church is considering a partnership with Settled that would bring a tiny home pilot settlement to the East Side of St. Paul.

The strategy behind building a model home and using it for awareness-building is working, and we couldn’t be happier!

WHAT’S NEXT?

We’ve surpassed our goal of raising $35,000 to continue supporting this important work:

1. In cooperation with Colonial Church, we’ll be able to continue to add to the tiny home display by building another tiny home in our parking lot this summer! Lil Peach has been effective in helping get the word out. But in partnership with these other churches, we’d like to assemble a display of a few homes, since tiny home settlements will always be established in clusters. Then, both homes we’ve helped build will be used as part of the first Twin Cities settlement, wherever that ends up being!
2. We’ll help develop a nine-month training program that will equip volunteers from a number of churches who will help sustain the first tiny home settlement.
3. We’ll be able to help offset the costs associated with moving the tiny home prototypes around the Twin Cities and hosting learning experiences.

You can learn more about Settled and their progress here, and by visiting their website.

Thank you for your support!