6 GROUNDCOVER NEWS YPSILANTI APRIL 19, 2024 Left: Kat Layton, Pastor Anna, Monique Taylor-McCants and Justin Banks taking a break during the clean-up day on April 7. Right: Volunteers cleaning windows of the building upfront of the Growing Hope MarketPlace Hall, FedUp's new home base! “A ministry of presence:” With a new downtown location, FedUp continues to grow hope in Ypsi I want to start by giving a big shoutout to Growing Hope for sharing their Farmers Marketplace (16 S. Washington St.) with the community. I myself have visited FedUp church service and food truck several times this past year and have always enjoyed my time spent there. I say, thank you to Growing Hope! After some time looking around Ypsilanti for a building to provide needed services to the downtown Ypsi area, FedUp Ministries made an agreement with Growing Hope. They decided to rent the front space, the old bank on Washington Street (now called Black Lives Matter Boulevard). The agreement outlines that FedUp Ministries will rent the building to continue to provide services for those in need of food, clothing, showers, laundry, bathroom access and more. FedUp will rent space for the summer on a trial basis to see how things go. I got a chance to talk to the founder of FedUp Ministries, Rev. Anna Then I asked her when FedUp MinMIKE JONES Groundcover vendor No. 113 istries plans to officially open up for service in the new space. She said, “We will start our weekly Sunday church service in May. In June, we plan to have portable showers, laundry and bathrooms, and to serve breakfast and lunch two to three times a week because unlike Ann Arbor, the downtown area of Ypsi has limited bathrooms available due to the temporary downtown library closure. "Also, the Ypsilanti community does Taylor-McCants, after Sunday service April 7. The first question I asked her was, “How did the first day of clean-up go after church service Sunday?” She replied, “It was really good. We had a dozen or more people come out to support and volunteer. It was a beautiful thing, people from all around the community, people from different backgrounds came to help clean and now we are about to enter our painting phase.” not have a breakfast program, and if a person who can’t afford bus fare won’t be able to get to Ann Arbor for the St. Andrew’s breakfast program, [they won’t be able to access food early in the morning]. On the weekend the bus starts at 8 a.m., thus leaving the Ypsilanti community without the most important meal of the day. Ypsilanti mainly has dinner programs like the Hope Clinic that serves dinner every evening, and other churches also have less frequent dinner programs. We plan to fill the gap for our community. Our services will be just like we've been running our services, everybody can eat free, and if you can afford it you can donate.” I also interviewed Sheri Wander of Peace House, a supporter and friend of the FedUp Ministries community, about her thoughts on the new space for worship and survival services. She said, “I think it is great because a lot of people gravitate to that area, being right downtown, even though people and business owners had their grievances and some legitimate concerns about the area and the unhoused community. Last summer people from the neighborhood and local business owners had a problem with the unhoused community sleeping in that area and took action to remove the unhoused and attempted to put up a fence around the area…” “[In August 2023 there was] a mini-protest and confrontation between the unhoused and advocates vs. neighbors and local business. Since that time to this present moment, FedUp has continued their presence there and throughout the Washtenaw County area providing free meals and showers for those in need. “So now that there is no more daytime warming center and the Ypsilanti nighttime shelter program [has closed], FedUp’s presence will be needed for hot meals, clothing and showers throughout the week. “‘A ministry of presence’ Pastor Anna calls it. A lot got done [at the clean-up day] and a really diverse group of people came out in support and to help, like people from Growing Hope, people who are unhoused and formerly unhoused and people from all walks of life who made connections through volunteering working side by side. It was a beautiful day, we were playing Motown music, and everybody was working and having fun. “There will be food, drinks, showers, laundry, bathrooms, church service, other services and activities. Peace House will be in full support.” FedUp Ministries summertime schedule starting in May: Church service 10 a.m. and food truck 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at Growing Hope every Sunday. Showers and bathrooms available. Every Wednesday food truck will be at Liberty Plaza in Ann Arbor at noon and will be at the Ypsilanti Transit Center at 1:30-2:30 p.m. Starting in June: Breakfast, lunch, showers, laundry, bathrooms and other services to be continued multiple times a week throughout the summer.
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