Your World - Heroine of the Month
November 2009
Mary Jo Copeland

 

Mary Jo Copeland 

Heroine: a woman having the qualities of a hero; a woman admired and emulated for her achievements and qualities; the central female figure in an event or period. 

The people on the streets of Minneapolis call her their ‘street mother.’ City officials call her ‘an extraordinary leader’ and an ‘urban saint.’ “Married with 12 children of her own, Mary Jo Copeland is also the founder of a charity that each month serves over 10,000 people. But the thing that bothers some people about Mary Jo Copeland is that she washes the blistered, bleeding, stinking feet of the poor.” –Kim Ode, Good Housekeeping magazine

But Mary Jo Copeland, the founder and director of Sharing and Caring Hands, is not looking for praise. She knows from personal experience what it is to live in poverty and brokenness, and is striving to make the world a better place for the poor today. Married to Dick Copeland, they have 12 children (6 boys and 6 girls), Mary Jo was a full time mother until her youngest child began school, at which time she began volunteering at Catholic Charities working with the poor and hurting of Minneapolis.

She soon started a 28 church Branch Lunch Line, and then in 1985 she started Sharing and Caring Hands, a volunteer organization for concerned people to get directly involved in helping meet the needs for the less fortunate of our society, with few salaries and no bureaucracy, donations go directly to the needs of the poor. Sharing and Caring Hands has grown from a small volunteer organization with a $5,000 a month budget working out of a 2,000 square-foot storefront, to a large volunteer organization that spends over $300,000 a month on the needs of over 20,000 people who come through their doors monthly.

Mary Jo’s work has been recognized in three books, many television stories and newspaper and magazine articles, including in Readers Digest, Good Housekeeping, People, and New York Times magazine. She has received many awards and commendations, including being named One of the most Caring People in America by the Caring Institute in Washington, D.C., the Norman Vincent Peale Unsung Hero Award, the Pax Christi Award for living the life that Jesus taught, Person of the Week on NBC's nightly news with Peter Jennings, and was a featured speaker at the 2001 Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C.Without taking a salary, Mary Jo continues to work daily caring for the needs of the poor.

Quotes by Mary Jo Copeland

“A Smile and an Outstretched Hand is the beginning of a Miracle in the Unspoken Need of Another Heart.”  

“When someone is drowning, you do more than throw a life preserver. You get into the water.”

“Treat people as if they were Jesus and as Jesus would treat them. That’s what we’re called to do.”  

“God doesn’t make riff-raff.”

More about Mary Jo Copeland:
Hear Mary Jo tell some of the stories of the poor (11 minutes)
See Video “It’s hard to be Poor” (25 minutes)
People Magazine - Mother of Mercy
Star Tribune - Faith, talent for persuasion help her help the homeless



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