Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said it is among his worst memories, a moment tattooed on his heart. On Aug. 27, 2025, Frey was racing to the scene the morning of the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School. Frey said he will never forget one father.
“He was carrying a toddler like it was a football and kicking off his flip-flops so he could run faster toward the church and school,” Frey recalled. “He looked at me to ask, ‘Do you know anything? Is my kid ok?’ It was the most helpless, awful feeling to not know anything at all.”
The Annunciation Hope and Healing Fund, established by the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota, is one of several organizations receiving a portion of $1 million in grant funding from the United Health Foundation. Additional recipients are the Washburn Center for Children, the Minneapolis Foundation and the Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery.
During an announcement in Minneapolis on Aug. 4, leaders of each organization joined staff and community members for lunch, remarks and a volunteer project assembling 200 backpacks filled with school supplies for children and families served by the Washburn Center for Children ahead of the upcoming school year.
According to America’s Health Rankings, Minnesota children diagnosed with mental or behavioral health conditions increased from 18.1% in 2016-2017 to 22.7% in 2023-2024.
“In this moment across the country we’re facing lots of challenges, and unfortunately the kids of families in the Twin Cities and Minnesota are not immune to those challenges,” said UnitedHealthcare CEO Tim Noel.
Noel recounted the organization’s own horrific event on Dec. 4, 2024. “My very good friend and colleague Brian Thompson was murdered.” During what he recalled as a difficult time for the organization, the outpouring of support from neighbors, friends and the community was profound. “In a moment that was very difficult for me, that was a ray of hope.”
Noel said community means showing up for each other and the $1 million grant from United Health Foundation is going towards organizations doing just that, like the Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery, which last year answered 3,800 calls from caregivers experiencing crisis.
“We meet families during one of the most overwhelming moments of their lives,” said Katie Fitzpatrick, president of the Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery, which provides short-term, overnight respite and care for children from newborn to age 6, giving parents and caregivers time to address personal crisis while knowing their children are safe.
Despite the level of loss and need in Minneapolis, efforts to make the memories of support stronger than those of tragedy are growing.
“I would like this community to be known, not for the tragedies we’ve endured, but for the way in which we’ve pulled together as a community to support one another, and we’re happy to do our little part,” Noel said.
