Good News ~ 2/15/26 - 2/21/26
Good News in Minnesota
Sunday February 15, 2026
small community churches that are increasing their community outreach are experiencing drastic increases in congregation size, with atheists even attending, just so that they can connect with a community in outreach.
Wednesday, February 18 is Dine Out or Donate day at local community restaurants. Here are just a few you could support and donate to.
Pedro Walcott of North Star Deli says the only reason he is open is because community rallied behind him. “I feel cared for, watched, and protected.”
Patti Soskin of “Yum! Kitchen and Bakery” has increased their costs by driving people to and from work.
Tammy Wong of Rainbow Chinese Restaurant & Bar says they don’t have enough customers and are dependent on community support.
Tow Truck driver Juan Leon has recovered over 250 vehicles abandoned by ICE after taking people. He returned them to their rightful families and refused to take a dime.
Luminaries lined 50th Street from 28th to 34th on Friday - organized by the Nokomis East Neighborhood Association and Branches Church.
Haven Watch’s fundraiser has reached over $1M. HavenWatch is the organization that greets detainees at the Whipple Building. They are released without their personal effects, no phone, and often without proper winter gear. An estimated 60-70% of those released are US citizens.
A GoFundMe campaign for Haven Watch launched on Jan 17th raised more that $666,000 from 9,300 donors. Their website has expanded into a broader community resource with legal and immigration questions, healthcare referrals, lost wages, rental assistance, and more. This is an organization and website with the motto “No One Walks Alone” that started just two months ago!
Stand With Minnesota connected 120 families with donations in the month of January.
Keep giving a shit.
Because we do.
Loving you fiercely.
TeriLeigh💜
p.s. if you are a MN Twin Cities woman - I’m hosting a meet-up on Saturday Feb 21st at 2pm. DM me to RSVP and get the address.
Monday February 16, 2026
Do you remember that mother of a 3mo old who was taken, leaving her 16yo to care for her 3mo old?
The baby had been purely on breast milk and wouldn’t take formula, so a local resident donated her breast milk, and started a mutual aid and gofundme campaign for moms and babies in need.
GOOD NEWS! That gofundme campaign raised $200K in just a few weeks —she used some of that money to pay bond and fly the mother home to reunite with her baby to continue the legal process of her asylum request!
Tuesday, February 17, 2026
a community in Alaska sent a box of Mental Health Kits to a community in St. Paul. These kits are lunchbox size packs of things like bubbles, coloring books, stress balls, colored pencils, key chains, gum, worry stones, and more.
Indigenous tribal leaders launched an emergency ID drive at the American Indian Center ensuring that every community member has the documentation to prove their citizenship and assert their rights.
“Ink for Justice” - Tattoo artists and studios across the Twin Cities have raised thousands in “flash tattoo” fundraisers. A popular tattoo is the rebel loon.
First Avenue ICEOUT Benefit, organized by Twin Cities United Performers sold out.
High school teachers, nurses, and therapists are serving extra duty as “ice patrol” - following school buses through their routes so that ICE can’t get too close.
It’s important to note, we aren’t sharing specific names and individual stories because all the mutual aid efforts are kept very secret for protection.
It’s also important to note that protests happen every single day. Many of them. In the suburbs, at the Whipple Building, at Bďote, on rural street corners, on highway overpasses, at Target stores, and so many more places.
Keep giving a shit.
I fiercely love you all,
TeriLeigh💜
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Comedian Dave Chappelle recently offered two short-notice pop-up shows in the Twin Cities, donating the proceeds to MN Mutual Aid, and visited the Alex Pretti Memorial.
The Big Turn Music Festival in Red Wing MN is this weekend. This is a rare indoors winter music festival with the mission and belief that the Big Turn is to turn toward the idea that culture doesn’t stop cuz conditions are harsh. This festival turns churches, bars, basements, and many other unique venues into music stages for the winter crowd.
First Lady Gwen Walz attended the Women’s March weekly protest that happens every Monday at 1pm on the corner of Snelling and Selby.
Our beloved Senator Hoffman received a standing ovation as he returned to the Senate floor for the first time after an assassination attempt on his life last year.
Our beloved Senator Melissa Hortmann, who was assassinated last year was honored on our Senate floor.
West St Paul Northern Service Center offers a popup fresh produce giveaway monthly. County Commissioner Joe Atkins volunteered to helpd distribute 25,000 pounds of fresh produce to local families in need. This year, families who are not in need are showing up to collect the food and bring it to those in need.
Insight Brewing is painting a giant mural of the Rebel Loon logo on their taproom wall.
Cities for Safe & Stable Communities is an coalition of 17 mayors of cities on both sides of the aisle. This coalition formed just 10 weeks ago and is actively speaking out.
While the weather has warmed up considerably at the same time as the feds have promised a draw-down, we Minnesotans know that winter isn’t over. We are expecting our usual dumping of Feb/Mar blizzards (the snowiest weeks of the year). We also know this probably means a different kind of ICE energy to resist.
The ICE presence here has shifted. They are acting more sinisterly, trickery is their heaviest hand now. They are pretending to break down in their cars to ask for help. They are showing up as Uber and Lyft drivers. And they are staking out for surveillance. I heard from my brother this morning that they are staking themselves outside a predominantly Hmong church to watch and stop the mutual aid deliveries coming and going from that church.
Please know, I don’t like calling this a “fight” because we are not fighting. We are not attacking. We are not violent. We are defending. We are resisting. And we are doing our best to do so as peacefully and according to our fierce love values.
I’ve had a number of Substack friends talk to me about wanting to visit Minnesota. Earlier I said no, because we would feel like we have to host you, and that was too much on our plates. But, these friends are now saying they want to come in the spring and summer to spend money here and help with the rebuild. We would love that! please come spend your money here and get to know our amazing diverse culture and beautiful land.
Keep giving a shit.
I love you all fiercely.
TeriLeigh💜
Thursday, February 19, 2026
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty reports that without cooperation from federal government to provide evidence in the shootings of Renee Good & Alex Pretti, over 1000 submissions of independent evidence (citizen testimonies and videos) have been made.
Marking the first time consequences have been issued for violation of a court order, Judge Laura Provinzino found Special Agent US Attorney Matthew Isihara in civil contempt for violation of a court order to release Rigoberto Soto-Jimenez from detention without his personal effects. Soto-Jimenez was released, in Texas without his identification documentation. Isihara will be fined $500/day until Soto-Jimenez’s personal effects are returned. (there are over 100 incidents of court orders for release that have been ignored. many detainees are shipped to Texas within 12-24 hours of detention, and if they are released, they are released in Texas without their personal effects and are left to find their own way back to MN).
Saturday Feb 28th is the annual Bed Race for Bridges where Minnesotans dress up in wild costumes and sled down the hills at Buck Hill on beds. This is a fundraiser for the non-profit organization Bridging, which provides furniture and household goods to people transitioning out of homelessness. We expect a really unique display of costumes this year.
MN Love Fundraiser delivered $123,000 in checks to Rapid Response Fund and the Immigrant Defense Network after an 18 day drive that shipped 800 prints, 6500 stickers, 1800 t-shirts, and 800 hoodies.
The MN DNR eagle cam is reporting evidence that the eagle couple has laid their first eggs!
The Singing Resistance has gone internationally viral and is now calling for a nationwide day of song. No official date has been set yet.
U2 released a surprise anti-ICE song honoring Renee Good.
Here in the Twin Cities we had an average snowfall during rush hour last night. It didn’t stop us from getting out to protest. There were numerous reports of “brand new larger vehicles with blackened windows and no front license plates” ended up in the ditch when they tried to speed up to pass people on the roads. Seems ICE doesn’t know how to drive in the snow, especially when a good freezing rain hit the ground before the snow came.
This time of year, the massive snowfalls of late February and into March always bring out the best of the best of Minnesotans as we dig each other out of the “white stuff”…particularly around the time of the MN State High School Basketball and Hockey Tournaments. I personally predict that the best of Minnesota is yet to come!
keep giving a shit.
I love you all fiercely,
TeriLeigh💜
Friday, February 20, 2026
Lots of really good news today.
I woke up a bit on the bouncey-side of the bed today!
The Bemidji MN Resistance Choir has been practicing and will debut soon.
Brandi Carlile is offering her Be Human: a Concert for Minneapolis at the Target Center tomorrow as a live-stream with concert proceeds going to Advocates for Human Rights.
Minnesota Legislature has introduced 11 bills to curb the use of force by federal agents.
The Bond Between, a local nonprofit supporting the pets and animals impacted by ICE hosted a “puppy party” to reduce stress and anxiety and increase oxytocin for students at Roosevelt High School - the school where ICE pepper sprayed and attacked students during dismissal just hours after Renee Good was killed.
The Ramsey County (the county for St. Paul MN) has pledged to investigate and prosecute all past and future incidents of use of force by federal officers.
Thousands of peaceful protestors filled the State Capitol on Wednesday 2/18 at a rally demanding accountability.
Nick Benson, as part of MN50501 has been tracking, monitoring and publicizing the deportation flights out of MSP airport. He has logged over 3000 people being sent out of Minnesota since the beginning of January alone, AND he reports that the flights have fewer people on them now!
Minneapolis has been named the happiest city in the United States, according to a new ranking that considers metro areas worldwide. It’s the only city ranked “gold” among a list of 250 cities in this London based research from Institute for Quality of Life.
The US Women’s Hockey team has won the gold medal at the Olympics, and many of the team members come from the Minnesota Frost Women’s Hockey team.
The city of Minneapolis has confirmed that it is working to preserve the Renee Good and Alex Pretti Memorials permanently.
Did you know that in 2024 a mechanical engineering team from the University of Minnesota successfully sent the new MN State Flag on its first-ever flight to space?
Thank you to everyone submitting good news to me via DM and comment.
I’m officially putting out a call for crowd-sourcing good news! This practice of looking for the good in my feeds every day took me out of the doom and gloom I was feeling after Alex died. I invite you to join me. Submit your MINNESOTA good news to me via DM and I’ll add them to my published lists.
Also, thank you to the kind souls who sent me “ope…you made a mistake…” messages. I appreciate your kindness in your corrections. All oopsies have been edited to correct.
thanks for giving a shit
I love you all fiercely!
TeriLeigh💜
Saturday, February 21, 2026
A kidney transplant recipient who was arrested Feb 5th in Rochester MN was denied the medical attention he needed and was flown by DHS to a detention facility in El Paso Texas. By court order, he is now home reunited with his family and working with his medical team to recover from the last weeks’ disruption from his treatment plan.
Edwin Dastro, after winning the $2B Powerball jackpot is dedicating his fortune to rebuilding homes lost in the devastating Eaton Fire. Although this is not MN good news, I feel it is important to show that some billionaires are directing their wealth to good causes.
St. Paul City Council voted on Wednesday to require all law enforcement officers operating in the city to show their faces and to display badges.
During a heavy snowfall, Micah Stewart, a volunteer caretaker for the Alex Pretti Memorial cleared the snow around the memorial to read “HERO”
Mercado Central, an immigrant owned business, is now receiving a boost in business as local retired community members and church groups have started filling the business at lunchtimes.
If you haven’t seen my video-post from last night, check it out here.
This is my first-hand account of the creepy and weird behaviors of ICE. They were heavily present in downtown St. Paul last night. It felt like ICE was patrolling the streets saying “we’re in charge here” and the SPPD and State Patrol were patrolling ICE saying “not on our watch”. It was very weird. At least that is how I choose to view it. I felt supported by SPPD and State Patrol as I drove home from downtown last night.
Please keep sending me your examples of Fierce Love and Good News in Minnesota.
thank you for giving a shit.
I love you all fiercely.
TeriLeigh💜
