Adopt-A-Family for the Holidays MN

06/15/2026

Thank You, Friends. 💞

This weekend's deliveries may have only been for a couple of local families, but to those families, the impact was anything but small.

We want to extend our deepest gratitude to everyone who sent grocery delivery orders, dropped off food donations, shared encouragement, and helped make these deliveries possible.

As many of you know, I was hospitalized last week and had just been discharged. Because of that, Brian handled Sunday's deliveries on his own before turning around and coming to pick me up.

The food donations that arrived at our door were an enormous help to him. He didn't have to shop. He only had to sort and deliver. They saved time, reduced stress, and allowed Brian to focus on what mattered most: getting groceries and essentials into the hands of families who truly needed them.

The two moms we focused on this weekend were incredibly grateful.

For both families, opening their refrigerators and seeing food inside wasn't just practical help. It was relief. It was one less thing to worry about. It was a reminder that people care.

Sometimes it can feel like helping one family or two families at a time isn't enough. But when you're the person wondering how you'll make it through the week, that support can mean everything.

Every grocery bag matters.
Every meal matters.
Every kind message matters.

Whether you sent a full grocery order, dropped off a few pantry items, donated, or simply shared our posts, you became part of something bigger than any one person. You became part of a community coming together to lighten the load for a neighbor.

That has always been what this project is about. 💞 🫂

We are incredibly proud of the community we call home. The kindness, generosity, and willingness to show up for complete strangers continues to amaze us ~ week after week, year after year.

Thank you for helping Brian make these deliveries possible.
Thank you for helping these families breathe a little easier.
And thank you for proving once again that "Minnesota Nice" is more than just a phrase. It's something we get to witness in action every single week.

With gratitude,

Bethany & Brian 💞

06/12/2026

Good Morning Friends!
This weekend we will be delivering groceries, household essentials, and hygiene items to two local families in the Princeton area.

The first family is a hardworking single mom raising two little ones, ages 3 and 4. Like so many families, she was doing her best to stay afloat until an unexpected car repair created a financial setback. After paying for the repair, there simply wasn't much left for groceries.

The second family is a brave mom and her three teenage children who recently escaped an abusive domestic violence situation. They are working to rebuild their lives, create stability, and find peace after a very difficult chapter. Right now, they would be grateful for some groceries in the refrigerator and basic hygiene items to help them get through the coming weeks.

While I am usually part of our deliveries, I am currently at North Memorial Hospital receiving treatment for a GI.bleed and am not feeling my best. Brian will be handling deliveries, and thankfully he has done this many times before and always takes wonderful care of the families we serve.

As always, thank you for making these deliveries possible. Every gallon of milk, every loaf of bread, every package of toilet paper, every bottle of shampoo, and every act of kindness reminds these families that they are not facing life's challenges alone.

If you would like to help, donations of groceries, hygiene items, household essentials, or financial contributions toward food purchases are always appreciated.
Thank you for continuing to stand beside local families when they need it most.

As always if you are sending drop off order of fresh produce or meats etc please schedule it for Sunday morning so that we just have a quick turnaround time.

Bethany Nelson-Lieser
4875 Drake Circle
Big Lake, MN 55309

https://www.venmo.com/u/AdoptaFamilyForTheHolidays-MN

05/27/2026

A special thank-you to Brendan J for creating our new Adopt-A-Family For The Holidays MN website !!! This will help make our application, sponsorship, donation, volunteer, and referral process so much easier, while keeping family privacy and dignity first.

On top of website and software development, Brendan also runs:

Rebooked
https://rebooked.org

Regsguard
https://regsguard.rebooked.org

He has also offered to donate 25% of proceeds from those projects back to Adopt-A-Family for the Holidays MN. That's a huge Blessing!!!

Thank you, Brendan, for using your time and talents to support our mission of neighbors helping neighbors.

Bethany Nelson-Lieser
[email protected]
612-384-6318

https://adoptafamilyfortheholidaysmn.org

Rebooked helps service businesses follow up with old leads, missed calls, inactive customers, no-shows, and unbooked estimates so more revenue comes back without extra manual work.

05/24/2026

MEMORIAL DAY UPDATES !! 💞

Over the weekend, we were able to meet with our Minnesota highlighted Mom of the Month a couple of different times, and thanks to this community, we were able to bring groceries ~ both perishables, non-perishables, fresh fruits and vegetables, snacks, and hygiene items directly to her family.

Every single item received was donated. Every dollar given toward rent has gone directly to this grieving mom. And we are incredibly grateful. 🫶🏼

Right now, we are still approximately $650 short of the $1,375 rent goal for June. (As of 6/25)

This grieving mom is doing everything she can for her family.
She is working TWO full-time jobs while navigating unimaginable grief after the loss of her teenage son in April following a long struggle with mental health.

One of her jobs is completely commission-based, meaning income can fluctuate wildly and often arrives weeks later. Her second position is very new and pays minimum wage.

And still... she keeps going.
She has four remaining children depending on her. School is ending. Summer is beginning. Counseling appointments continue. Bills continue. Life continues.

And if we're being honest? She is exhausted.
Not lazy. Not unwilling. Not looking for a handout without working hard herself.

Just deeply tired in the way grief settles into a person's bones while the world keeps demanding more from them anyway.

She has been incredibly thankful for every meal, every snack for the kids, every package of hygiene items, every kind message, every prayer, and every person who has shown up for her family.

We had extra food to share this weekend, and being able to bless her with those extras mattered more than you know.

Thank you for reminding people they are not alone in the hardest seasons of their lives.

If anyone would still like to help us close the remaining gap toward June rent or help with their other needs, please send a private message, email or see links below.

Love really does look like groceries on a counter. Gas in a car. A paid utility bill. Fresh fruit in the fridge. And one less thing for a grieving mother to carry alone.

Continually Upwards,

Bethany Nelson-Lieser
[email protected]
612-384-6318

*If sending an e-Walmart or e-Target gift card:
[email protected]

*If sending a delivery order
Bethany Nelson Lieser
4875 Drake Circle
Big Lake, MN
55309

If contributing to June rent (she knows she will be self-sufficient for July and will be able to pay all rent & bills moving forward. She's so grateful for the breathing room she's been gifted. Thank you) 💞

https://www.venmo.com/u/AdoptaFamilyForTheHolidays-MN

We also have pay pal 🫂

05/21/2026

FOCUSING ON ONE FAMILY THIS WEEKEND 🍔 🌭 🌽

Hi Friends,

Earlier this month we introduced a local mom who lost her teenage son in April after a long struggle with mental health. Since then, many of you have followed her story through our newsletter and previous posts, and the kindness shown toward her family has meant more than words can explain.

Right now, she is doing everything she can to stay afloat.

She is working TWO full time jobs while grieving the unimaginable. One position is hourly and pays bi-weekly. The other is completely commission based, which means income is unpredictable and delayed. She just received her first paycheck from the hourly position last Friday and immediately used it to catch up her electric bill, gas, trash, and phone bill.

There is NO extra here. No vacations. No streaming services. No shopping for clothes/shoes. No movie nights out. No fast food...
No hidden safety net.

She is a grieving mother trying to keep life stable for her four remaining children while waking up every day carrying a loss most of us cannot even imagine surviving.

June rent is approaching quickly. It's $1375/mo

She does not qualify for emergency assistance because of her status as a commission based employee... Something she believes will lead to financial stability.

For the first time in a while, she is very close to being self-sufficient month-to-month, which is huge.

But she has absolutely no cushion yet. No emergency savings. No breathing room. One setback right now could unravel everything she has fought so hard to rebuild.

Food is also running extremely low for the family, which is why this is the **ONE** family we are focusing on this week. Sometimes the most compassionate thing we can do is fully surround one hurting family instead of stretching ourselves too thin.

We are delivering on Sunday

Suggested food items:
🍝 Pasta & sauce
🥣 Soups
🍕 Frozen pizzas
🧀 Mac & cheese
🍗 Chicken nuggets
🥪 Lunch meat & cheese
🥛 Milk
🥚 Eggs
🍎 Fruit
🥦 Fresh Vegetables
🧃 Juice boxes
🍲 Microwave meals
🥣 Cereal
🍞 Bread
🍪 Easy snacks for kids
🎂 Birthday Cake - June 2nd Birthday
🍨 Ice Cream

Fast meals matter right now.
Grief is exhausting. Survival mode changes everything. Sometimes just having food that can be made quickly after a long workday is its own kind of mercy.

As always, we are simply neighbors helping neighbors.
Not a nonprofit. No grants.
No large funding source behind us. Just ordinary people trying to carry one small corner of someone else’s pain for a little while.

If you can help in any way, thank you. If you cannot, sharing still matters more than people realize.

Sometimes survival happens one grocery bag, one meal, one gas card, and one act of kindness at a time. 💞

If sending a Target or Walmart delivery order

Bethany Nelson Lieser
4875 Drake Circle
Big Lake, MN
55309

If sending an e-Target or e-Walmart gift card:
[email protected]

If donating to our program venmo, please specify groceries or rent in the notes.

The direct link is

https://www.venmo.com/u/AdoptaFamilyForTheHolidays-MN

Thank you for helping!

Bethany Nelson-Lieser
[email protected]
612-384-6318

05/17/2026

Hi Friends, 🌱 🌷 🏡

Earlier this month, we shared about a single mom of five who lost her teenage son in April after his struggles with mental health.
There are some griefs that split a life into a before and after. This is one of them.

Since his passing, she has continued getting up every single morning and doing what mothers do even when their hearts are shattered into pieces nobody can see.

She is currently working TWO jobs. One is commission-based. The other is hourly.

The difficult reality is that commission work looks stable on paper long before money actually arrives. She has closings coming in June if everything goes through smoothly, but right now, she is surviving in the space between effort and paycheck.

Her hourly position will finally begin bringing consistent income next Friday.

She is so close.

So incredibly close.

May rent has already been paid in full. She has stretched every dollar possible to keep utilities on, making partial payments wherever she can just to buy more time.

But June rent is now approaching quickly.
$1,375.
And behind that number is a mother carrying impossible weight while trying not to let her remaining children feel every ounce of it.

When people imagine someone struggling financially, they often picture irresponsibility.

This is not that.

This is a mom who thrifts. A mom who cooks meals and bakes from scratch. A mom who budgets down to the dollar. A mom who has no credit cards to fall back on. A mom who skips things for herself constantly just to make sure her children have what they need. They don't even have cable TV or streaming services and rely on DVD movies for entertainment.

No salon appointments. No luxury spending. No vacations. No safety net.

Just survival.

And grief.

The kind of grief that still has to wake up and pack lunches, go to work, answer emails, pay copays, refill anxiety medications, attend counseling appointments, put gas in the car, feed pets, and somehow continue functioning while carrying the unthinkable.

When you break it down, the monthly basics most of us quietly rely on become overwhelming when there’s nothing left in savings:

Rent. Gas. Electric. Phone. Internet. Groceries. Pet food. Trash pickup. Hygiene items.

And still... she keeps trying.

We helped with food and hygiene last weekend, and the donations from this weekend were already committed to the three families we promised to help (and DID. THANK YOU 💞)

If it feels like we are always fundraising or asking for donations... honestly, we are. That’s the reality of grassroots community work in real time. But we never want anyone to feel obligated or pressured. Ever.

Some people give financially.
Some people send groceries. Some people share posts.
Some people quietly network behind the scenes.

Every single one matters.

Sometimes ONE share reaches the exact person who was waiting to help.

Right now, we are simply asking:
Can we help carry this family through June? Can we help cover rent? Can we help with gas so she can keep getting to work? Can we help stabilize things long enough for her paychecks and commissions to begin catching up?

Her vehicle recently needed a new alternator. We’ve gotten her this far together.

She is SO grateful. ✨

Now we’re trying to help her reach the other side of survival mode.
If you can help in any way, thank you. If you cannot, please simply share.

Because sometimes healing starts with people refusing to let someone drown alone. 💞

Thank you for helping!!!

Bethany Nelson-Lieser

Adopt-A-Family for the Holidays MN
[email protected]
612-384-6318

Direct Link:

https://www.venmo.com/u/AdoptaFamilyForTheHolidays-MN

05/17/2026

ART SUPPLY DONATION REQUEST
🎨 🫟

If you’ve never watched someone slowly begin choosing healing instead of self-destruction… it’s difficult to explain what that transformation looks like in real time.

Sometimes it starts quietly.
A man sitting alone with a paintbrush. A canvas instead of chaos. Color instead of numbing. Expression instead of shutting down.

Brian and I are gathering art supplies for the men in inpatient treatment at NorthStar Regional Health - Riverwood Campus, in Otsego. Brian works there as a Counselor.

Many of these men are fighting for their lives in ways people never fully see. They are working through trauma, addiction, grief, mental health struggles, shame, loss, and years of survival mode. And one thing we have witnessed over and over again is this:

Art therapy helps.
Not because it magically fixes everything. But because creativity gives people somewhere safe to place the things they cannot always say out loud.

Right now, the biggest needs are:
🖌 Paintbrushes
🖼 Canvas boards
🎨 Stretched canvases (ALL sizes welcome)
📒 Watercolor paper
💧 Watercolors
✍️ Gel pens, sketch supplies, markers, etc.

We do currently have quite a few small acrylic paint bottles, adult coloring books and colored pencils, but we could always use more.

Gently used supplies are absolutely welcome too.

🚫 Please *NO* oil paints due to the fumes in the facility. 🚫

Some of these men are incredibly talented artists. Others haven’t touched anything creative in years because addiction consumed every part of them. Watching someone reconnect with themselves through art is honestly one of the most human things I’ve ever witnessed.

Brian and I normally help provide many of these supplies ourselves, but these last couple months, between my ongoing health issues and outside medical commitments, we simply haven’t been able to keep up the way we usually do.

📦 Amazon deliveries can be sent DIRECTLY to the treatment center:

NorthStar Regional Health
Attn. Brian Lieser - COUNSELOR
10990 95th St NE
Otsego, MN 55362

Or items can be mailed or dropped off to our home if preferred.

Brian Lieser
4875 Drake Circle
Big Lake, MN
55309

If contributing to one of our program specific monetary platforms - please specify ART SUPPLIES so we designate funds to this project.

Thank you for believing people are still worth investing in while they heal. Sometimes recovery begins with something as small as a blank canvas and one person believing they’re still capable of creating something beautiful. 🎨 💞

Continually Upwards,

Bethany Nelson-Lieser

[email protected]
612-384-6318

Direct Link:

https://www.venmo.com/u/AdoptaFamilyForTheHolidays-MN

05/16/2026

UPDATE: ALL 3 DELIVERIES HAVE BEEN MADE 💞 A HUGE SHOUT OUT to everyone who shared, prayed, donated, helped pack/load and deliver!

🫂💞🫂💞🫂💞🫂

There is STILL time to make a difference!

If dropping off donations or sending a delivery order

Bethany Nelson Lieser
4875 Drake Circle
Big Lake, MN
55309

If sending an e-Target or e-Walmart gift card:

[email protected]

If you prefer Venmo the direct link is below. We also have Pay Pal

https://www.venmo.com/u/AdoptaFamilyForTheHolidays-MN

05/16/2026

Update! So far, we’ve had a $50 donation and a $75 donation come in. 💞

Right now, physical donations are just as important to us as monetary support. Nonperishables, hygiene items, diapers, paper products, and pantry basics all make a huge difference for the families we’re helping.

As much momentum and community support as we’ve had, we also knew there would likely come a point where the grocery drive would begin slowing down.

We are incredibly grateful for every single person who helped carry this this far. Truly. You’ve helped feed families, fill cupboards, and remind people they are not alone.

At this point, I believe after this weekend we may need to bring the grocery drive to an end, at least in its current form. Unfortunately, it just isn’t sustainable long-term without larger infrastructure and ongoing support.

I’m going to start researching other avenues and exploring possible partnerships with larger food shelves and organizations. Years ago, we were able to do weekly community grocery outreach through Serenity Village Community Church, but that program eventually came to an end on their side as well.

Thank you for believing in neighbors helping neighbors. Every bag of groceries, every roll of toilet paper, every Venmo, every share, every kind message mattered more than you know. 💞

Warmly, 🫂

Bethany Nelson-Lieser
[email protected]

05/15/2026

A few physical donations have come in for the 3 families were delivering to this weekend! Still seeking help!!! See below posts on the page for more information!! 💞