Crystal Church Hands Out Winter Survival Backpacks To Homeless

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Some Minnesota church members dedicated to making a difference for the homeless were out Saturday to make an even bigger one.

The Serenity Village Community Church of Crystal gathers every Saturday to hand out sandwiches to the homeless in south Minneapolis. The church decided this holiday season people needed a bit more.

Saturday morning, they were handing out not only sandwiches, but backpacks filled with food, clothes, and the essentials to make it through winter.

"There's a need for this all over the city," church member Kiley Benson said. "Encourage people, and change their circumstances for just a minute."

"These guys are doing a really good thing here," one of the recipients of the backpacks said. "People like this are real hard to find."

To date this year Serenity Church has handed more than 40,000 sandwiches.