Anything Helps builds trust through simple acts of care

On the North Side of Minneapolis, where overdose rates remain among the highest in the state, a small building on Lowry Avenue serves as a lifeline. Inside, people gather not for treatment or a lecture, but for something much simpler: dignity.

There’s warm food, a working shower, and a quiet space to rest. There’s music, laughter, a load of laundry spinning in the back. There’s no intake form at the door, no clipboard. Just someone like Emanuel Roberts saying, “Welcome.”

Roberts, the executive director at Anything Helps, knows what it means to feel invisible. For nearly a decade, he has been in recovery from substance use. Before that, he spent time incarcerated, in shelters, and on the streets. When he walked out of prison, he said, he knew two things: He needed to change, and he didn’t want to change alone.

“I just love the recovery space,” Roberts said. “I wanted to build something for people like me — people who’ve been told they’re too far gone, that they’re a problem to be solved.”

Founded three years ago, Anything Helps is a nonprofit grounded in harm reduction and peer support. The organization opened its current drop-in center a little over a year ago in the 55412 ZIP code, an area long marked by underinvestment and systemic neglect. 

While Minnesota recently reported an 18% decrease in opioid-related deaths statewide, that number doesn’t tell the whole story. “It’s progress,” Roberts said, “but that’s across the whole state. 

“Here on the North Side, we’re still seeing some of the worst disparities in overdose deaths, in housing, and in health. A lot of organizations don’t survive here. We’re trying to change that.”

A center that feels like community

Walk into Anything Helps during open hours — Tuesday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m., or Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. — and you won’t find the fluorescent chill of a typical clinic. Instead, you’ll find what Roberts calls “person-centered care.”

“We don’t treat people like patients,” he said. “We eat together. We laugh. We watch TV. If you’re not ready for a medical appointment, we don’t force it — but we have an exam room ready when you are.”

That trust-based approach, he says, is what builds bridges. Staff provide harm reduction supplies, safe sex kits, food, laundry, clothing, and peer counseling. But they also provide space to sit with hard emotions, to cry, to decompress, to not be “on.”

“People are people, no matter where you go,” Roberts said. “And we all have something we’re trying to cope with. Addiction isn’t a moral failure — it’s a response to pain.”

He knows the pain firsthand. From the age of 16, Roberts cycled in and out of the circumstances that homelessness brings. He spent time in encampments, including near the Dorothy Day Center, and struggled to find providers who truly saw him.

“I didn’t feel comfortable in hospitals,” he said. “I didn’t understand how to navigate health care. I’d watch my family members struggle with CPS or addiction, and I didn’t know how to talk about it.”

That’s one reason he’s so committed to changing the culture of care. He wants Anything Helps to be a place where people can be vulnerable without fear of judgment. A place that meets them exactly where they are.

Meeting people where they are

That philosophy, radical acceptance, shapes every part of the work. “Not everyone who’s unhoused is using,” Roberts said. 

“I met a young guy recently. He lost his dad, and his mom couldn’t cope. The bills lapsed. They lost housing. Then came the drugs — not before.

“Every story is different. But people hear ‘addiction’ and think ‘bad choices.’ No, these are just human beings having human experiences.”

The organization’s low-barrier model makes it easier to build relationships with those who may not feel safe seeking traditional care. That includes youth — especially Black and brown youth — who may be dealing with untreated trauma, stigma around mental health, and a lack of emotional support.

“There’s a strong correlation between unprocessed pain and substance use,” Roberts said. “We don’t talk enough about mental health. A lot of young people don’t know how to express grief or anger. They’re not taught how to process emotions.”

Through group events, one-on-one conversations, and simple acts of care — like sharing a hot meal — Anything Helps opens those doors.

“It starts with honesty,” he said. “If we have trust, we can get to work.”

Drop the judgment

Still, Roberts acknowledges the challenges. Funding is scarce. Most grants go to larger, more established organizations, often in other parts of the city. The North Side, he says, is too often seen as a last stop.

“The narrative is that this is where people go to die,” Roberts said. “But we’re not here to die. We’re here to live. We’re here to survive and to thrive. That’s what Anything Helps is about.”

And while the work is exhausting, it’s also healing. “For me, it’s spiritual,” Roberts said. 

“Recovery gave me my life back. Now, I get to give something back every day. Even if it’s just offering someone a sandwich and a safe place to sit. That matters.”

As for what the public can do? Roberts says the answer is simple: drop the judgment.

“We all have our vices,” he said. “If you see someone struggling, don’t assume the worst. Ask what they need. And remember that anything — anything — can help.”

For more information, visit www.anythinghelpsmn.org.

Jasmine McBride welcomes reader responses at jmcbride@spokesman-recorder.com.