Sheletta celebrated others for her birthday

She called it a “God assignment,” one that required Sheletta Brundidge to rethink her brunch birthday plans and instead opt for a bigger party and purpose to celebrate her 54^th birthday.

The idea came to Brundidge a couple of weeks ago, during a prayer vigil her nonprofit, ShelettaMakesADifference.org, hosted at the Renee Good memorial site exactly one week after she was shot and killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Jan. 7.

The vigil was 3 hours, one hour for each of Good’s kids.

“One of the neighbors tapped me on the back and said, ‘Can you bring a gospel choir?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, that must be a God assignment,’” Brundidge noted the constant flow of traffic to the memorial site isn’t easy for the people who live within feet of the piles of frozen flowers, nearly burnt-out candles, handwritten notes, personal poems, and slogans of rage.

“This is their front doorstep, their back door, the view they have from their kitchen when they’re washing dishes, and what they see when they look out their bedroom window, to start their day,” Brundidge added.

“It’s been very, very difficult,” said Molly Matheson Gruen, who lives across the alley from where Good was killed. “We live here. It’s our home. And these last weeks have been an experience of such extremes.”

Brundidge wanted to lift the heaviness and did so on Saturday, Jan. 31, when she invited the public to a block party at the Good memorial, complete with a gospel choir and brunch.

“We’re just looking for something to do, for god to use us in a way he sees fit,” said Rev. Miller of Progressive Baptist Church in St. Paul. That’s why Rev. Miller was delighted when Brundidge asked if he could bring his church’s gospel choir to the event. “When you (Brundidge) called, it was really a Godsend. Everyone was excited.”

Songs like “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and “We Shall Overcome” came out of more than 20 singers who bundled up to warm hearts on a cold Saturday morning in Minneapolis.

“The songs come out of our struggle as African Americans in this country,” Rev. Miller explained. “They’re songs of hope and songs that uplift people who really don’t know where to turn. These songs were created at a time when there was no way out.”

Erasing the feeling of helplessness, even momentarily, was Brundidge’s goal with the event.

“To come here and bring music and joy and love to this place that has so much pain right now is really a gift,” Gruen said. “I’m so grateful.”

The music and free brunch helped lift the heaviness that had descended on Minneapolis and the corner of Portland Ave. and 34^th Street since Good was shot.

“To see people come together for Renee in this way, it’s really meaningful, and this is what church looks like to me,” said Dannie Neuman.

The event ran for an hour, and when the music stopped, the food truck packed up and drove away, Brundige said she hoped the morning delivered purpose.

“People come crying, but they leave committed to making this state, this community, this city better than the way that it was,” Brundidge said. “It’s given all of us a renewed purpose. It’s lit a fire in us.”