Jewish-Owned Business Damaged As She Pushes Mutual Aid Effort For Immigrant Community

In the last two weeks, Rebecca Schwengber has gone from St. Paul business owner to running a mutual aid operation for hundreds of Latino immigrants, starting with the people who teach Spanish for her business, Language Sprout.

But Wednesday morning, her other business, Rebe’s Play Cafe, had its front door broken and window shattered by a vandal the day after she was on WCCO radio talking about the need for mutual aide. Schwengber said other businesses that have spoken out in support of mutual aid, Yellowbird Coffee, Catzen Coffee, and Wildfire, have also been targeted recently.

Schwengber said being on the radio and having her business vandalized the next day isn’t coincidental.

“I’m of the opinion that small business owners have three traits: They’re scrappy as hell, optimistic as hell, and stubborn as hell,” she said. “You don’t survive without it. I just won’t back down.

“I decided the hill I’m going to die on is this one. The immigrant community has given me love, support, and a career. I’m the only one of my employees who can walk around freely and not be scared of losing my home.”

St. Paul Police did not return calls seeking information on the incident.

In the last two weeks, Schwengber has stood up her mutual aid/food delivery/taxi service with significant support from her community at Mount Zion Temple. She started a GoFundMe on Tuesday morning that has already raised more that $5,800.

The team also has notaries, lawyers, doctors for emergency services, pediatric care and medicine deliveries.

“What started as needing people to shop for my teachers turned into them saying ‘my neighbor down the hall has a sick kid,’” she said. “Now we have a hotline and keep adding names to the list and ask people to shop. My house looks like a food shelf. It’s insanity.”

Schwengber talked about one St. Paul apartment building that has been consistently surrounded by some of the 3,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers that have been sent to the Twin Cities. She was told that 50 people were out of groceries, and within two hours, people were coming to her house to load up their cars to deliver food. When she got to the building, the number of people without food and basic necessities was actually 120.

“There was no soap, shampoo or toilet paper. No formula or diapers for babies,” she said. “It took my entire afternoon going back and forth.”

The shopping list that Schwengber has put together is the list of things they are asking for. No meat, cheese or high-end ingredients; just the basics they need.

“No one is scamming the system,” she said. She said that she doesn’t offer rent assistance until she meets them and has an intake. She also said the number of single moms is “insane.” She recently drove an Ecuadorian woman to her immigration appointment, leaving the woman’s five children at home in case something happened.

“She was worried that if she didn’t come out, no one would know where she went,” Schwengber said. “In her Ecuadorian group chat, they said the last two people who went in for their immigration check-in didn’t come out.

“People are calling me, a white stranger, as their last hope.”

Schwengber said that she didn’t have being a leader in the resistance on her bingo car this year.

“I feel like we’re facing the eternal question of ‘If you were in Germany in the [19]30s or 40s, what would you do?’” she said. “I’m comfortable with my answer now. I hate the Holocaust comparison, but the Holocaust didn’t start with camps; it started with making life uncomfortable and questioning how far you can take a population while people look the other way. Minnesota is becoming a test site [for that], and that is deeply concerning to me.”