Karuna Community MN

Donate on Give to the Max Day and help us fund weekly program in TWO partner facilities in 2023. We have set our GOAL to $5,400 which would cover two weekly yoga programs for 15 participants in one of our partner facilities (jails, reentry, recovery, or rehabilitation centers)! You donation will go directly to providing mats, props, additional materials, and payment for our program facilitators. Be the direct impact in partnership with us! 

To find out more about the impact of our programming and your donation please read the follow letter from Sgt Hernke at our partner facility, Hennepin County Jail:

“In 2019, I, Sgt. Adam Hernke, Program Coordinator, was approached by an individual who indicated that he wanted to volunteer in the jail... He told me that he wanted to lead yoga and/or meditation groups to male inmates. I was skeptical of this working, but I thought there was no harm in trying. Mike was background checked and we started classes. A short time later we welcomed Lauren to the team for the females. I was happy to say that we offered Yoga/Mediation for men and women in our facility.

 COVID-19 hurt all jail programs, but Mike and Lauren were the first of my volunteers to offer any help they could to keep helping the inmates. While I was setting up virtual meetings, I didn't know if this kind of program would work over a computer, but Mike and Lauren were persistent that they wanted to try... Mike and Lauren are exemplary representatives of the Karuna community.

 In August, 2021, a programmer was escorting a male inmate to a Karuna class and asked the inmate if they were ok because of the pain they were showing while walking. The inmate stated they have a bad back and they have had this pain for a very long time. After the conclusion of the Karuna class, that same inmate came skipping out of the classroom, whistling a song. The programmer stopped the inmate and realized it was the same one who could hardly walk into the room. The inmate stated with the biggest smile, 'this program class has changed my life! Not only did the instructor explain how to loosen my back up, they taught me how to prevent this back injury from happening again.'

I/we, not only have a dependable set of volunteers in Mike and Lauren and now others, but they provide a service that has physically, and without question, mentally, changed the lives of inmates while being housed in custody and for that we are very grateful.  Thank you to the Karuna Team!”

Thank you for your support! We currently offer trauma informed weekly yoga programming in the Hennepin County Jail (Men and Women programs), Volunteers of America Residential Reentry Center, Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center, and the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Center. 

Your donations go directly to program building, paying our facilitators (teachers and instructors), and outreach. 

Find out more at karunacmn.org

Want to mail us a check? Great!

1600 18th Ave NE, #18083

Minneapolis, MN 55418