Mary Jo Copeland

Mary Jo Copeland ( Holtby; born October 23, 1942) is an American humanitarian and founder of Sharing and Caring Hands, a center for those struggling with poverty and homelessness. Sometimes called "America's Mother Teresa", she received the Presidential Citizens Medal from Barack Obama in 2013 for her work with the poor at Sharing and Caring Hands.

Early life

Born as Mary Jo Holtby in Rochester, Minnesota, on October 23, 1942, Copeland lived for the first six years of her life with her well-to-do grandparents. Her mother, a hairdresser, and her father, a Korean War veteran, took her back in when her brother John was born. Living with her parents, Copeland stated she was beaten by her father, who also abused Mary Jo's mother, and also occasionally slept in her own urine. From a young age, she recalls she found comfort in religion, stating that reading the Baltimore Catechism was like "breathing oxygen". and graduated from the Academy of Holy Angels in 1960.

As a sophomore in high school she met her future husband, Dick, at a sock hop after a basketball game at DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis.

While expecting her seventh child, Copeland endured a severe bout of depression. After the birth of her last child in 1977, her isolated lifestyle led her to use tranquilizer drugs and alcohol. She recounts that she overcame her addiction in 1982 during a "painful" three-month period, with support from her husband and prayer. However, feeling overwhelmed by paperwork and bureaucracy, she acted on her own and brought food and clothing to those in need from the trunk of her car. Copeland needed to raise $240,000 by February 1988 to move to a new building two blocks away. The press coverage from the incident would allow her to fundraise to fund the new location at 425 N. 7th St. In 1995, Copeland opened Mary's Place, a transitional housing complex. Sharing and Caring Hands again was embroiled in controversy surrounding a sports stadium in 2008, when the newly built Target Field's proximity to the center raised concern's about the site's security and drug offenses happening on the site. The City of Minneapolis considered not renewing the license of Sharing and Caring Hands; seventeen arrests had been made at Sharing and Caring Hands in 2006 for drug offenses.

By 2020, 700 to 800 people per day were being fed at Sharing and Caring Hands. however, by 2022 her joints prevented her from continuing this ritual. George W. Bush mentioned Copeland in his acceptance speech at the 2000 Republican National Convention, and brought her to his first National Prayer Breakfast in 2001. In 2024, Copeland was awarded the Hendickson Medal for Ethical Leadership by St. Mary's University of Minnesota. and "Minnesota's Mother Teresa".

For her work with Sharing and Caring Hands, Copeland was selected in 2013 as one of 18 people from 6,000 nominations for the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second highest civilian honor in the United States. When she first heard of her selection in a call from the White House, she was overwhelmed in disbelief. Barack Obama awarded the medal to Copeland on February 15, 2013.

Personal life

Copeland, together with her husband Dick, raised six daughters and six sons: Therese, Mary, Cathy, Jennifer, Barbara, Molly, Michael, Mark, Stephen, James, Jeff, and Matthew. , she had fifteen grandchildren.

In 1991, it was reported that she would spend around two hours in prayer each morning at her Catholic parish of St. Alphonsus in Brooklyn Center.