Review
"In their beautiful and inspiring portrait of Mary Jo Copeland, author Margaret Nelson and photographer Keri Pickett capture perfectly the great love, powerful faith and selfless service of 'Minnesota's Mother Teresa.' Mary Jo Copeland has been my friend and inspiration for 20 years, just as she's inspired hundreds of thousands of people whose lives she's touched. As a frequent volunteer at Sharing & Caring Hands, I was gratified to bring Mary Jo and President George W. Bush together in 1999. President Bush was truly moved by his visit to Sharing & Caring Hands, and so will readers of this wonderful book. No one can come away unchanged after seeing Mary Jo washing the feet of the guests of her well-known day shelter, where thousands of people are fed, clothed and cared for every day of the year. In addition, Mary Jo's transitional shelter for homeless people and their children, Mary's Place, has dramatically changed lives. And I guarantee Saving Body and Soul; The Mission of Mary Jo Copeland will do the same for you."
--U.S. Representative Jim Ramstad

“Mary Jo Copeland's story will make you long to roll up your sleeves and help the helpless among us. She is a living illustration of Christ's command to love one another.”
–Karen Kingsbury, bestselling author of the Redemption Series.

“Within the pages of this book you will see that Mary Jo Copeland's mission in life is to change the world one heart at a time. Her goal is not accomplished through powerful speeches or glitzy productions but by giving herself in service to others. Please beware that her life will not only challenge and inspire but motivate you to action in your own community!”
–Donna VanLiere, author of The Christmas Shoes and The Christmas Blessing

“Reading this book…watered the struggling seed in me who wishes to live generously. [Mary Jo Copeland] welcomes every child with her hands and her heart both practically and spiritually. She showers these children with her gladness at their coming! She helps me to find the courage to open my own arms a little wider and ask, ‘What more can I do?’”
–Debra Frasier, author and illustrator of On the Day You Were Born

Book Description
Saving Body & Soul is an intimate portrait of Mary Jo Copeland and her inspiring one-woman, 20-year, hands-on mission to serve the poorest and most desperate among us--men, women, and, especially, children. Motivated by a deep faith, haunted by memories of her own mental illness and horrific childhood suffering, Mary Jo got her own 12 children established, then turned her love to the broader world. She went out to serve the poor, the homeless, and the severely troubled, seeing both her savior and herself in their faces and stories. With faith that God will provide whatever is needed, a magnetic compassion that attracts volunteers and donors, and a problem-solving honed on her own kids, she has created a Minneapolis shelter that provides food, housing, and all manner of practical assistance, as well as prayer and hope, for the poor and homeless. Operating only with donated funds, staffed primarily by volunteers, she serves as many as 1,600 people a day. Her clients range from chronic addicts and street peole who come to her for meals, clothing, and medical care, to abused mothers who seek refuge in her shelter, and the hard-working but marginally-employed who need financial help through a rough time. Ironically, she is often both the first person the poor and homeless think of in a crisis, and their last resort. In haunting photos and compelling words, Margaret Nelson and Keri Pickett tell Mary Jo's story and the stories of the people she serves. It's an inspiring book that will give readers insight into a vital national problem and a role model of how to live with generosity and compassion.

From the Publisher
One woman's miracle. Every person's potential. All around are people in need: a family seeking shelter under a bridge, an unemployed former coworker on the verge of losing his home, a single mom struggling to feed three kids. People's hearts may be touched with compassion, but more often than not they turn away--unsure how to help and convinced that one person cannot possibly make a difference. Saving Body & Soul powerfully disproves that myth. Here is the remarkable story--told through essays, interviews, and powerful photographs--of one woman who is a compassionate advocate for the needy. With a persistence born of personal adversity and a wholehearted commitment to making a difference in the world, Mary Jo Copeland has created a network of services that assists more than 1,600 poor and indigent people each day. As readers meet Mary Jo and the unforgettable people whose lives she's touched, this unique book will stir their spirits, challenge their perceptions,and lovingly usher them into the miracle of faith in action.

From the Author
As a reporter, you can always tell when you have an especially good story. You think about it all the time, tell everyone you know about it, find the faces and words and ideas turning up in your personal life. That's how it was with Mary Jo Copeland. I first encountered her shortly after she began her work almost 20 years ago. She gave the Sunday homily at my parish church, talking about how she'd raised 12 kids and now needed help to spread love and kindness to the poor and homeless. I called, introduced myself, and asked if I could see her in action. She said, "Of course! I'm here." After watching her work, I was hooked: This was a story I wanted to tell. I saw her touch people in a way that few ever do, soothing wounds of both body and soul. She walked happily among people many of us go out of our way to avoid. She laughed and cried and prayed with them, washed their feet, gave out bus tokens and motel vouchers and dollar bills and hugs. With only a high school education and with no previous experience, this slightly zany, faith-filled, suburban homemaker had become both the best and last resource for the poor and homeless of Minneapolis. Others could learn from her, replicate what she was doing: Poor people nationwide could benefit. I spoke of her to my editors and to my friends, including the acclaimed photographer Keri Pickett. In 1999, Keri and I collaborated on a story for People magazine about Mary Jo and her work and we knew we wanted to do more. We've been working on this book ever since. Along the way, I've found myself applying Mary Jo's words to my life, her trademark phrases giving voice to my own deepest yearnings. "Be a positive presence in the world. Make the world a better place because you're in it." What better goal? ... "Look at me," Mary Jo says. "I'm this kinda crazy woman who had a terrible childhood. If God works through me, He can work through anybody!" Margaret Nelson

From the Inside Flap
“Reading this book…watered the struggling seed in me who wishes to live generously. [Mary Jo Copeland] helps me to find the courage to open my own arms a little wider and ask, ‘What more can I do?’”
–Debra Frasier, author and illustrator of On the Day You Were Born

“…Mary Jo Copeland’s mission in life is to change the world one heart at a time. Her life will not only challenge and inspire but motivate you to action.”
–Donna VanLiere, author of The Christmas Shoes and The Christmas Blessing

One woman’s miracle. Every person’s potential.

We are surrounded by people in need: a family seeking shelter under a bridge, an unemployed former coworker on the verge of losing his home, a single mom struggling to feed three kids. Our hearts may be touched with compassion, but more often than not we turn away–unsure how to help and convinced that one person cannot possibly make a difference.

Saving Body & Soul powerfully disproves that myth. Through gripping black-and-white images and gritty, real-life stories, you’ll witness the amazing life of Mary Jo Copeland, a housewife and mother of twelve who overcame, and continues to overcome, tremendous odds in order to serve the poor and homeless. As you meet her and the unforgettable people whose lives she’s touched–and who have changed her life in return–this unique book will stir your spirit, challenge your perceptions, and lovingly usher you into the miracle of faith in action.

One person can make a difference.

With traditional government support decreasing even as the number of people needing assistance continues to rise, there has never been a greater need to witness the impact of faith, optimism, and kindness–and the reciprocal love they inspire.

Filled with dramatic black-and-white images that explore some of the most unsettling issues facing America today, here is an intimate portrait of a hands-on mission to serve the neediest in today’s society. With a persistence born of adversity, Mary Jo Copeland has created a network of services that reaches more than 1,600 poor and indigent people each day. Here is convincing proof of what can be accomplished through faith-based initiatives and through the loving acts of ordinary people.

In a society that has too little inspiration and too few real heroes, Saving Body & Soul will restore your faith in the transforming power of compassion–and in your own ability to shape the world.

From the Back Cover
"In their beautiful and inspiring portrait of Mary Jo Copeland, author Margaret Nelson and photographer Keri Pickett capture perfectly the great love, powerful faith and selfless service of 'Minnesota's Mother Teresa.' Mary Jo Copeland has been my friend and inspiration for 20 years, just as she's inspired hundreds of thousands of people whose lives she's touched. As a frequent volunteer at Sharing & Caring Hands, I was gratified to bring Mary Jo and President George W. Bush together in 1999. President Bush was truly moved by his visit to Sharing & Caring Hands, and so will readers of this wonderful book. No one can come away unchanged after seeing Mary Jo washing the feet of the guests of her well-known day shelter, where thousands of people are fed, clothed and cared for every day of the year. In addition, Mary Jo's transitional shelter for homeless people and their children, Mary's Place, has dramatically changed lives. And I guarantee Saving Body and Soul; The Mission of Mary Jo Copeland will do the same for you."
--U.S. Representative Jim Ramstad

"Mary Jo Copeland's story will make you long to roll up your sleeves and help the helpless among us. She is a living illustration of Christ's command to love one another."
- Karen Kingsbury, bestselling author of the Redemption Series.

"Within the pages of this book you will see that Mary Jo Copeland's mission in life is to change the world one heart at a time. Her goal is not accomplished through powerful speeches or glitzy productions but by giving herself in service to others. Please beware that her life will not only challenge and inspire but motivate you to action in your own community!"
- Donna VanLiere, author of The Christmas Shoes and The Christmas Blessing

"Reading this book...watered the struggling seed in me who wishes to live generously. [Mary Jo Copeland] welcomes every child with her hands and her heart both practically and spiritually. She showers these children with her gladness at their coming! She helps me to find the courage to open my own arms a little wider and ask, 'What more can I do?'"
- Debra Frasier, author and illustrator of On the Day You Were Born

About the Author
Keri Pickett is an award-winning photographer based in Minneapolis whose work has been exhibited and published nationally and internationally. Her journalistic work focuses primarily on human-interest feature stories and environmental portraits that capture the essence of her subjects. Her clients cover the spectrum of magazines from People, Time and Life, to Geo, Parenting, and Christianity Today. Her books include Love in the 90s: BB and Jo, The Story of a Lifelong Love.

Margaret Nelson has worked as a journalist for more than five decades. A graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she’s written and reported on a wide variety of subjects for many national and international publications, including People, Newsweek, USA Today, and the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. Based in Minneapolis, she has received numerous reporting and writing honors.

Excerpted from Saving Body and Soul: The Mission of Mary Jo Copeland by Keri Pickett, Margaret Nelson. Copyright © 2004. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Brian Philbrick showed up on the doorstep a few hours after Mary Jo opened her storefront for the poor in 1985. Looking like a horror movie cross between Jesus and an ape man, he was 25 years old, but seemed far older, aged by childhood abuse and years spent defending himself on the streets and rails. That winter morning he'd been working his way into downtown Minneapolis from the railroad yard, scrounging in a garbage cans and scanning the sidewalk for coins. As he approached the old garment district, then a skid row of run-down stores, he saw a light in one building and watched from the street as a sweet-looking woman puttered around, making coffee, setting out doughnuts. He slumped on the concrete, afraid to go in, shy around people, but drawn to the light and warmth. "Mary Jo opened the door and invited me in," he recalled years later. "But I pulled back, hunched into myself, covering up with my beard and my hair, so you could hardly see me." The novice helpmate, who was calling her place Sharing & Caring Hands, wasn't deterred. "Mary Jo brought me out a cup of coffee and some cookies. And she patted my hair, asked God to bless me. The next day I went back, and the day after that. Mary Jo and I, we'd talk." Severely abused as a child, he said he'd run away from his Boston-area home at 15 and lived in the woods and on the rails for 10 years, unable to functon in society. "Mary Jo showed me a different way," he said, stopping to catch his breath and wipe his eyes. "Mary Jo changed me. I used to fight a lot. Somebody would say something I didn't like, I'd slap them. Usually I'd end up in jail, or I'd go to the railroad tracks and catch a train out of town real quick. I got to the point where I didn't care if I lived or died, but Mary Jo changed that. She'd talk to me. She'd tell me I shouldn't be fighting, that it hurts people. I'd get so mad and Mary Jo would say, 'Look at you, now look at you, now you're all angry.' And I was. I was real angry. Me and Mary Jo would pray. After awhile, I started believing what she says, that she loves me. And I love her too. Now I'm glad to be alive. I try to do good. It's kind of a miracle." Once unable to talk to others, so frightening in appearance and manner that people would hurry across the street to avoid him, he became a gentle-looking, sweet man, with a shy smile. Living on disability, he helped out around Sharing & Caring Hands and lived in a bungalow that the Copelands found him a few miles away. When he died in 2001, 16 years after he showed up at Mary Jo's door, he was 41. "I think he just wore out," she said at his memorial service. "He'd had a hard life, a very hard life." Critics call her crazy, mercurial, self-promoting. Fans--from those she's helped, to volunteers and donors--call her a saint, an angel, America's Mother Teresa. But Mary Jo Copeland shrugs off the labels, good and bad. "I guess people all have their perspective," she says. "Some of the comments are hurtful, some make me feel humble. But in the end I don't care too much what anyone says. I have to focus on my work. I have to do what I think best." Her vision is clear: to be a last-chance resource for the poor and homeless, a safety net for those who are falling through society's cracks. At a time when resources for the poor are continually dropping and government officials are calling on the private sector to take a larger role, Mary Jo is not only providing one-on-one assistance to the poor; she's also creating a model for others who want to make this a kinder, better world.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

One woman's miracle. Every person's potential.

We are surrounded by people in need: a family seeking shelter under a bridge, an unemployed former coworker on the verge of losing his home, a single mom struggling to feed three kids. Our hearts may be touched with compassion, but more often than not we turn away-unsure how to help and convinced that one person cannot possibly make a difference.

Saving Body & Soul powerfully disproves that myth. Through gripping black-and-white images and gritty, real-life stories, you'll witness the amazing life of Mary Jo Copeland, a housewife and mother of twelve who overcame, and continues to overcome, tremendous odds in order to serve the poor and homeless. As you meet her and the unforgettable people whose lives she's touched-and who have changed her life in return-this unique book will stir your spirit, challenge your perceptions, and lovingly usher you into the miracle of faith in action.

One person can make a difference.

With traditional government support decreasing even as the number of people needing assistance continues to rise, there has never been a greater need to witness the impact of faith, optimism, and kindness-and the reciprocal love they inspire.

Filled with dramatic black-and-white images that explore some of the most unsettling issues facing America today, here is an intimate portrait of a hands-on mission to serve the neediest in today's society. With a persistence born of adversity, Mary Jo Copeland has created a network of services that reaches more than 1,600 poor and indigent people each day. Here is convincing proof of what can be accomplished through faith-based initiatives andthrough the loving acts of ordinary people.