Be sure to register for our next All-Staff Meeting which takes place Monday, March 18 from 6-8:30 p.m. or Thursday, March 21 from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Enroll in the session that best fits your schedule.

The theme of the meeting is "Awareness of Differences, Makes a Difference!" Employees will participate in a group activity with the opportunity to engage in the power of shared stories and lived experiences.

We will be providing a meal and a few prize giveaways!

Enroll here for the session of your choice. They both take place at the Heritage Center of Brooklyn Center.

Join us for Disability Services Day at the Capitol on Tuesday, March 19! 

Please register in advance to attend. YOU and the people you bring will get a free Hammer & NER t-shirt to wear at the Capitol! You will get paid for your time, plus lunch is provided.

REGISTER HERE: https://forms.office.com/r/teSN5WrzL9

Details for the day are ALL in the sign-up form within the link!

Reach out to Hammer & NER's Advocacy Director, Mary Gaasch at [email protected] with any questions.

Please plan to join us for our Spring Breakfast, set for Saturday, April 20 at the Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center.

A CHANGE this year: We’ll be starting a little later than in past years: Breakfast begins at 9:15 a.m. with the program starting at 10 a.m., but we’ll still plan to wrap up at 11:30 a.m.



There is no charge for the breakfast. It is one way we can thank all our families, staff, and community partners who have been an incredible part of our success over the years. Stay tuned for more details and how to sign up.

In anticipation of our upcoming Spring Breakfast in April, we are asking for your nominations for our Community Partner Awards. During the breakfast, we present the award to volunteers and organizations who have made a significant impact to the individuals we support. The recipient is recognized in front of the audience and receives a gold Ralph statue. Recipients are not required to make a speech. 

The Community Partner Award was developed to honor people and/or organizations who are making a significant contribution to our community through their time, actions, talents, and dedication volunteering at and/or donating to Hammer & NER. The nominee should serve as a role model for compassion and service as well as helping to fulfill Hammer & NER’s mission: To provide people with intellectual and other disabilities the opportunity to live life to its fullest. 

Categories to consider: Seniors, Youth, Families, Churches, Groups, Schools, Organizations, Corporations, and Self-Advocates 

Do you know a person or organization that fits these criteria? If so, please complete this short form: 2024 Community Partner Award Nominations

The deadline for nominations is Friday, March 1.

We’re looking for YOUR story ideas for our Hammer & NER blog. We want to share some stories about all the great things going on in our homes and in the lives of the people we support. Maybe someone you support has accomplished a goal that they’re really excited about. Maybe one of your coworkers came up with a new idea to make life better for a person supported or for everyone in one of our homes. Or maybe they’re doing something really cool in their personal lives.

If you’ve got a story you think we should share, send an email to [email protected] by Monday, March 4 . If we use it on our blog (and on Facebook) we’ll thank you with your choice of a $20 gift card to Target, Caribou Coffee, or Holiday gas stations. Learn more here.

You can also tell us about a special Hammer & NER volunteer or one of our office staff. We know they do interesting things too! 

S Supporting Individuals

H Honor and Dignity

I Investing in Your Career

N Navigating Change

E Experiencing Life

This theme has helped us come together as an organization over the past year. We are so grateful for each employee’s contribution to Hammer & NER as we merged and as we continue to establish the unique culture. It takes all of us nurturing relationships and embracing our responsibilities. We know the commitment it takes to care for others. 

We will carry SHINE into 2024! 

We recently welcomed a new nurse, Abby Melese, and a new volunteer manager, Julie Huffcut, to our staff.

Abby takes over a caseload of homes on the East side. Julie comes to us with a variety of experience in volunteer and community engagement in the nonprofit and government sectors.

Welcome to Hammer & NER Abby and Julie!

We have several employees celebrating significant anniversaries.

Jeff Deitering (pictured left, DSP, 10 years), Sandra Williams (pictured upper right, DSP, 10 years), Jacob Juma (DSP, 5 years), Olaniran Akinyele (DSP, 5 years), Nawal Ahmed (DSP, 5 years), and Rebecca Temu (pictured lower right, DSP, 3 years).

Congratulations and thank you for all that you do!

Oakdale Mayor, Kevin Zabel, visited our Hale home recently to meet with the people we support and their staff.

Bringing public officials into our homes is a great way to help them understand the hopes and dreams of the people who live in their community. It also helps the people we support to broaden their connections to the community.

The ladies who live at Hale loved meeting Mayor Zabel. They told him about their love for the parks and the recently improved sidewalks and walking paths. We’re thankful for the time they could spend together.

Mayor Zabel also happens to work for ARRM (our state trade association). Given that he works two jobs, this was a new opportunity for him to visit a group home. Thanks so much for taking the time to visit, Mayor Zabel!

Do you have an individual that needs their clothing hemmed? Or perhaps has a favorite pair of jeans with a hole in it that they would like to have repaired? We can help!

Hammer & NER have volunteer seamstresses that can tackle the job. Just put in a help request ticket describing what is needed to be done, and we will take it from there! 

You can put in a volunteer help request ticket by clicking here.

Each month in Happenings we feature some of our favorite photos of the people we support "Out & About" having fun in their communities.

Featured below are pictures from our first annual Valentine’s dance at our East office! Almost 50 people attended. We had pizza, cookies, candy, popcorn and lots of great music and dancing. Volunteers made ten dozen cookies for the event! We also had a Valentine Creation Station where individuals could make Valentines for their loved ones. Several prizes were raffled off. Mark (supported at our Currie home) DJ’d the event and did a great job! He's pictured in the header photo at the top of this newsletter.