Your support exceeded all previous years on Give to the Max Day! |
All of us were blown away by your amazing support over the past two weeks of giving. Your commitment to match every one of our sponsors' challenges in just a matter of hours was unbelievable, and we could not have met this milestone without your help. Your generosity doubled our previous year’s record on Give To The Max Day. We were also the only organization to win two Golden Ticket prizes this year for an additional $1,000 toward our mission. We cannot express our gratitude for your continued support of our mission to ensure no Veteran goes unsheltered this year. Thank you from the entire team at MACV! |
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Sixth MN Region hits Functional Zero |
Governor Walz officially recognized the Suburban Metro Area Continuum of Care, which consists of Washington, Scott, Anoka, Carver, and Dakota counties, as achieving an effective end to Veteran homelessness. This milestone represents a huge jump forward in ending Veteran homelessness in Minnesota. Find out more here!
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Development Associate Kate Brune contributed an article highlighting MACV's services, the Veteran experience for women, and how to get involved in this month's Women's Press Magazine. We look forward to developing this new channel for reaching Veterans with our innovative services. Check it out here!
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Veterans in Northern Minnesota |
Northern Region Leader Kevin Beichler and Veteran Ryan Jost sat down with local news station KBJR-6 to discuss the challenges faced by Veterans, sometimes even from within the Veteran service community. Find out more here!
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Vetlaw Celebrates 10,000 Veterans Served |
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MACV’s Vetlaw team is proud to announce that earlier this month, we served our 10,000th Veteran!
MACV established Vetlaw in 2009, when a small group of attorneys and law students partnered to host our first legal clinic at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center. Over the years, the program gained full-time staff and grew to provide services to Veterans across the state of Minnesota.
While the sheer volume of work our team has accomplished is impressive, it is important to understand the real-world impact of these services on our Veteran clients. Each Veteran served, whether at a legal clinic event or directly by our staff attorneys, receives individualized advice and counsel on the legal issue which drove them to reach out to us. Many of these Veterans were facing eviction or post-eviction legal issues, while some were struggling to regain driver’s licenses, or the collateral consequences of past involvement with the criminal justice system.
Regardless of the legal issue, the Vetlaw team and our veritable army of volunteers did our best to counsel the Veteran with respect and patience, helping them navigate the often confusing and stressful world of the court system.
The dedication of Minnesota’s legal community to serve our Veterans is unmatched – it always surprises me when programs around the country ask how we find attorneys to help. We just ask and they come through for our Veterans. Even as our clinics took a hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, our faithful volunteers have reached out to ask how they can help support us and our clients. I am not exaggerating when I say that we truly could not have reached this milestone without the support of our wonderful community supporters.
--Sara Sommarstrom
Vetlaw Director
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Case Manager Highlight: Becky Weise |
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Occasionally, a story of a Veteran’s resilience and determination amazes even the most cynical listener. Becky Weise, MACV’s Red Lake Veterans Outreach worker located in northern Minnesota, recently worked with an Air Force Veteran rebuilding a life for herself and her two children.
Dorothy* first approached MACV to complete an intake after her brother engaged with Weise to ask for help getting his sister off his couch and working toward a stable life. Dorothy had couch-hopped and stayed with family for the past year and a half while losing custody of her children and sinking ever-deeper into substance abuse. She escaped intimate partner violence at the hands of her children’s father, who was imprisoned for his attack.
“She just didn’t care…she just had no interest, she wanted to be how she was,” Becky described as her first interaction with Dorothy. The Veteran received $140 for service-connected disability per month from the VA but had no other income. She initially wanted to apply for an increase in the percentage of service-connected disability rating she had, which affects the monthly payment amount eligible Veterans receive. However, Dorothy did not follow through with this goal and dropped off the radar, eventually blocking Weise’s follow-up calls.
All of that changed, though. Dorothy approached MACV for a second time in late summer, after connecting with a HUD-VASH housing case worker. Melody, the Veteran’s HUD-VASH worker, referred her back to Becky to help create a housing plan after Dorothy completed a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program.
Becky, Melody, and Red Lake Homeless Shelter staff all partnered to stabilize Dorothy’s housing. Becky connected with the Red Lake Homeless Shelter Executive Director Jordan May, who secured a hotel stay for Dorothy upon her return from treatment. “I thought of the Red Lake Homeless Shelter right away because Jordan had just started a hotel program for [Native Americans] with close to zero income,” explains Becky.
Dorothy stayed in this temporary arrangement for two weeks before her HUD-VASH worker found an eligible property for her and her children as a long-term housing placement. Finally, Becky authorized direct financial assistance to cover Dorothy’s move and security deposit.
Looking ahead, the future is bright for Dorothy and her kids. “She’s doing well, I’m really happy for that,” Becky related in a recent interview. Dorothy’s next goal is to find employment, a process she wants to complete on her own. For now, she and her children are safe, happy, and feel better about what lies ahead than ever before. Great work, Becky and team!
*Name changed to protect confidentiality
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Eagle Group Virtual Job Meeting: Tuesdays (weekly), 5pm - Join Online
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Partner Spotlight: Mankato Area Cornhole |
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MACV wants to highlight the remarkable commitment shown by Mankato Area Cornhole, a newer partnership which has flourished over the last year thanks to owner Jason Zuehlke and Sadie Rezac, MACV’s Southern Region Leader.
Zuehlke and Rezac first got to know each other while planning a fundraiser in 2019 with another MACV partner in Southern Minnesota. Zuehlke’s competitive cornhole tournaments often contain a fundraising element with proceeds donated by entry fees, in-kind donations, and financial giving contributed during the event itself. “He’s really good at making it fun,” notes Rezac.
Even though COVID-19 derailed plans to combine a hog roast with a cornhole tournament for 2020’s event, Zuehlke was determined to press ahead with a fundraiser for MACV. He reached out to his community to designate MACV as the beneficiary of a tournament hosted in October at the Nicollet VFW Post, requesting that all attendees bring an item to donate as well.
The event resulted in collecting dozens of high-quality items such as gift cards, cold weather gear, and hygiene products, as well as over $2,800 donated to benefit MACV programs. We hope that the end of winter weather and resuming larger gatherings leads to even more growth in our relationship with Mankato Area Cornhole. We wish Mankato Area Cornhole a happy Thanksgiving from the thankful group at MACV.
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Veteran owned non-profit, Hues for Heroes visited a MACV owned property in honor of Veterans Day!
Using paint donated by Hirschfield's, a team of six volunteered by painting a home for some MACV Veterans in honor of Veterans Day. Thank you for this unique project and TLC for this Veterans Transitional home.
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Employees at Synchrony thanked Veterans on Veterans Day by bringing in over 80 hand crafted cookies to share with the Veterans transitioning though the hotel program. We always love partners going the extra mile to put a smile on the face of a MACV Veteran!
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Your MTH, a car dealership in St. Cloud, donated over $10,000 to MACV programs through its GIVE-2-VETS drive in honor of Veterans Day. We appreciate this partnership and the relationship fostered between MACV and the MTH team. Thanks again! |
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Lavender Media President and CEO Stephen Rocheford stopped by MACV headquarters a couple weeks ago with the proceeds from their online silent auction. We are thrilled to grow this partnership with such a great company and thank the Lavender community for their continued support. |
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Rebuilding Together
Our partners over at Rebuilding Together helped us renovate the outside space of a MACV residence through sweat equity and a whole lot of pavers! The Veterans living at the property and our staff are so grateful for this group's steadfast support.
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American Legion Auxiliary Post 39
Following a post on Facebook and an appearance at the grand opening of MACV's newest residence in North St. Paul, our incredible partner Jenny Nelson has received a steady stream of donations resulting in 10 move-in kits for our Veterans. Team member Mary does all the shopping for the items and put together these kits with her son at home to keep in line with social distancing guidelines. Thank you for such extraordinary commitment to our Veterans!
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Thank You to Last Month's Donors |
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Annual Gifts over $50,000
Lennar Foundation
MidCountry Bank
Wells Fargo Foundation
Minnesota Masonic Charities
Otto Bremer Trust
Leonard J. Mikulay Foundation
Gifts over $5,000
James B. Linsmayer Foundation
Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation
Gifts over $1,000
Bonnie Niehaus Household
Great River Energy
DAV Chapter 32
Mike & Linda Fiterman Family Foundation
Ameriprise Financial
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Gifts over $100
Apothecary Products
Fond Du Luth Casino
Blue Cross Blue Shield
VFW Auxiliary Post 3979
Ken Davidson Household
Dale Moritz Household
SPAAR Charitable Foundation
David Barth Household
American Legion Post 0104
Christopher Moore Household
Joanne Groten Household
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You Can Help End Veteran Homelessness |
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Our team is working hard to stabilize Veterans without a place to shelter. |
We anticipate a growing number of homeless Veterans to seek services as winter sets in, and an eventual spike in eviction cases when the statewide moratorium on payment-related evictions lifts. Heavy enrollment in local rental assistance programs indicates that at least 7,800 households in the Twin Cities alone are in danger of losing their housing due to layoffs, furloughs, or other lost income.
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