Meet Joyce Reinke, a 15+-year volunteer extraordinaire with Bridging, an active life-long volunteer, a great-grandmother, and a trailblazer in the volunteer coordinator community. She begins each week — on Monday mornings —as a volunteer at Bridging, shopping alongside clients as they select furniture and essential household goods and transition to housing stability. “This is the…
Julie Moen is top-notch Bridging volunteer and a longtime educator. An exceptional listener, she hones in on each person’s unique needs. She is a positive and creative resource, and her greatest satisfaction is being present as someone feels empowered and reaches an important goal. As a special education teacher in the Anoka-Hennepin School District, she…
Lives We Touch Donor Story: Holly K. Donates Bed to Offer a Good Night’s Sleep Holly keeps Bridging at the “top-of-mind” as she assesses her household needs. She learned about Bridging many years ago at a company department gathering that included a household goods drive for Bridging. Her employer, The Toro Company, is a longtime…
A former client of Bridging, Lori is a seasoned storyteller and a talented public speaker. She studied journalism and embarked on a multi-decade career in the field. Working in advertising, communications, and marketing for reputable Twin Cities businesses, she shared her writing expertise across a variety of sectors including financial services, healthcare, and special education….
Lives We Touch: Caseworker Ella Washington, Breaking Free* Housing Advocate Ella Washington “wears many hats” at Breaking Free, an organization with a mission to end all forms of sex trafficking and prostitution. Breaking Free empowers survivors of sex trafficking and prostitution by providing housing services, case management, advocacy, referrals, and other resources. Working at…
Is Housing Enough? A pair of St. Catherine’s University researchers recently published a study of the impact of the Bridging experience on people seeking housing stability. Associate Professor Kari Hartwig and former graduate student Fatma Mohamed conducted a qualitative evaluation of Bridging. They published the study, titled, “From Housing Instability to Home: The Effects of…
Take a flyover above Bridging’s Roseville and Bloomington locations and you will notice a new tenant on the roof! This past month, Bridging finished implementing its next step in sustainability: rooftop solar. The new solar panels were the result of a partnership with iDEAL Energies, a Minneapolis-based solar company. “We have been so pleased with…
IN 1999, Andrea K. literally ran away from drug court in Gary, Indiana and moved to Minnesota to begin again. After struggling with addiction, “in a God-given moment of sanity,” she says she turned herself in to get an alcohol and drug screening and entered treatment. After many months of treatment she came out of…
Bridging provides furniture and housewares to more than 85 households each week. We need basic essentials year-round to serve clients transitioning out of homelessness and poverty. You can help in several ways. We now offer a new and easy way for you to continue to support the mission of Bridging. Check out the Bridging “Furnish…
It’s official! As of July 2019, Bridging is 32 years-old and still serving its mission with great enthusiasm each and every day. Thanks to our Founder Fran Heitzman, his incredible vision and passion has driven our community of volunteers, donors and staff for more than thirty years.
