Letter from the Executive Director and Board Chair
Dear Friends,
Thank you for all your support over the last year as we’ve faced the challenges of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic and the local impact following the killing of George Floyd and subsequent unrest.
In this annual report, you will see how we’ve made a difference, sharing hope and healing in our community. Here are some of the stories you will find:
We continued to serve residents and clients throughout the year, serving more than 3,200 individuals in 2020. Find some more important impacts we made this year, like how many meals we provided for residents and how many COVID-19 tests were conducted in our IMPACT section.
With 125 years in the community, we continue to affirm human worth; foster self-determination; value diversity; and seek social justice in all our programs by serving those escaping domestic violence, seeking chemical dependency services and supportive housing, and more.
We send a warm thank you to Jim Steinhagen who retired as CEO at the beginning of January 2021. He has been instrumental in his leadership of Missions Inc. over the last three years. We wish him well in his retirement.
This past year has been difficult, we faced many challenges including keeping residents and staff safe while providing important and essential services. Our staff and residents were also impacted by the killing of George Floyd in May as the weight of racial inequity was felt across America.
While the pandemic is not over, a glimmer of hope arrived as Missions Inc. Programs staff and residents were recently vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus.
Thank you again for your unwavering support over this past year. Together we’ve provided a safe haven for thousands of people, creating a space of hope, healing and transformation.
In gratitude,
Katy Daniels & Stacey Billy
Our services in the community
Missions Inc. Programs serves more than 3,000 people each year from across the Twin Cities facing domestic violence, chemical dependency and homelessness.
Learn more about our services here.
Tom's story
Tom lived at Mission Inc. Programs for about two years, working as a maintenance technician through the work program — where residents can work jobs around the campus at Missions Inc., learning new skills — spending most of his time working at the Mission Nursing Home.
Facilities Director Davis Pearlman worked with Tom as Tom looked for a job outside Missions Inc. with good pay and benefits. He found a good position nearby in New Hope, where he began working in maintenance at a nursing home. Tom moved into a rent-free apartment on the nursing home’s campus and began working as their on-site support.
Pearlman said of Tom’s excitement for this opportunity, “He’s literally elated. I’ve never seen him look so happy.”
Pearlman believes Tom would have never gotten this opportunity without his sobriety.
What we did together in 2020
People Served
This year staff and residents were impacted tremendously by the COVID-19 pandemic which changed much of the way our programs operate. While some of our staff were able to shift and work from home, many of our staff work directly with residents and clients on a daily basis as essential workers. We continued to provide important services throughout the pandemic.
With persistence in keeping our facilities clean, wearing protective equipment and working hard with residents, we were able to continue to provide life-saving and life-changing services throughout 2020.
We know our staff and residents were also impacted in when George Floyd died in police custody in May 2020. While racial inequity is not new in Minnesota nor America, this event brought new attention to the problem and unrest to the Twin Cities area. This unrest follows us into 2021 as the police officers involved go on trial.
Missions Inc. Programs staff are the heart of our programs, providing services to residents and clients every single day and helping create change in the lives of hundreds of people each year. Their commitment to our mission and their work instills hope, healing and transformation in the hearts of the people we serve.
Find Missions Inc. Programs' 2020 990 document HERE.
Living Recovery, celebrating stories
September is Recovery Month, an international observance held to educate people about substance use and mental health services that can enable individuals and their families to live healthy and rewarding lives.
Every year Minnesota Recovery Connection holds their Recovery Walk and event at the capitol. In 2020, due to COVID-19, the event was moved online. Missions Inc. Programs was a proud sponsor of the event, supporting the work of Minnesota Recovery Connection to bring this event to the recovery community.
Missions Inc.’s staff and residents sent in their stories of recovery to Minnesota Recovery Connection to share why recovery was important to them. Below are some of our residents and staff recovery stories. Find all the stories shared in September here.
Former-CEO Jim Steinhagen shared his personal recovery story saying, in part, “Recovery gives me a choice and in addiction, I lost that because everything was centered around that next high. Having a choice is a real gift.”
Ilham at Hart House said, “Recovery gave me the chance to be a mother again!”
Bethany at Hart House said, “My sober house, both the staff and clients, have given me hope. And confidence. And friendship. And so many other things I forgot I could have.”
Helping others
Volunteers are an important part of Missions Inc. We are incredibly grateful for the community of volunteers who generously gave their time at Missions Inc. Thank you!
During 2020, our volunteer program was shut down for most of the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic to keep our residents and staff safe by limiting the number of people at our programs. Still, 106 volunteers donated a total of 899 hours of their time to Missions Inc.
Board of Directors
Our Board of Directors are important volunteers who govern Missions Inc. Programs, providing oversight over the organization as a whole at Missions Inc. Programs.
Board Chair
Stacey Billy
First Vice Chair
Kathleen Hokemeir-Seim
Second Vice Chair
Tammie Fallon
Treasurer
Dennis Wold
Secretary
Joel Barker
Directors
La’Connie Battle
Len Biggs
Sara Dent
Mike Goldstein
Ellen Meyer
Julie Olson
Gay Parker
Bunny Robinson
Andrew Ronningen
Mary Senkbeil
Andy Whitman
Donations and support
A big thank you to all of those who donated to Missions Inc. Programs in 2020. Through the generosity of more than 400 individuals, groups and organizations, together we raised more than $309,000 to provide direct programs and services to more than 3,000 people. You donated more than 10,000 face masks to keep our residents and staff safe as well as 120 Welcome Kits filled with personal hygiene items for residents coming to Missions Inc.
With your support we are building a stronger, safer and happier community – one filled with hope, healing and transformation.
Thank you.
Advocating through awareness
While COVID-19 prevented us from hosting events on our campus in 2020, it did not prevent us from raising awareness in October for Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
We put together two videos that show an inside look at Missions Inc.’s Home Free Community Program.
“A Call from Elsa” shares a dramatized conversation similar to that of an advocates first conversation with a domestic violence survivor.
“MaBri’s Helping Hand” shares the history and importance of the Home Free Community Program Immigrant Program with its founder MaBri.
2020 Financials
