Emily Seiple: ESTHER Homes
One of Eden Prairie’s newest nonprofits has the mission of providing stable, holistic, transitional housing to pregnant women, single mothers, and their children. ESTHER Homes has operated in Eden Prairie since July, and speaking to its work March 5 was Emily Seiple, its director of community development.Their house near City Hill Church can hold three families and currently is housing two, while ESTHER Homes has a larger establishment in St. Paul. Typical clients are low-income pregnant or single mothers, and their children, who are in a housing crisis. Rather than simply provide a shelter, ESTHER Homes wraps its clients in an array of support and services.
It includes housing, meals and social support but also accountability and help with life skills. The clients set goals for self-sustainability, and work toward them, while the nonprofit connects them to helpful services and resources. ESTHER Homes staff live in the homes with the mothers and children, who are part of the program for up to two years.
ESTHER Homes is a big believer in creating a network of community partners and funders, and A.M. Rotary hashelped by providing computer stations. Other funders include the Community Foundation.
You can learn more about the organization by visiting its website, estherhome.org.
Announcements
Club member Dennis Kim is looking for hosts and businesses to help with another New Generations Exchange Program coming in June. Jane McGinty shared that we’ll be hosting another foreign-exchange student next school year – name unknown, but coming from Brazil. Upcoming speakers include state demographer Megan Dayton on March 12 and Kim Rathjen of Onward Eden Prairie on March 19. You can also mark your calendar for April 18, when the Area 3 Ethics Vocational Luncheon will be held at Edina Country Club, with Jerome Mayne speaking.
Spotlight on Roy Terwilliger
Roy Terwilliger, one of the club’s charter members from 1976, has pretty much seen it all. And what he’s seen is a club rich in contributions, one that has given to many, many causes and also helped establish community institutions like the Eden Prairie Community Foundation and the Eden Prairie Crime Prevention Fund. The year 1976 is also significant in that his Suburban National Bank – Eden Prairie’s first bank – was started then. It was later sold to what is now U.S. Bank, and Roy went on to help form and lead a group of community banks that we know as Flagship Bank. Beyond that, he served in the Minnesota Senate and later as chair of the stadium commission. He is largely retired but still helps out banking associations with member relations. Much of his remaining time is spent with his three children and nine grandchildren. Thank you, Roy, for helping make A.M. Rotary such a community asset.Happy Fines
We’re happy and willing to donate $5 (or more) to The Rotary Foundation to prove it. George Esbensen is happy to be planning a May 20 golf fundraiser for the Minnesota Firefighters Initiative; perhaps by then our snow will be gone. Dennis Kim is proud of Jane McGinty’s work on the Rotary student exchange program, which can have a dramatic life-long impact on a foreign student. Glenn Olson is happy to be marking a birthday – three-quarters of a century – on this day. Jane McGinty is happy to share that our outbound student in Belgium is having a great exchange experience. Matt Crane is enjoying one of his children’s hockey-goalie experiences and the State of Hockey overall.