Sam Sjolander as a young and joyful child, now living at a Hammer & NER home.

Not just housed but truly home. In a place where he is known, where his life is understood, where the people around him genuinely care.

I am Sam’s mother, and I am also a Board Member of Hammer & NER, which means I get to see this mission from both sides: as a parent who knows what it means to love a child who needs more support than most, and as someone who gets to help protect the systems that make that support possible.

Here is what I have learned from both seats: connection changes everything.

Arkansas Home in St. Louis Park (Left to Right) Matt Buley, Rep. Larry Kraft, Dami Abiodun, Tyler Textor, Pam Janczewski, Vivian Yantari Yoghoh, Diane Sjolander

A couple of weeks ago, I stood alongside Minnesota Representative Larry Kraft as he visited the Arkansas House in St. Louis Park — one of the homes where Hammer & NER’s work happens every day. We sat together in the living room and talked about what it actually takes to keep a home like this running.

This is the work: connection that creates understanding, understanding that creates advocacy. It is quiet, unglamorous, and it is the reason families like mine can hope for something better than uncertainty.

Adequate State funding is not guaranteed year to year. The needs of our children — my son included — do not come with an end date, but funding that supports them can feel like might.

That is why philanthropic support matters so much, especially now. It is what allows us to approach 2027 from a position of strength instead of scarcity, no matter what the State budget decides.

Core to connection is the care provided by the Direct Support Professionals who show up every single day — the same face, the same trust, built over time. That’s why Hammer & NER invests about $1 million of our own resources each year to strengthen DSP compensation beyond what state funding supports. We do it because keeping great people in this work is what keeps the connection stable. We invest in career coaching for the same reason.

When I know we are proactively protecting this work, I get to set something down. I get to trust that the same faces will show up for my son tomorrow as showed up today — because the people caring for him are paid fairly and supported in their own careers. And when I get to set that down, I get to just be Sam’s mom.

This is about them. But it is also about you and every parent and guardian after us. Every gift this fall goes directly toward compensating our DSPs and investing in the career coaching that keeps them a part of this mission.

Will you join us with a gift today? A gift helps fund fair wages and career growth for the Direct Support Professionals who show up for families like mine, every single day.

Thank you for helping me — and so many parents like me — get to just be a parent.

With gratitude,

Diane Sjolander

Board Member and Parent

The Sjolander Family

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