I never imagined that singing in a church choir would lead to a decades-long partnership with Hammer & NER.

Liz and Kate enjoy chatting after Sunday Mass 

About 40 years ago, my husband Jerry and I were raising four young children and regularly attending church. Through the choir, I met Liz—a joyful woman supported by Hammer & NER—whose love for singing left a lasting impression on me.

When our family joined Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Community in Wayzata, Fr. Arnold Weber created a welcoming space for individuals with developmental disabilities. We watched as several people supported by Hammer & NER began attending Sunday Mass, brought by volunteers. That tradition continues today through a monthly special needs program.

These relationships deeply impacted our family, inspiring us to financially support Hammer & NER. We believe every individual deserves a life of dignity, respect, and peace. It’s our responsibility as a community to offer a hand-up so they can live life to the fullest.

Four decades ago, when I first met individuals supported by Hammer & NER, many were young, independent, and full of energy. Over time, their needs have changed—requiring more medical care, adapted transportation, and perhaps a change to their housing situation. Both those served and their caregivers need increased resources.

That’s why our family is investing in the Together, We Ensure Tomorrow campaign. Hammer & NER is now caring for the first generation of senior citizens with developmental disabilities, and the need is urgent. It brings us joy to support this campaign so those served—and those who care for them—can thrive well into the future.

Growing up, my parents instilled in us the importance of generosity and doing the right thing. Supporting Hammer & NER feels like the right thing for our family—and now is the right time.

Perhaps it’s the right time for your family, too. Together, we can ensure a future filled with dignity, care, and opportunity for every individual served by Hammer & NER.

Please consider making a gift today. Your help is urgently needed. Please visit: Together, We Ensure Tomorrow – Hammer

Kate is pictured above with her husband, Jerry, and their family.

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Friends Alyssa and Marnie

Marnie & Alyssa
Marnie and Alyssa (Alyssa is supported at our Lake Place Apartment program) have been friends for a year and a half now, through Hammer & NER’s “Make a Friend, Be a Friend” program. They get together twice a month, and Marnie says it’s always fun with a touch of adventure thrown in. “We enjoy getting outdoors and engaging in activities around our community, plus we never miss a chance to talk together and share laughs,” Marnie says. Recently, Alyssa shared some of her favorite times with Marnie. “It was special to reflect on all the experiences we’ve had and how close we’ve grown,” says Marnie. “Some highlights for her include visiting the Russian Museum of Art to see the Russian doll exhibit, enjoying Bachman’s Spring Flower Show, checking out the scarecrows at the Arboretum, shopping in Excelsior, and attending a kettle drum concert. We also LOVE going out to enjoy a meal together whenever we meet up,” Marnie says.

Friends Jenna and Sarah

Jenna & Sarah
Jenna and Sarah (Sarah is supported at our Royal Oaks Apartment program) make plans to hang out once a month and have been friends for just over a year now. They have enjoyed a variety of activities together including going out to the movies, eating out together or going to a coffee shop, or staying in have to dinner together at Sarah’s place. “When we hang out at Sarah’s, we tend to like crafty activities like painting or coloring, scrapbooking, working with modeling clay, or painting our fingernails,” says Jenna. “When it is nice out, we play a game on her patio and go for a short walk in her neighborhood.” Jenna says It’s fun to have a friend to plan these connections with and gives them both something to look forward to!

The Rockford ladies

The Rockford Ladies
The four Rockford ladies are a perfect example of what it’s like to live with your friends. Stephanie, Carla, and Cindy have lived together for over 25 years–since the house first opened! They have had only one roommate change in all those years: when Amy was chosen as their new housemate five years ago. They agree it’s been another perfect fit. The ladies love to do everything together, including going to the movies, playing bingo, doing crafts, going shopping, going on Hammer Travel Trips, visiting the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre, or talking about anything Disney related. The ladies have had the chance to try some new things this year from going to a Vikings game and MN Wild game and even taking a trip to Hershey, PA. What started with friendship, has truly developed into a Rockford family. Stephanie, Carla, Cindy, and Amy just enjoy being together every day.

Friends Ryan and Chris

Ryan & Chris
Ryan first met Chris (supported at our Lancaster home) during Chris’s senior year of high school when he sat down with Ryan at lunch. “He recognized me from the football team,” says Ryan. “We quickly formed a friendship. Chris came to my games, and I attended his adapted sports events. Through that, I got to know Chris, his friends in the DCD program at Maple Grove, and his wonderful family: Judi-Marie, Mitch, and Lauren.” Ryan says his bond with Chris has lasted well beyond high school. “Chris cheered me on as a Gopher football player, stood by my side as a groomsman in my wedding, and today knows my children.” Chris has been an incredible friend to Ryan and has inspired him as a school principal to advocate for DCD students. “Seeing the independence and purpose Chris has gained through his group home and Hammer & NER’s activities is why I am so grateful to support this amazing organization. Chris is truly a lifelong friend, and I am blessed to know him.”

Sharla and her friends at Nelson Place 

Sharla & the Nelson Place Men
As a volunteer at Nelson Place, Sharla says she has had the joy of spending time each week with four incredible young men. “Together, we fill our year with activities and adventures,” she says, “exploring the neighborhood on walks, attending Christ for People, enjoying games at Scheels, celebrating holidays, catching movies, bowling, crafts, playing board games, and sharing meals on special occasions. What I treasure most, though, are our conversations about family, pets, and the things we’re looking forward to.”

Friends Susan and Kelly

Susan & Kelly
“I’ve had the privilege of getting to know Kelly (who is supported at the Cedarwood Apartments) over the past few years,” says Susan. “We get together once a week and hang out, usually working on a jigsaw puzzle.” Sometimes it’s just the two of them, and sometimes some of Kelly’s friends join in. “We laugh and have lots of fun together. Some of the puzzles Kelly and her friends choose are pretty challenging and I am constantly amazed at Kelly’s patience to finish the puzzle!”

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Tom and Alex

Tom Venable is one of those people always looking for ways to give back to the community. It’s one way the high-energy former corporate leader and now passionate entrepreneur and owner of newly launched Sales Macgyver, creates work/life balance for himself. When Tom heard about the many individuals with intellectual and other disabilities supported at Hammer & NER looking for a one-on-one volunteer, someone to be a friend to them and take them out into the community, his ears perked up. He soon signed up for the organization’s “Make a Friend, Be a Friend” program—and gained a lifelong friend in Alex, who has been supported by Hammer & NER for 17 years.

Hammer & NER recently named Tom Venable as one of the recipients of this year’s Community Partner Award. The award recognizes those who have made a positive impact on the lives of the people we serve, or whose efforts have greatly supported our mission to provide people with intellectual and other disabilities the opportunity to live life to its fullest.

For the last eight years, Tom and Alex have built a strong bond, sharing countless adventures out and about in the community and enjoying various activities like attending JJ Hill Days in Wayzata, going bowling, taking in a movie, going on boat rides, or grabbing lunch at Snuffy’s Malt Shop or Punch Pizza. Their bond is built on trust, laughter, and genuine connection. Tom says he can be having a bad day, but when he walks through the door to visit Alex and sees the huge smile on his face, it turns his day right around. “Alex is such a wonderful part of my life,” Tom says. “He’s like the little brother I never had.”

Besides being a friend to Alex, Tom volunteers at our annual Reach for Ralph fundraising event, has called bingo, made meals for our homes in need, and volunteered at our Golf Open and Trunk or Treat events. He has donated more than 300 hours of his time to Hammer & NER and the people we serve.

Alex helped present Tom with a Community Partner award.

We are proud to celebrate Tom Venable for the friendship he has built with Alex and for his dedicated support of our mission. If you would like to volunteer with the Make a Friend, Be a Friend program, please contact our Director of Volunteer Resources, Cathy Thoma, at cthoma@hammer.org. 

Editor’s Note: We are saddened to share that Alex passed away July 18. Our condolences are with his family, friends, and the staff at our Carlson home where Alex resided for many years, along with his good friend, Tom Venable. To see Alex’s obituary please visit Alexander Luther Obituary | Minnesota Star Tribune

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Lauren and Dawn, from our Gardner home, at the Lions’ waffle breakfast. Behind them are Lions Club members joined by Isaiah Allen (at right), Hammer & NER’s Chief Development Officer.

If you are fortunate enough to have a friend you have known for 30, 40, 50 years or more, you know what a special gift you have. You have weathered challenges and changes together, celebrated one another’s successes, and learned from each other. Such is the case for our long-time partnership with the folks of the Lions Club of Wayzata.

We honestly don’t know when the relationship started, but both organizations have been an integral part of Wayzata for over 70 years. When you have mission-minded organizations in the same small, but growing community, they are bound to connect. The mission of the international Lions Club is to improve health and wellbeing, strengthen communities, and support those in need through humanitarian service and grants that impact lives. Our shared values have led to a long and valued relationship.

“Being a part of a community like the Lions of Wayzata and helping local organizations like Hammer & NER is good for the soul,” says Tim Anderson, President of the Lions Club of Wayzata.

Since 1986, this humble group of community members has donated annually to Hammer & NER for a total of $58,000. Each year, on the last Saturday in February, the Lions organize a waffle breakfast fundraiser, open to the community, at St. Bart’s Catholic Church in Wayzata. They invite the people we support to attend as their guests. It has become a favorite event for many! Some of the proceeds benefit Hammer & NER. The community can also support the mission of the Lions Club by purchasing pull tabs at the Wayzata Muni.

Thank you to the Lions Club of Wayzata for everything you do for the people we support and our larger community. We look forward to many more years together!

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Our official partnership with Christ Memorial Lutheran Church in Plymouth may have started in 2023, but its roots trace back to the 1990s when Kim Mesun first heard of Hammer Residences. At the time, Kim was serving as a Minnesota Assistant Attorney General in the Human Services Division and worked with the licensing of Intermediate Care Facility (ICF) homes. At the time, Hammer Residences temporarily operated five ICF group homes, which the state had taken into receivership.

Fast forward to the fall of 2023, the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) as part of its Faith Practices and Neighboring Practices program encouraged congregations to reach out to their neighboring communities. Upon visiting the Hammer & NER website, Kim discovered that one of our homes was near her church. She shared this with fellow parishioners and learned that one of them had a brother, Ben, who lived at our 1st Avenue home. Kim reached out to Hammer & NER to inquire about volunteering opportunities and was connected with Brittney Severson, the Program Manager at 1st Avenue at that time. Hammer & NER was also chosen as Christ Memorial Lutheran’s cause of the month for October 2023 and John Estrem was invited to speak to the congregation. We gratefully received an offering from the church.

When Christmas 2023 arrived, Kim and fellow church members organized a Christmas Caroling party at the house, complete with pizza, an electric piano for playing carols, and gifts! The staff at 1st Avenue took everyone to the Children’s Christmas Service at the church. In February, the Sunday school and childcare center children made Valentine’s Day cards for the house which were delivered with treats. For Easter, the church hosted a party for 1st Avenue, including sub sandwiches, Easter baskets, and an Easter egg hunt at the church. Out of the 40 plastic eggs filled with treats and coins, only 39 were found—one egg remains hidden!

Kim and the guys at the church’s Alternative Gift Market

Last October found the 1st Avenue individuals and staff participating in Trunk or Treat at the church, with games and activities for the church and childcare families. On Thanksgiving Eve, everyone was invited to the church service and the pie social that followed. Christmas saw the church host the Alternative Gift Market, attended by the individuals at 1st Avenue who enjoyed getting their photo taken at the Hammer & NER table with Kim. Once again, we received a donation from the church. Later in December, another pizza and caroling party was held at the 1st Avenue home. The church continues to nurture its relationship with the 1st Avenue community.

In addition to their support for 1st Avenue, Kim, her husband, Craig, and friends have volunteered with Hammer & NER in various capacities, including the Cooks in the Kitchen program, Disability Services Day at the Capitol, our annual Luau, the Baker Park Picnic, and the annual Spring Breakfast. And let’s not forget the cookies they have made for our Community Life parties!

Thank you, Kim, for connecting us with Christ Memorial Lutheran Church. And a heartfelt thank you to the congregation for your unwavering support of Hammer & NER’s mission and to those we support. We are so grateful to have you as part of our community!

(In the photo above: Kim and the 1st Avenue guys at the annual Hammer & NER Luau)

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