Earlier this month, Rep. Dean Phillips volunteered as a Direct Support Professional at our Carlson home.

During his visit, Rep. Phillips worked with the people we support, made lunch, and learned some sign language to communicate with one of the people we support.

Read more on our blog about his important visit and the concerns we shared with him about ongoing staffing shortages.

Over 300 people attended our annual Spring Breakfast, which was held in late April at the Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center.

It was a great morning hearing from staff, volunteers, and the people we support.

Check out this photo gallery with highlights from the event!

Please join us! Bring friends and fill a table!

Thursday, June 22

5:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Quincy Hall, 1325 Quincy St NE Minneapolis - in the heart of the arts district.

Make a difference to people with intellectual disabilities and celebrate our anniversaries. Enjoy cocktails, butler- passed small bites, dinner, auctions, and games. You will be inspired by stories of the people we support. We are upping the games, meal choices, and even serving bubbly! Click here to watch a teaser video from our emcee, Sheletta Brundidge.

It’s not too late to become a sponsor, donate to our auction, invite friends, and donate to our wine and beer games.

This is the year to come to Reach for Ralph!

Early bird ticket prices fly away on May 30.

The ladies who live at our Gramsie home had the time of their lives at the recent Shania Twain concert at the Xcel Energy Center.

Angela, Karen, Paula, and Sandra from Gramsie looked forward to the concert for months. Amy Stamness, Program Manager at Gramsie, and Lead DSP, Taylor Stone, helped plan the logistics including making matching Shania shirts for the big day! (See the pictures to the right as well as the photo at the top of this email.)

Amy says, "I walked the girls one by one down the stairs to our seats as they were steep and when we were leaving, a girl in our row stood behind each one and helped us. Then another girl gave me a hug and $20 and thanked me for what I do. They were so well received by the Shania Twain fans. It was amazing. They all really enjoyed the show, so it was a big treat for them."

Many thanks to our donors who helped make this night happen with their gifts to our Quality of Life Fund.

In the year ahead, our Program department is focused on the SHINE initiative. We are emphasizing one “letter” each month, from May through September. In May, ”S” stands for Supporting Individuals. Managers and direct care staff are reviewing the person-centered concept of what is important to, and for, the people we support. 

Our Chief Program Officer, Sue Walker, shares that now that we’re coming out of the pandemic, we are rethinking how we do our work every day while also keeping in mind the changes in our workforce (specifically, a critical and ongoing staffing shortage). “Focusing on the five elements of SHINE and emphasizing one each month, reminds us of our values and our need to be person-centered for the people we support and our colleagues,” Sue says. It provides focus each month and some fun and organic activities people can do with and for each other. 

Apart from the staffing shortage, we’ve had a natural turnover of 100-150 direct support staff each year. Many of our current employees came to Hammer & NER during COVID-19. Our emphasis on SHINE helps newer employees better see what our organization is about and that can translate into how our families see what we are doing. 

Many thanks to the Sun Sailor for recently publishing a great article on one of our Program Managers, William Mbu, and the work he is doing to give back to his home country of Cameroon.

Click here to ready William's story on the Sun Sailor website.

We have a few employees celebrating significant anniversaries this month.

Clockwise from top, Tyler Textor (Program Manager, 25 years), Angela Bernhardt (right, Director of Major Gifts, 10 years), and Brenda Witt (Program Manager, 15 years).

Congratulations and thank you for all you do!

The legislative session has wrapped up and although we are still digesting all the work that was done, we can already see there is lots of great news for Hammer & NER and Disability Services!

This is because of your advocacy! A big thank you to the staff, families, volunteers, Board members and individuals we support. So many folks responded to action alerts, wrote letters, scheduled visits, attended Day at the Capitol, and took other actions that made a difference. We still have work to do, but the relationships we are building will help us in the years to come.

This summer we will focus on legislators visiting our homes. If you are willing to host a visit, let our Advocacy Director Mary Gaasch know at maryg@hammer.org. Mary will take care of all the logistics and make it as easy and fun as possible!

Each month in "Happenings" we feature some of our favorite photos of the people we support "out & about" having fun in their communities. The pictures on the right are of a group from our Royal Oaks apartment program at the Starry Night Prom at DeLaSalle High School! Enjoy!

The new 2024 brochure has been mailed out and trips are available to book. If you didn’t get one and want one, please contact Ann Martinka at amartinka@hammer.org or view it online here.



The brochure will give you all trips available in 2024 but the best way to register is via the Hammer Travel website as that gives the most updated availability for each trip. The number under the word '"availability" is the number of spots available for each trip. Once the trip is full, there is an option to be put on the waitlist, which is a good idea as travelers do drop out for various reasons. 

Fundraising Manager Nate Reed recently spoke at the Plymouth Lions Club. He talked about the histories of Hammer & NER, current challenges, and how grateful we are to have community support from organizations like theirs. The Plymouth Lions Club is a long-time sponsor of Reach for Ralph.

Are you a member of a civic group (Lions, Rotary, Elks, Young Professionals, etc.) or a faith organization that might like to learn more about Hammer & NER? Please let us know! We’re happy to make a presentation to your members and share our mission. Contact Ginger.Venable@Hammer.org.