Twin Ports Women’s Foundation – June 2020
Board Members – Denise Bussa – chair, Karis Boerner, Robin Brown, Lynnea Emerson and Laura
Weintraub
Unprecedented Times
We have been living in unprecedented times and 2020 has been a year like no other. The board of the
Twin Ports Women’s Foundation is excited about moving ahead, anticipating an even more successful
2nd grant cycle in 2021.
We missed out on celebrating our first donations. We made donations to Safe Haven and the YMCA in
the amounts of $xxxx each. Those funds arrived just as the COVID-19 pandemic arrived. They were put
to good use at a time when these organizations needed them the most. We asked each organization to
let us know how COVID has affected them:
From Brittany Robb, Executive Director of Safe Haven Shelter and Resource Center
A lot of wonderful folks have asked me how things have changed at Safe Haven since COVID-19 set its sights on our community. There is much to be said about what our work looks like now compared to just three, short months ago:
While so many of our friends and neighbors in the nonprofit community closed their doors, we continued to welcome victims and survivors into both our Shelter and Resource Center locations. As a designated “tier 2 essential service”, domestic violence programs throughout the state of Minnesota who provide emergency protections including shelter services and Orders for Protection are required to remain operational regardless of what’s happening outside of our doors. Because of the nimbleness of our team, we were able to act quickly to respond to the increased calls for support as survivors recognized their circumstances were about to become even more dire as “stay at home” directives were implemented which inadvertently allowed abusive partners the freedom to further exert their control. Our staff became even more adept at tuning into the subtle cues in crisis calls to formulate thoughtful safety plans with survivors to plan for their well-being while at home with their partners. Our team responded swiftly in reaching out to essential businesses and healthcare facilities to share our contact information broadly in grocery store bathrooms and on gas station community boards where survivors may have their only opportunity to be separated from their abusers. At both the Shelter and Resource Center we developed procedures and protocol to ensure adequate social-distancing, cleaning and sanitizing measures were taken to keep all of our clients and staff healthy and well. We worked diligently with our partners and local businesses to provide additional shelter space off-site for symptomatic shelter guests in need of isolation while they recover.
Some of the key pieces of our advocacy work have changed in ways that we couldn’t have imagined in pre-COVID times, and we are grateful for the experience of having to push the boundaries of how we reach survivors. We have connected to those we serve via online support groups using a variety of web-based conferencing platforms to stay in touch and provide the after-care work so many have come to rely on during their new life post-separation. Our children’s and youth advocacy has changed to focus on “whole family advocacy” for the little ones living in the shelter with their moms, and for the older kids in the community who would typically be participating in our mentoring program, we are reaching them through weekly mailings that include empowering activities, self-care style “make and takes”, and personalized notes from our staff. We continue to provide trainings for groups large and small via webinars and have relied on our growing network of email and social media contacts to ensure the message resonates throughout the community that we aren’t going anywhere!
Like any trauma that befalls those we serve, they survive. And they teach us how to survive. And they, and we, are going to be okay.
From Anika Thompson, Community Engagement and Development Associate Duluth Area Family YMCA
With the mandated closure of fitness facilities on March 18th, the Duluth Area Family met the challenge
head-on and refocused our efforts to where we were most needed within our community. As the Y, we
are sometimes best known for our swim lessons or as health and wellness experts, but since the Covid-19
pandemic closed our doors, we have shown that our mission expands well beyond the confines of our
physical building. Our mission-driven services continued, expanded, and adapted to meet the growing
needs this new challenge presented. As the needs continue to shift each day, the Y continues to be
flexible and innovative as we make a positive impact for those who needed us the most in our
community. Through the generosity of our members, community, and partners, the Y has helped keep
youth, families, and individuals safe and supported during this difficult time.
At the Y, we are dedicated to ensuring our member and the community stay healthy while safe at home.
Through free virtual wellness offerings that are available to all of our community, we are keeping
families, seniors, and individuals active, engaged, and thriving. This work included creating a sense of
belonging through wellness-check calls with our senior members to provide them with social connection
as well as connect them to critical government and nonprofit community services.
As an expansion of our youth development work, we partnered with the school district from March 18th
to June 5th andmanaged the Duluth Public Schools and Duluth Edison Charter Schools emergency
childcare for essential workers out of5 condensed sites of Lowell, Congdon, Laura MacArthur, Raleigh,
and North Star Elementary. These programs supportedour region’s essential workers by creating fun and
engaging programming, where students spent time playing outside, completing their distanced learning,
and exploring new hobbies and skills while following best practices for health and safety. As part of our
ongoing youth development programming, we will continue to serve youth through our Day Camp and
summer offerings now that the school year is officially at an end. In addition to meeting childcare needs
for school aged youth, our Early Childhood Development Centers in Hermantown and Grand Marais,
remained open and serving the families who needed this critical support while instituting best practices
for the safety and health of all we serve.
Our commitment to meeting the food access needs of our youth continued despite Covid-19 and we
redoubled our efforts with the understanding that this crisis would amplify existing food insecurities for
underserved neighborhoods. Over the past two months, we have facilitatedEmergency Food Distribution
andwe have been working with many of our existing partners and developed new community partners to
provide grab-and-go meal bags out of the Gary New Duluth Recreation Center and the Harbor Highlands
Community Center, Cook County Community YMCA, and the YMCA at the Essentia Wellness Center.Grab-
and-go bags, include nutritious items for lunch and breakfast as well as partner donated books, activity
sheets, and other necessary supplies for families. During the first month just at Harbor Highland and GND
alone, we gave out a total of 2,698 meals and we have seen an increase need for this service. As part of
our ongoing food access programming, we will continue to handout meal bags until the end of the
summer.
Now, as we look toward reopening, our cause remains within our community. Though it looks a little different, at its core, what we are doing today is what we do every day. We continue to meet the important needs of our youth, families, individuals, and seniors. With our community partners, we will continue to help break down barriers so all can be successful now at this challenging time and in years to come. As we look to the future, we are excited. We have learned so much as we adjusted what we’ve always done to meet the new needs of our community. There is more work for us to do and we are so grateful to you for joining with us to make more possible for all in our region.
Membership Renewal
Membership renewal is due by December 31, 2020. Current members do not have to provide additional
demographic information. Simply ‘renew’ with your name. Check donations can be sent to:
Twin Ports Women’s Foundation
c/o St. Paul & Minnesota Foundation
101 Fifth Street E., Suite 2400
St. Paul, Minnesota 55101
Credit card payments can be made by calling Deepti at the SPMF, 651-325-4282. Again, simply provide
her with your name if all of the information we have remains current.
You can also make installment payments if that is easier on your budget.
We will have a membership drive/educational program this fall. These may take different forms
depending on how the pandemic continues to affect our community.
Being Part of the Twin Ports Women’s Foundation
After a highly successful initial year, Twin Ports Women’s Foundation (TPWF), is enthusiastically inviting
additional members to become part of a contributing, caring and community process.
As a TPWF member you make a difference within your own community through the concept of
collective giving. Your contribution is a part of the pie empowering you with an opportunity to
nominate and vote for local nonprofit agencies in need. The bigger the pie, the bigger the awards and
the greater impact and accomplishment acquired within your own the community.
To supplement your philanthropic rewards, a TPWF membership provides you:
-Participation in the grants process via nomination and voting privileges as directed by the Board.
-Opportunity to join the grants committee for direct involvement on planning and process development.
-Attendance at educational events.
-Participation in annual events and award ceremonies.
Please share the following with friends, colleagues, family, neighbors, etc. For more information on
becoming a Twin Ports Women’s Foundation member, go to www.twinportswomensfoundation.com and
click on Join Us.
Volunteer Opportunities
We have recruited one new board member, Robin Brown. With one resignation and one addition, the
board of the TPWF remains at 5. We’d like to add a couple of additional board members if we could.
Please get in touch with any board member for additional information or email
info@twinportswomensfoundation.com. We are also starting up the Grants Committee and have one
volunteer thus far, Julie Zaruba Fountaine. Thank you, Julie.
Thank you for your membership in the Twin Ports Women’s Foundation!
Download our Newsletter
All of this and more was found at the TPWF Membership Event at Sara’s Table Chester Creek Cafe on September 25th. We convened in the upper level Sky Room and treated ourselves to an assortment of relished Chester Creek Cafe appetizers! Those in attendance included current members as well as prospective members joining us to learn more about the Foundation. By night’s end, two women expressed their sincere interest in becoming newly active members!
Thank you to ALL members! We appreciate every one of you! Look for our next Membership Event in the Spring, 2024! We hope to see you there!!
Effective November 15th TPWF members will be able to pay membership dues via a secure online payment process on the St. Paul & Minnesota Foundation website.
Please come to our grant award celebration
I first read about Twin Ports Women’s Foundation (TPWF) in a local newspaper where the words – inclusive, collective giving and women – were all used in the article. It caught my attention. I had to look further into this organization and did so through their website and Facebook page. At the time TPWF was in their first year, promoting their organization and recruiting members. And at the time, I was downsizing my career and exploring my drive to ‘give back’ in a meaningful and impactful way. The more I read about TPWF’s mission, the more I began to feel a connection. My $500 donation was important to me, I wanted it to make a difference – a bigger difference than its monetary value. Joining TPWF provided that solution. Collective giving amongst women sharing similar values offered me the opportunity to serve my community with greater strength, stronger purpose and more efficiency. Throughout my tenure as at TPWF member, I have had privilege to be part of the selection process and contribute sizable grant monies to six different local non-profits. My annual contribution had an impact 20X its value for organizations in need that I feel fortunate to have as part of my community.
