Our ministry collected, purchase and assembly 150 personal care kits given out at the Salvation Army Harbor Light facility in Minneapolis on Thanksgiving morning. This was during the breakfast that 2.4 Ministries serves – which they’ve done daily for the past nine years.
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T2NL was honored by the Grace Fellowship M.O.P.S. program, providing 70 backpacks each packed with personal care kits and other survival items most needed by those in a living situation without a permanent residence.
Our co-founder, Richard Bahr (pictured), met with both groups prior to packing and was given the opportunity to tell more about the mission of T2NL as well as how serving and faith are connected. “Serving cultivates the heart and prepares it for God to work in us, much like worship music prepares us for the message the pastor delivers. Serving others is a form of worship”, said Bahr during his message.
We pray for each mom participating that her heart will be cultivated and softened to hear God’s voice of love and encouragement. We also pray for those receiving these backpacks that they will feel God’s love through the love and sacrifice made by these ladies just for them.
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” including packing! (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
Our team came together for one evening to create an assembly line and put together 150 personal care kits that will be given out at the Salvation Army Harbor Light facility in Minneapolis on Thanksgiving morning.
We’re grateful this ministry has so many friends and supporters. When we have a need, it seems someone is willing to step up to the task!
We helped locate Staci into a nice first floor apartment in the NW suburbs. She has a good job working retail (9 years at the same company) yet found herself in a situation and lost her housing. After 6 months in a shelter, she finally has a place! A donor provided some nice furniture – sorry, we had to use a “stock” picture…we lost our original photo somehow :-(. Our volunteers delivered the furniture the same evening we received it!
Our efforts at T2NL continue to provide relief to those who struggle with basic needs – clothing items, grocery cards, bus tokens for appointments and the like. Now in addition to this, we’re working with housing agencies to support clients beyond their reach.
Simpson, Our Savior’s and the Salvation Army all have housing programs aligned with us such that when they have a need they can’t meet, they contact us.
Case and point: Simpson Housing has clients that are living independently but from time to time run into a financial snag. Now their rent payment is at risk. “Snags” are things like gaps during change of employment, temporary loss of daycare while working, car repairs, health issues or death in the family. Life stuff that happens regardless of your income. Some of the clients that go back to Simpson for help were outside Simpson’s ability to provide complete relief. That’s where Thresholds comes in.
We triage the situation during a client interview and determine the size and duration of the financial gap. Our grant team reviews the case and within 48 hours determines the support we will provide. All payments are made directly to the provider (e.g. landlord, utility company). In many cases, the client will provide part of the gap coverage with T2NL covering the remainder.
In 2015, Threshold to New Life met the needs of 54 people allowing them to keep the housing they already had. That’s a big deal. Why?
Losing your housing due to unpaid rent hurts your rental history. Whatever the client had for rental history before has now gotten worse. And when housing is obtained via the help of a housing agency and then lost, many clients end up back where they started – at a homeless shelter. Often times when returning to a shelter, one must be homeless for a full year before becoming eligible for a housing program again – a guideline intended for good reason, but can be unintentionally punitive.
By keeping people in the housing they have, homelessness and shelter populations are reduced. Our average grant is between $200 and $400. In 2013 the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s study on the cost of caring for a homeless individual was pegged at $109 per day. And we just invest a couple of hundred dollars to keep someone in their housing.
This makes sense. It’s economical. It’s humane.
We welcome partners to come along with us on the journey of serving God by serving His designates – the poor and needy. Check out the donate link to provide tax deductible support for this great effort.
Thank you.
We stopped in to see Erin…ok…maybe actually to see her baby daughter, too 🙂 . Mom and baby are doing great! Erin is such a good and patient mom and baby girl is the sweetest thing ever! Both have been blessed by T2NL from the time we met her just after giving birth while staying at a homeless shelter in Minneapolis. We helped equip her new home with needed items. Carla stopped in recently just check in to see that all is well. Erin thanks all of you who provide support to this ministry. It has helped Erin move over her threshold and into her new life!
This story is not unique. In 2015, this ministry helped 54 people keep the homes they have by providing the means to cover their “gap”. On average, it cost about $300 to keep one person in their housing.
That’s a $25 monthly donation. Would you consider that?
Giving online is easy and tax deductable. Click the link below:
https://www.threshold2newlife.org/donate.html
Thank you for your prayers and support!
Our team at Threshold to New Life has worked hard during the past three years to provide RELIEF to the homeless and begin the process of RESTORATION to the lives we be believe God has in store for them. We have great partners. Several of the shelters and housing agencies in the Twin Cities have worked with us cooperatively to this end. Reducing the struggle and suffering takes a real team effort and a God that won’t quit. We’re grateful to Simpson Housing for our partnership.
Erin was referred to T2NL while staying at a shelter with her newborn daughter. She was in need of everything baby – diapers, formula, clothing, wipes, lotion and so on. Once this initial need was met, she worked with the housing folks at the shelter to get an apartment. Upon moving in, she needed furnishings to make her house a home. Although we don’t normally deal much in furniture, we put the need out to our network and many generous people that follow this ministry stepped forward to help. Hallelujah! All of what Erin needed was provided! We serve a God of abundance and He showed up mightily for Erin and her daughter via the Threshold supporter network.
How cool is this? Gretchen has been a KEY contact person referring clients to us from Simpson Housing when they need a financial backstop. She has done a great job of vetting situations for us and connecting Threshold to New Life to situations in which we can help the most. Sadly for us, Gretchen moved onto a new position elsewhere and as she was leaving, sent us this card from her and her husband because they believe in and support the work we’re doing.
Homeless with no family in the Twin Cities, Erin was pregnant with her first child. When the baby was born, she moved into a shelter with her newborn daughter. The shelter provided a few basic necessities for new mothers, but since she was homeless previously, Erin came to the shelter without much of anything to begin her journey into motherhood. Threshold to New Life bought and delivered a care package of many of the items needed for a new baby. Erin was grateful and we’re thankful to have the resources permitting us to “step in the gap” for her and her young daughter.
SECRETARY/TREASURER & ADVOCATE
Carla co-founded Threshold to New Life with her husband, Richard, in 2013. Carla handles the day-to-day operations for the organization dealing with partner organizations and working directly with clients.
She has spent a career in providing administrative support for executives at a number of prominent Twin City companies, which developed her organizational skills as well as the heart of a servant.
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PRESIDENT & CHAPLAIN
Having led and grown a leading capital equipment manufacturer with installations in 27 countries serving 17 of the top 20 pharmaceutical firms in the world, Bahr became determined to dedicate more of his time, talent and treasure to helping “the least of these."
He has a B.A. from Augsburg University in Business and has served on the boards of and has actively worked with several charitable organizations throughout his career. As a licensed minister, he volunteers as a chaplain at various homeless shelters along with providing leadership for 2.4 Ministries of Grace Fellowship, serving a daily breakfast to the homeless. He is also a published author. His most recent book, Those People, shares stories about his homeless friends. More about Bahr can be found on his website at www.richardbahr.com.
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DIRECTOR
From Homeless to Faith – Following her experiences in dealing with both homelessness and chemical dependency, Sheila committed her life to Christ in 2004. As God began pulling the pieces of her life together, she began working for a non-profit homeless shelter in 2007, then earned her B.S. in Human Services in 2018. Following multiple promotions, she now is the Program Director at Hope Harbor at the Salvation Army in Minneapolis.
Sheila is originally from Chicago and has resided in the Twin Cities since the late ’90s. She is married and a soldier in The Salvation Army. Her empathy for those struggling with addiction, homelessness, and mental illness has oriented her vocation and volunteering to step in to help those in need.
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DIRECTOR
Danell is a hands-on executive with several decades of senior level experience in the wholesale industry. Born and raised in North Dakota, she has lived in the Twin Cities area for more than 30 years, and she and her husband call the northern suburbs home.
In addition to volunteering with Threshold to New Life, she supports a number of other organizations which reflect her heart for poverty, food and family insecurity, and homelessness: World Vision, Common Hope, and Unseen among them. She loves to cook, eat, and make others feel welcome. She translates this into preparing and serving food at Simpson Shelter, Minneapolis, alongside her friends from Grace Fellowship, Brooklyn Park, MN.
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DIRECTOR
A life-long Minnesotan, Denise is married to John and has two wonderful daughters and a son-in-law. She has spent her career as an elementary school teacher in a Title 1 school in a Twin City area school district.
Along with volunteering with Threshold to New Life, she has helped with several other homeless ministries. She sponsors children through World Vision and is currently a coach and mentor to the Girls on the Run organization, which promotes good self-esteem, positive role models, and moral education along with physical activity to girls in grades 3 – 5.
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DIRECTOR
Also a life-long Minnesotan, John is married to Denise and has two wonderful daughters and a son-in-law. He has been an Environmental Scientist and has been operating his own business for 22 years.
Along with volunteering with Threshold to New Life, John has learned the joys of serving by being a Big Brother since 2012 and is currently a tutor at Sharing and Caring Hands. He has worked with at-risk teens at Maple Grove High School in the STRIVE program. He has also coached youth gymnastics and soccer for many years.
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DIRECTOR
Rob was born and raised in the Minneapolis area and currently lives in the Northwest suburbs of Minneapolis with his wife, Nancy. He has a B.S. Degree in Finance from Saint Cloud State University and has spent the last 30 years of his career in corporate financial management and planning.
In addition to his role on the Board of Directors of Threshold to New Life, Rob is involved in several other non-profit organizations. He teaches financial literacy classes for several organizations, serves on the speakers’ bureau of Feed My Starving Children, and is a Compassion International and Campus Outreach sponsor. He is also involved in his church, Grace Fellowship in Brooklyn Park, where he serves as a church elder, men’s group leader, and small group leader.
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DIRECTOR
Nancy was born and raised in Wisconsin and has lived in the Twin Cities for over 35 years. She lives in the Northwest suburbs of Minneapolis with her husband, Rob. She has a B.S. Degree in Finance from University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and has spent the past 30 years of her career in business systems support and project management within the Financial Services Industry, where she recently retired.
In addition to her role on the Board of Directors of Threshold to New Life, Nancy teaches financial literacy classes for several non-profit organizations, ran the church bookstore for 4 years at Grace Fellowship Church, and is a Compassion International and Campus Outreach sponsor.
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DIRECTOR AND ADVOCATE
Sherri was born and raised in WI before moving to MN thirty plus years ago. She met her husband Dave on a blind date and they have 2 adopted children. Now both retired since 2018, she and Dave enjoy their respective and joint hobbies, spending time at their cabin, doing road trips and visiting with their children.
After working in the corporate world supporting the divisional VP for many years, Sherri was looking for something that helped people, not a corporate bottom line. She has been a volunteer advocate with Threshold to New Life since 2019. She is also a Drop Off Site co-leader with her husband at Grace Fellowship Church for Operation Christmas Child, collecting shoebox gifts from the surrounding community for children around the world, spreading the good news of Jesus to the children and their families and friends. She has also sponsored several children over the years thru Compassion International.
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DIRECTOR
David was born and raised in northern Minnesota and has lived in the Twin Cities for over 35 years. He is married to Sherri and has two adopted children, a son and daughter. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Bemidji State University and had a variety of roles in the technology industry over the past 30 years.
After retiring in 2018, he now spends free time volunteering for various organizations and activities. He is a Drop off lead for Operation Christmas Child, providing leadership for shoebox collections at his Grace Fellowship site. In addition, he leads a small group at Grace Fellowship, as well as providing various staff support functions. During the summer months, he spends as much time as possible at his cabin in northern Minnesota.
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