By Maureen Schriner* 
 
At Dakota Woodlands, the Eagan-based shelter for homeless families, the staff and residents have lengthy lists of “need to” and “must do” tasks in order for the families to transition from the shelter to their own new homes.  The families are under stress and struggle with many personal issues.
 
But Dakota Woodlands bravely tacked on one more “must do” action item: Recycle more.  When Nicole Bathgate, operations director at Dakota Woodlands, saw the opportunity last year for the shelter to receive funding and training through the Business Recycling Incentive Program offered by Dakota County, she applied.  Dakota Woodlands was awarded a grant for almost $1,800, which paid for blue recycling baskets, large recycling bins for the kitchen, outdoor stainless steel recycling bins, labels and signage, as well as technical consulting and education sessions. The funds for the incentive program came from Dakota County, with technical assistance provided by sustainability consultants at the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce’s nonprofit subsidiary, Minnesota Waste Wise Foundation.
 
While Dakota Woodlands had tried recycling in the past, Bathgate said the staff and board of directors recognized the value of the incentive program. “Dakota Woodlands is a lot like other local businesses,” Bathgate said. “We have worked to be good neighbors and active members of the community, and our efforts to do more recycling are one more way we can do that.”
 
Renee Burman, Dakota County senior environmental specialist and Business Recycling Incentive Program coordinator, said the county takes seriously efforts to increase recycling so it can meet new sustainability requirements under a Minnesota law passed in 2016. “A new state law requires us to increase our recycling efforts with our businesses and residents,” Burman said.
 
By 2030, for all waste produced in Dakota County, 75 percent of recyclable materials must be recycled, rather than dumped in landfills. “Right now, our recycling rate is 48 percent,” Burman said. “To reach 75 percent, it’s going to take everyone.”  
 
Once Dakota Woodlands was approved for the grant, the staff scheduled an onsite visit with Allison Sawyer, a sustainability specialist with Minnesota Waste Wise. “The shelter is a unique nonprofit because it has both commercial waste, from its kitchen and business operations, as well as residential waste,” Sawyer said.
 
One challenge is the high turnover rate of residents. Dakota Woodlands has 22 homeless families at a time, with stays averaging three to six months, although Bathgate notes many families have been staying longer due to lack of available affordable housing. Over a year, that means over 100 families are moving in and out of the shelter. Bathgate said the key has been to make recycling easy and accessible to residents and staff.
 
During site visits, Sawyer walks with the organization’s staff inside and outside the building to peak into garbage and recycling containers. It’s not dumpster diving, Sawyer clarified. The peaking helps to identify opportunities to recycle more.  “A lot of businesses we approach will say, ‘We have recycling bins, we’re good.’ It’s going through and getting them to take a look at all the paper or any other recyclables going in the trash, that’s what gets them motivated to change.”
 
Digging through the garbage is exactly what the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency did in 2013, and that research led to increased recycling goals for the Twin Cities area in state law, Burman said. The research report issued by the MPCA found too much trash could have been recycled or composted instead: 31 percent was organics, 25 percent was paper, and 18 percent was plastics. The report proved “we’ve really got to get projects moving forward faster and in a more timely manner,” Burman said.
 
One project Dakota Woodlands has taken on is reducing cardboard boxes in the trash. Large and small boxes come into the shelter weekly from food and supply deliveries. Some boxes are now reused as moving boxes for families leaving the shelter, and others are recycled. The Dakota Woodlands kitchen has seen the most improvement in recycling.
 
Minnesota Waste Wise’s recycling education sessions had to fit into the programming schedule at Dakota Woodlands, which is filled almost daily with programs provided by staff and community experts to train residents on life skills, financial literacy and personal wellness. Bathgate praised Sawyer’s work. “She was fantastic. She helped with the entire recycling program process and even taught recycling classes to our community.”
 
The next stage is to build a culture and habit of recycling at Dakota Woodlands, said Bathgate. “We’ve seen some unexpected positive results.”  The shelter’s trash dumpster is less full, while the recycling dumpster is overflowing. If that shift continues, the shelter should eventually save money in garbage service costs.
 
Sawyer said she was able to estimate increased recycling for Dakota Woodlands. “Since adding the new recycling bins, the building has added an estimated 3,432 pounds of recycling for an annual total of 10,000 pounds of recycling.”  
 
Sawyer noted saving money can be another benefit for businesses that recycle. Burman added that larger corporations in Dakota County have been enticed to bump up their recycling because of the potential for larger cost savings. The county is encouraged to see small organizations, such as Dakota Woodlands, join in the push for the county to reach its 2030 recycling goal.
 
Find more information on recycling incentives and resource assistance, search “business recycling” at dakotacounty.us.


* Maureen has volunteered at Dakota Woodlands as a tutor, piano teacher and communicator.
 

​By Maureen Schriner*
 
For families living at Dakota Woodlands, getting an annual eye exam is one of those things that can get moved to the back burner, so Eagan Eye Clinic offered to make it easy.
 
Dr. Ben Stout and the staff at Eagan Eye Clinic set aside blocks of time for Dakota Woodlands residents to receive exams and, for those who needed, to get eyeglasses. “We know those families have a lot going on, and our clinic wanted to make sure they were receiving good care,” Dr. Stout says, especially school-age children, because poor vision can hinder their ability to learn.

The families are insured through public programs, which pay for exams and basic eyeglasses. The Eagan Eye Clinic offered free upgrades, with non-glare, scratch-resistant lenses and a much wider choice of frames. It’s important, especially for kids, to be able to choose eyeglass frames they are comfortable with, says Dr. Stout. “A kid isn’t going to wear glasses if they don’t like them.”

​Among the Dakota Woodlands residents who received exams, six children and adults needed glasses, which the clinic got for them within a couple days, says Kris Haffner. More importantly, the families who provided emails will receive reminders to come back in a year, and the Eagan Eye Clinic plans to make sure the families receive quality care again.

​“It really made a difference for our families to have easy access to an eye exam and to get a choice of glasses,” says Shelia Mason, Dakota Woodlands volunteer coordinator who arranged trips to Eagan Eye Clinic for the residents. “We want our families to feel they are cared for and receive respect. The clinic came through 100 percent. It also gave the kids a boost in confidence.” 
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Eagan Eye Clinic is one of a number of local businesses who donate services and goods to Dakota Woodlands to support families.  “For our families to succeed, it takes a village,” says Beth Bromen, Dakota Woodlands executive director. “Our village has businesses, along with individual volunteers and donors. Every outreach effort helps.”
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* Maureen has volunteered at Dakota Woodlands as a tutor, piano teacher and communicator. 
 

Volunteers’ family tradition: Cooking Thanksgiving dinner at Dakota Woodlands
By Maureen Schriner
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Cooking and serving Thanksgiving Day dinner for Dakota Woodlands residents is how Ed and Michele Olson and their children have spent almost every Thanksgiving since 2004. Their day starts about 9 a.m., preparing mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, and other holiday foods. Staff get the turkeys roasting the night before for Ed to carve in the morning.​​

This year, Ed, his son Glen and wife Gretchen made the traditional dinner. Glen and Gretchen live in California, but every Thanksgiving travel to Eagan to volunteer. Michele, who is now partially blind, didn’t volunteer this year, but knows the experience well. “It’s taught me a lot about humility and being in another person’s shoes,” Michele says.  

An important part of the experience for the Olson’s has been to join the residents to dine together. “If you sit down and eat with them, it lessens the tension,” Michele says. Sometimes they have conversations with the residents, and sometimes not. “The families are just going through such tremendous stress. We are not going to force ourselves on them.”
 
Neither does her family expect the residents to thank them, although Michele says she has appreciated signed “thank you” cards the family has received from residents in prior years.
 
For each Thanksgiving Day dinner, Michele notes, “You never see the same people. That’s hopeful, because you want these families to be happy and secure in some place of their own.” On Thanksgiving, and on every night during winter, Michele hopes for warmer weather. “Every time there is a cold night, I think about people living in their cars.”  And she hopes those families find their way to the comfort of a warm shelter, and good meals, like Dakota Woodlands.
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Volunteers needed in our kitchen daily
For Dakota Woodland residents, mealtimes are more than simply time for food. The families get to relax and not worry about finding food, they get a sense of structure with scheduled mealtimes, and they interact as a community during each meal.
 
Sign up to serve a meal. Dakota Woodlands needs volunteers seven days a week:

• Lunch shift: 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Dinner shift: 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

 
Commit to serving the same day every week, or month, or year. Make it a tradition with family or friends. Contact Shelia for more info:  volunteer@dakotawoodlands.org. 



* Maureen has volunteered at Dakota Woodlands as a tutor, piano teacher and communicator. ​

Breakfast event with a courageous client, supporters, staff and sharing of socks
By Maureen Schriner*

​On a beautiful rainy fall day, Dakota Woodlands hosted our Bringing Families Home Breakfast, which gathered supporters and staff to recognize the successes of our shelter in serving homeless families and to understand the challenges still before us. Some of the momentous memories of this event:  ​​

​Courageous client – A current resident of Dakota Woodlands, joined Dakota Woodlands’ Lauren Rose at the podium to talk about the struggles he, his wife and three children were working through, of homelessness, illness and addiction. His children are his motivation to stay sober, he told the gathering. He and his wife had been devastated when county social services took custody of their children for several weeks. His wife is still in addiction treatment. He talked about how he was using Dakota Woodlands’ programs to find a path to a better life for his family. We thank Michael for the courage to stand before the crowd to tell his story. 

​Our supporters – Eleven local organizations sponsored tables at the breakfast.  Thanks to our board of directors who brought along family, friends and co-workers. 

​The event was emceed by Tom Hauser, political reporter at KSTP-TV, who recalled his time as a resident of Dakota County. Tom repeated to the gathering the compelling facts about needs of homelessness, with over 57 families on the waiting list for Dakota Woodlands.  

​Our staff – A number of our staff were able to join us and have conversations with our supporters.  Dakota Woodlands Executive Director Beth Bromen spoke to the gathering about the problems of homelessness and about Dakota Woodlands’ services. She noted the ongoing challenges when families move out of Dakota Woodlands, but still need services to maintain stability, particularly the many adult residents at Dakota Woodlands who have mental illness, chemical addictions and no other family to help them.

The month of July at Dakota Woodlands was full of summer fun, community support, and ended with a bed of roses.  Our residents received vases full of beautiful roses from HyVee customers supporting HyVee's Operation Send a Smile Campaign.   A smile is surely what our residents received!  Thank you to all that supported this wonderful campaign.  Your act of kindness brightened the day of those experiencing difficult times. 

Each year as the school year comes to an end, Dakota Woodlands (DW) hosts a party for those that live at the shelter.   It’s a tradition for DW to celebrate this time of year, recognizing a child’s success of completing the school year and applauding parents for supporting their children in this accomplishment.
 
This year we welcomed 30 former residents to this celebration that lived at DW in the past year, in addition to the 22 families staying with us.  With the help of volunteers, many activities were lined up for this event that included food, games, prizes and arts & crafts. The children enjoyed jumping in the inflatable bouncy house, catching a surprise from the fishing pond game, experiencing the artistry of Henna Tattoos, jazzing it up with face painting, and receiving books from our book giveaway.  We even had drawings for special prizes, giving our families a chance to win gift cards and bicycles!
 
A heartfelt thank you to our generous community of volunteers and donors for making this event possible!  We would like to recognize Chef Jeff from New Horizon Foods for creating and donating a spectacular display of fruit offerings for our residents.  This made the menu extra special! These delicious fruit trays were accompanied by walking tacos, variety of meats and toppings, veggie trays, yummy baked goods, popcorn, and a selection of beverages.
 
Congratulations to all of the school aged children for a job well done!  YOU are amazing!