Anna Marie’s Alliance Gets $250K Matching Donation For Renovations

(KNSI) – A St. Cloud-based women’s domestic violence shelter is fundraising to pay for renovations, and your donation will go further if you make it now.

Anna Marie’s Alliance has collected $2.5 million of the needed $3.25 million for its Building Hope Coming Home Campaign. Local philanthropists Mike & Karel Helgeson will match the next $250,000 raised between now and the end of the year to help bring the new campus to life. Organizers say every contribution, regardless of size, will have a lasting impact on the families they serve.

The shelter is raising money to convert its 36-bed facility from dormitory-style living to apartments. Director of Development Lori Eich can’t wait for the improvements. “[We’re] really excited for this new phase to include some private spaces for the residents that are coming to us for private healing and [to have] great spaces for them to feel safe and secure as they’re working through the healing and the trauma that they’ve experienced.”

The new construction will have some common spaces and one- or two-bedroom apartment units. Eich explained the upgrades are critical for women who come with their kids. “The apartment-style spaces are super important to help mothers and their children to have private spaces to go through that healing process. These apartment-style spaces will give residents more autonomy and more privacy within our shelter.”

Anna Marie’s Alliance in St. Cloud plays a pivotal role in the community, offering assistance to 350 to 400 women and children each year who are seeking refuge from domestic violence.

To help renovate the women’s domestic abuse shelter, click here.

Eich wanted to thank campaign chair Pam Bjerke, chief human resource officer with Stearns Bank, for volunteering to spearhead the committee.

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