Athena Adkins
Giving to others is a way of investing in the future, and it’s as important an investment to my family as saving for retirement or our children’s college educations.

My husband and I bought a house on the West Side of Saint Paul, where my grandparents settled years ago; we may buy another house at some point, but we’ll never leave the West Side.

Giving to El Fondo not only helps me honor my Latina roots, it also motivates me to pay closer attention to what's happening in this community that my family calls home.

Mary Komornicka and Wojciech Komornicki
When Wojciech’s family came to the U.S. from Poland, donations from community members helped them establish a home here. Supporting organizations such as Simpson Housing and Children’s Home Society & Family Services, which benefit those who need similar help, is our way of paying back that kindness.

Starting our Donor Advised Fund with The Saint Paul Foundation has enabled us to increase the amount we give each year, because the funds we started with are earning interest. And if there’s a compelling national or international event like Hurricane Katrina or the Asian tsunami, we now have a dedicated source of funds available from which we can make a donation.

Laurie and Tom Pohlad
We support CommonBond Communities because it gives its residents so many important elements of home: not only a safe, well-maintained physical space, but also a supportive community of people committed to helping residents learn to succeed on their own.

CommonBond creates neighborhoods that are full of good, safe places to live, where people can connect with one another, make friends, and learn the skills that will help them improve life for themselves and their families. When you have to focus all your energy on basic needs like keeping a roof over your head, there’s no time to do those other things, and you can never move forward.

Doris Hill
I’ll never forget the time when I was a girl and my mother took in a neighbor who was being abused. The woman was pregnant when she was badly beaten by her husband, so my mother took her and her two-year-old son in and refused to let the husband see her.

Since then, I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for abused people, although I’ve never had personal experience with abuse in my family. I consider it a great gift to have the means to support Tubman Family Alliance, which provides a safe home to women who need a way out of similar situations.

Barb and Paul Zeller
To us, home is the place where you are unconditionally loved and respected for whom God created you to be. We’re blessed to have been given much, and view it as our responsibility to give back—not just financially, but also our time and talents.

We both grew up in Christian families with parents who gave generously of their time and resources, so our sense of philanthropy is rooted both in our belief system and in our heritage. Working with the Foundation helps us maximize the impact of our giving over time, and creates a legacy that will continue after we are gone.

Karen and Galen Pate
We’re passionate about helping seniors and people with disabilities live in home situations that allow them to be as independent as possible; their participation in the community enriches all of us. Our daughter, Betsy, who passed away eight years ago, had cerebral palsy; so many people helped us during her lifetime that we’ve always felt strongly about giving some of that help back to the community. We couldn’t have survived without a lot of assistance from our friends and other people who stepped forward, so returning the favor using some of the resources we’re fortunate to have means a great deal to us.

Mary Barrett
When I retired, I chose to make my home in downtown Saint Paul. The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library is one of the nonprofits that’s important to me, because I believe that a good library is the center of a neighborhood. During the last election, I helped register voters at the Rice Street Library and was amazed at the number of kids who came after school for help with homework or just to sit and read. I taught art for many years at the University of Wisconsin–River Falls, and supporting libraries is one of the ways I support education, particularly for children who might not have much access to books at home.

Ronnie and Roger Brooks
Home is not just a building, it’s a place—and the idea of home extends far beyond one’s own house. We donate to the National Trust for Historic Preservation and its Minnesota affiliate, the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota, because we believe that preservation efforts make our community a more attractive place for people to live, bring up their children and do business.

Saint Paul has a lot of character remaining in its neighborhoods, which is part of what makes our city so wonderfully different from others. The places that reflect the history of this city—and that includes ordinary homes, not just the mansions of the rich and famous—are the kinds of places we need to preserve.