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Welcome Home kits to help individuals transitioning out of homelessness; families hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic

This fall, 10 families from Austin will receive Welcome Home kits filled with household essentials through the Bremer Bank Home For Good initiative.

Made possible by Bremer’s partnership with the United Way, the collaboration will provide 1,550 Welcome Home kits to families and individuals transitioning from homelessness to stable housing throughout Bremer Bank’s footprint in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin. Kits will also be distributed to Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander and people of color families across the Twin Cities metro who are disproportionately impacted by homelessness, as well as families who have been hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and its related economic challenges.

Filled with household essentials, including plates, drinking ware, silverware, utensils, paper towels, toilet paper, bathroom linens, toothbrushes, cleaning supplies and homemade fleece blankets, packed kits are being distributed to 60 Bremer locations – impacting an estimated 700 individuals and families – throughout its Greater Minnesota, western Wisconsin and North Dakota footprint.

On Oct. 13-14, 2021, a group of Bremer Bank and United Way employees volunteered in shifts to assemble 700 Welcome Home kits at the Bremer Bank Service Center in Lake Elmo, which were then distributed to area organizations that serve community members in need. In December, Bremer will once again sponsor and participate in a United Way event where 850 additional Welcome Home kits will be packed and distributed.

Bremer’s Home For Good partnership represents the company’s philanthropic mission – originally stemming from founder Otto Bremer – to invest in the communities it serves. As one of its three philanthropic pillars, Bremer strives to be a leader in meeting affordable housing needs of its communities.

“Our founder Otto Bremer believed that when communities succeed, we all succeed. Housing is an essential component to community success,” said Jeanne Crain, president and CEO of Bremer Bank. “We are proud to continue our second year of the Bremer Home For Good partnership with the Greater Twin Cities United Way. This initiative is an impactful way to provide community support while also welcoming our neighbors as they settle into stable homes.”