Spotlight on Impact
Amy Sutton
Here’s what this nonprofit leader has to say about partnering with our Foundation.
We met Amy Sutton in her home away from home: Hastings Family Service, where she’s worked for 14 years. As the Executive Director, she had plenty to tell us about the organization’s growth and all the ways they’ve been able to serve the Hastings community.
What has Hastings Family Service been up to lately? There are so many initiatives happening; your impact is really remarkable.
Amy: It happens because the people in the community support it. I’m just lucky enough to facilitate it. We have almost 500 volunteers who regularly help us make programs happen.
Each month, we are serving nearly 1,000 people in our Market food shelf, which includes an in-person choice model or drive thru option. Our Market Cart program takes fresh produce weekly to senior living communities, and the Meals on Wheels and Just Friends transportation programs are serving more and more seniors, delivering over 15,000 meals each year and providing 1,300 rides to medical appointments. We partner with summer programs to provide lunches for kids, and also expanded food rescue efforts with local grocers last year, helping HFS provide 362,000 pounds of food to our neighbors by the end of the year.
What’s the driving vision behind all this hard work?
Amy: Our mission is to reach out as family in support and service to one another. One of our primary values is always seeing the person before the situation, then figuring out how we can help someone help themselves to the best of their abilities. That way we can help people find sustainable solutions that can help them go back to self-sufficiency.
The nice part about the nonprofits around here is we really try hard to work together and not duplicate services, but instead figure out where those gaps are where we can help.
“With Us Every Step of the Way”
At the Foundation, we invest in community-led solutions. We believe those living in the community are those who know its needs best. Hastings Family Service is one of over 200 nonprofits who partner with the Foundation for endowment and investment fund services.
What was your first introduction to the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation?
Amy: They’ve been with us every step of the way from the Management Improvement Fund grant that helped us do our very first strategic plan in 2007. That was our first grant, then I came in on the second grant, which was to fund our first development staff position. That’s what brought me here, so I would say the Foundation has pretty much changed my life too, because 14 years later, I’m still here.
Purposeful Growth
One of the things that makes a community foundation like ours so special is that our roots within the community run deep. We are honored to provide grants and to be advocates and capacity builders for our nonprofit partners.
As the state’s largest community foundation, we’re proud to have awarded $90 million to over 3,000 organizations in 2022 in partnership with our fundholders.
If you were talking to a leader of another nonprofit, what would you say are the benefits of working with the Foundation?
Amy: The Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation has helped us with purposeful growth, each step of the way.
The Foundation builds a relationship with you. There is a follow-through. They’re experts and are so available and willing to help. They see the need on our side, and they know the resources on the other side. To have somebody who knows the community and the resources, that was really instrumental in helping us make connections we would have never known.
Building an Equitable, Just and Vibrant Minnesota
We know that initiatives like those happening at Hastings Family Service are making a big impact. And that’s why each day we renew our promise to provide resources for the donors, professional advisors and nonprofits making Minnesota a more vibrant place for all who call it home.
“ The biggest benefit of my partnership with the Foundation is resources — both financial and people. It’s always knowing that you’ve got somebody cheering you on.”
Amy
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