SEPTEMBER 21, 2015

Numerous funders, community leaders, project partners and CommonBond sta� gathered on June 9th to celebrate the grand opening of West Broadway Crescent in Minne-apolis. �is 54-unit a�ordable housing community is helping to revitalize the area and according to Minneap-olist City Councilman, Blong Yang, “West Broadway Crescent increased the density on one of the busiest and most important corridors in the city.”

Residents of West Broadway Crescent have access to underground parking and the development is convenient-ly located near an enhanced transit stop. �ere are also additional on-site services provided through Common-Bond’s Advantage Center and the entire building has controlled access and security cameras.

“CommonBond recognized the compelling need for a�ordable housing in North Minneapolis. We are excited to have partnered with Minnesota Housing, the City of Minneapolis, �e Basilica of Saint Mary, and all of the other �nancial and construction partners to bring together a very important housing community that is helping revitalize the area,” said Deidre Schmidt, president & CEO of CommonBond Communities.

As with a lot of octogenarians, Earl Hatten found himself in the military at the age of twenty and involved in the Korean war. It was 1950 and a pathway that a lot of young men took at the time. For Earl, it was the start of what would become a purpose driven life �lled with dedication to work and those less fortunate. “I’ve always been happy to give back,” said Earl. “You always get back more than you give!”

Following a �ve year stint in the army, Earl returned home, studied at the University of Minnesota, and settled in Fridley with his wife Char. His professional life began at General Mills where he worked part-time after school, but after a brief encounter with the chief engineer at Medtronic, Earl went to work at Medtronic as the number eight employee of what is now a worldwide company with over 80,000 employees. As Earl put it, “�ose early years were tough. I was essentially working for a company that started in a garage.”

Little did Earl know that he would spend the next 35 years at Medtronic, a good portion of that time in charge of engineering documents. “I think there are a lot of people working in the medical device industry around the country who got their start at Medtronic, says Earl.” In addition to Medtronic, Earl and his wife also became a �xture around Fridley, having lived in the same house since 1960. “�ere is a school right across the street which was handy for our four kids,” says Earl. “And after we survived the Fridley tornado of 1965 – the house next door was lifted o� its foundation – there didn’t seem any reason to move.”

Earl retired at the age of 65 and realized there was still so much more that he could do in the community he loved. For the past twenty years, Earl has been a steady volunteer with Southern Anoka County Assistance, Meals on

Wheels, and other programs. So much so that the City of Fridley presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award and he was nominated as part of an annual recog-nition of outstanding seniors for Fridley and Anoka County. However, the volunteer e�ort that Earl is most proud of is his continued involvement with Medtronic. For the past 55 years, Earl has read the Christmas story from the Bible at the annual holiday party.

Earl’s interest and �nancial support of CommonBond began years ago when he visited two of CommonBond’s properties in Fridley - Brandes Place and Norwood Square - and North Gables in Blaine. “I was very impressed with what I saw,” said Earl. “Not only with the quality of the work, but the service provided to the residents.” For Earl, living a purpose driven life means doing what you can without a whole lot of fanfare. “Everybody has to do something and supporting Com-monBond is how I give something back in addition to my time. We are all part of a global family.”

“You always get back more than you give!”

Earl Hatten with Astrid

Every spring a group of volunteers (16 to be exact) from Cummins Power Generation come to CommonBond’s Norwood Square and help the residents with their heavy cleaning needs. �ey perform a variety of tasks including moving large furniture to vacuum, cleaning ceiling fans, dusting the tops of kitchen cabinets, �ipping mattresses, moving stoves and refrigerators to clean �oors and washing windows, just to name a few. �is is followed up with a BBQ and social gathering with the residents at which Cummins supplies all the food.

�e Cummins team is lead by Melissa King, who heads up their community outreach program. Melissa along with Advantage Services Coordinator, Katie Splittstoess-er, and Wally Kammeier, Norwood Square resident, coordinate this annual event. �e interaction between the seniors and Cummins volunteers is well coordinated and the volunteer e�ort greatly appreciated.

Wally Kammeier, resident, with Melissa King, Cummins Power Generation

CommonBond CEO Deidre Schmidt with Brittany Childs Craig Taylor, Director of Community Planning, Minneapolis

Birdies for Hope, which allows sponsors and individuals to participate in either a golf tournament or shooting event, raises funds to support Com-monBond youth through early childhood educa-tion, after school tutoring, mentoring, and leader-ship programming. It's a day to have fun and raise funds for the children living in a CommonBond community. Learn more at commonbond.org. To sponsor or participate call Julia: 651-288-8693.

�e Teen Outreach Program (TOP) club at Common-Bond’s Skyline Tower in St. Paul focused their e�orts on recycling in the building this spring. �ey borrowed materials from the Ramsey County Department of Public Health and hosted an educational event in the lobby. Adults and kids stopped to spin the trivia wheel, guess how many cans were crushed into a cube, and practice sorting recycling from trash. Many adults (and students!) were surprised to �nd that many items they thought had to go into the trash can now be recycled. �e eight TOP students, in grades 7-9, were really excited that people were interested and learned from what they had to say. �ey may do more work to raise recycling participation at Skyline Tower in the future.

Hosted by past board chair Tom Jasper and current chair Ed Padilla on June 10th at the Minneapolis Club, new CEO Deidre Schmidt met with former board members for the �rst annual alumni gathering. Recognizing the legacy these distinguished individuals have created at CommonBond Communities, guests were invited to share insights to help accomplish CommonBond’s current strategic plan and continue to advance our mission.

Th

ere

are

man

y w

ays

to s

up

po

rt C

om

mo

nB

on

d

as w

e st

rive

to

ad

van

ce o

ur

mis

sio

n t

o b

uild

st

able

ho

mes

, str

on

g f

utu

res,

an

d v

ibra

nt

com

mu

nit

ies.

Wh

eth

er y

ou

do

nat

e, p

arti

cip

ate,

o

r ad

voca

te, w

e as

k th

at y

ou

co

nti

nu

e to

len

d

you

r su

pp

ort

. Lea

rn m

ore

at

com

mo

nb

on

d.o

rg

and

fo

llow

us

on

Fac

ebo

ok

@ C

om

mo

nB

on

d

Co

mm

un

itie

s.

Don

ate,

Part

icipa

te, A

dvoc

ate!

�e 2014 CommonBond Leadership Schol-arship was recently awarded to four high school seniors living in CommonBond housing communities. Nasriye Birmaji of St. Paul, Marcus Steward of Edina, Siham Ahmed (not pictured) of St. Paul, and Ayan Mohamed of Minneapolis each received a monetary scholarship to be used toward post-secondary expenses. Upon receiving her scholarship, Nasriye said, “ I hope to attend St. Olaf College and major in sociology/anthropology and political science in hopes of pursuing a career in law.”

Rajan Vatassery, a long-time Study Buddy volunteer at Seward Towers, created the Com-monBond Leadership Scholarship in an e�ort to reward the hard work that high school and college students living in a CommonBond development have put forth to make their community a better place to live. �is is the fourth year that the scholarship has been awarded to students in the community.

In Milwaukee, WI, at CommonBond’s Glenbrook Apartments sta� have been busy plant-ing and expanding gardens for residents. For a “summer fun” project, the Glenbrook youth will be compiling recipes to create a cookbook to give to the residents after the fall harvest. �e book will include recipes for appetizers, side dishes, main courses, and desserts/drinks. Sta� are also hosting a “Taste of Glenbrook Gardens” for the residents, which will include several recipes from the new cookbook for them to sample.

An E

qual

Opp

ortu

nity

/A�

rmat

ive A

ction

Org

aniz

atio

n10

80 M

ontre

al A

venu

e, S

t. Pa

ul, M

N 5

5116

651.

291.

1750

CH

AN

GE

SE

RV

ICE

RE

QU

ES

TE

D

Pictured (L to R): Nasriye Birmaji, Marcus Steward, and Ayan Mohamed

We are excited to have four families currently living at Upper Post Veterans Community. We recently received a certi�cate of occupancy for the �rst of the single occupancy buildings and have leased three units with three more lease-ups anticipated by July 1. We expect 25 more units to come online in late July, with the rest able to be occupied late August. �is development at Fort Snelling is making a signi�cant impact on eliminating homeless-ness among veterans in Minnesota.

�e 16th annual GrandeGala took place on Friday, April 10th, at the Saint Paul River-Centre with a James Bond theme. Emcee Joe Schmit led more than 800 guests with auctioneer Kurt Johnson to gross over $700,000 for CommonBond Communi-ties’ resident services. �ank you to Wells Fargo, Hamernick Decorating, and North-Marq Capital for being our major sponsors. To all of the other sponsors, auction donors, guests, volunteers, vendors and Common-Bond sta� who made the 2015 GrandeGala the most successful GrandeGala yet - we appreciate it very much and cannot wait to see you next year, April 1, 2016, at the Minneapolis Hilton.

What is the President’s Circle? �e President’s Circle is CommonBond Communities’ leadership giving society for individuals who invest $1,000 or more during the year. Your guaranteed support year after year enables CommonBond to provide transformative experiences for individuals, families and children, o�ering them the stability they need to advance and attain independence. As a President’s Circle member you will receive invitations to exclusive events; President’s Circle newsletters and reports; special lapel pin; and recognition in the annual report and CommonBond newsletter. Curent list of President’s Circle members from January 1 through May 31, 2015:

�anks to a generous Wells Fargo grant and some energetic volunteers, residents have their own garden beds.

A group of BMO Harris volunteers, led by Liam Higgins, recently built new garden beds for residents of Common-Bond’s Summit Point in Edina. Resident Audry Bruchez said, “I spent weeks studying the sun so I would know which bed would get the most sunlight!”

�e volunteers, working in teams, completed all the work in a single day which included putting together the garden bed kits, staining them, and �lling them with dirt. �e residents are excited about getting garden beds that are waist high, which allows them to grow their own vegetables without having to bend to the ground.

Building the gardens beds at Summit Point and four other senior sites came about because of a generous grant from Wells Fargo. Volunteers from Wells Fargo also built garden beds at two other CommonBond developments.

....................................................................

Ben and Sandi AeiltsBarry and Sandy BainesMary and Bryan BennettKevin Myren and Jason BestNoah BlyPeter and Ellen BrownSheila and Bill BrownScott CarlsonJulie and Christopher CauseyBruce and Ann ChristensenJe� and Michele DeYoungVicki and Bruce DuncombTodd and Angela EatmonPaul and Ann FateRob and Lori FendlerWade and Claudia FennRobin Ann Williams and Paul FiliatraultBruce FranckDebora and Mike FrodlAl Giesen and Eileen O'ByrneBrian Gorecki and Cristine AlmeidaJohn GrossJessie Hendel and John HaggertyCarol HalloranKyle and Shelley HansenLeigh and Jennifer HanthoMichele Harris and Peter TangheEarl HattenDarwin Hendel and Bonnie GrayEllen Higgins and John BrowerBrad and Sandra Ho�eltJill and Mike HornerKathryn Hubbard Rominski and Daniel RominskiLori and Ron HumeTony Huot Jr.Tom and Jenny Jasper�omas Joyce and Annette AtkinsMorton and Merle KaneKurt and Kathy KeenaKathleen Kelley and Charles Scha�erJohn KnudsenAllyson and Peter Knudsen

Je� and Erin KoerselmanJim and Sheri KumpGeorge and Carol LangPeter Berrie and Robin LangevinMark and Karen LarsonChris and Lisa LathamBridget ManahanPaul Markwardt and Richard Allendorf�omas and Susan McGuireMarilyn Peller NelsonAmanda and Christian NovakKevin and Sandra O'BrienEduardo and Susanne PadillaTom and Anne PeacockRita PellerAnne and Curtis PetersenJeremiah RiopelAnn Ru� and John CooperTony and Ann SatterthwaiteKevin ScheelWayne and Deb SchiferlDeidre Schmidt and Dean CrowellDana and Ellen SchnobrichMark ScholtesRonald Smith and Diane AvesDrew SpencerTed and Amy StarkArlene Strom-KesselBeth and Timothy SullivanPaul SweenSara Jean �omsJames and Rita UrbanekRajan and Sunayana VatasseryKaren ViskochilTom Von Sternberg and Eve Parker Von SternbergHerb and Lori WardRyan WarnerWilliam and Ann Hart WernzRichard and Debra WickaLisa Wilcox-Erhardt and Steve ErhardtYvette and Jamie WoellSteve Youngs