Fence Building at St. Annes Place

The Avionte Hope Foundation was established with two clear goals in mind. First off, to provide financial support for non-profits throughout the Twin Cities and Nepal. Secondly, to provide a conduit for Avionte employees to get out in the community and help others. With the second goal in mind,  we grant each employee three  days off a year  to volunteer at a charity or organization of their choice. This week, a handful of employees got their hands a little dirty and helped build a fence, and shed at St. Anne’s Place in North Minneapolis.

St. Anne’s Place provides emergency shelter for 16 families, mostly women and children,  who are experiencing homelessness in Minneapolis. Since opening their doors in 1990, St. Annes helps  150 families each year by providing shelter and support services. St. Annes was in need of a fence in the backyard to protect the children from running out into the street and into the neighborhood. Upon arriving, we did not know what to expect because we lacked previous fence building experience. But once we met Dave, St. Anne’s maintenance guru, we knew we were in good hands. The fence went up without any problems, and we really enjoyed using the power drills!

After enjoying a wonderful lunch, prepared by the in house chef, we also put together a shed to be used for storing car seats. The shed building was the hardest project of the day because we were lacking directions and the pieces were  labeled incorrectly. But it turned out to be an awesome team building exercise, and we got it finished! Overall, the day was very rewarding and we hope to continue working with St. Annes Place on whatever projects might come up!