AnnualR e p o r t2 0 1 5

The mission of The Village Family Service Center is to improve the quality of life

through services designed to strengthen individuals, families, and organizations.

Equal Opportunity Employment PolicyThe Village Family Service Center will not discriminate against or harass any employee or applicant for

employment because of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, or status with regard to public assistance. The Village Family Service Center will take Affirmative Action to ensure that all employment practices are free of such discrimination. Such

employment practices include, but are not limited to, the following: hiring, upgrading, demotion, transfer, recruitment or recruitment advertising, selection, layoff, disciplinary action, termination, rates of pay or

other forms of compensation, and selection for training, including apprenticeship.

Board of DirectorsCarrie Bjorge, Chair Bell State Bank & Trust

Tammy Hauck, Vice Chair The Dakota REIT

Richard Henderson, Atty Vice Chair Judiciary Branch of Federal Government

Richard Hanson, PhD Bemidji State University

David Dougherty NDSCS-Fargo

Richard Duysen City of Moorhead

Karen Mellum, PhD, LP Altru Health System

Joy Query, PhDRetired

Tom Nelson Border States

Al Erickson Gate City Bank

Steve Connelly RDO Equipment

John Wagner Sanford Health Organization

Judy Green American Red Cross

Jim Newenhouse Integrity Windows

Becky Walen, CFP Bell State Bank & Trust

Gary WolskyPresident/CEO

Mike KaspariAgency Director,

First Step Recovery

Darrin TonsfeldtDivision Director, Behavioral Health

and Financial Services

Kelly OlsonDivision Director,

Minnesota Programs/Operations and

Nokomis Child Care Centers

Candy HaugenVice President,

HR/Board Relations

Stewart HovdeVice President/CFO

Luke KlefstadDivision Director, Behavioral Health and Family Services

– North Dakota

Village Leadership Team

I suspect that we will look back to 2015 as a point of significant and positive change in how we meet the needs of the communities, families, and children The Village serves. Let me explain…

As you know, 2016 marks our 125th anniversary. That history shows us to be an organization that values healthy change. Our mission to help people continues on, but our structure changes with the times. And when we study the population that we serve today, we find that close to half of the services we provide come with a diagnosis. Naturally, if there is a diagnosis involved, it is a medical service. And an organization that delivers medical services requires a quite different infrastructure from what we’ve had in the past, even though we deal with things like addiction and anxiety instead of viral infections and abrasions. So, in a very real sense, we have become a medical facility embedded in a social service agency.

This new reality means changes to billing, changes to staffing. It means changes in many small, unseen ways. But, in some ways, nothing’s changed. The Village is still the compassionate, welcoming place we’ve been since 1891. These adjustments simply mean we’re continuing a tradition of tailoring our services to our communities’ needs, and serving these needs in an exemplary fashion.

I know of no other nonprofit that embraces ongoing innovation with the dedication and skill that The Village does. The Village’s quality of service has literally never been better. On behalf of the thousands of children and families we serve, thank you for your support. I pledge to you that the commitments that have kept us on the leading edge since 1891 will not change.

Sincerely,

Gary Wolsky, President/CEOThe Village Family Service Center

At our annual meeting last spring, I encouraged everyone to do something that took them out of their comfort zone. Whether it was a small stride or a large leap, I hope everyone has taken the challenge. It was a challenge that I took up as well, and have personally found these extra steps to be quite invigorating!

I have a similar energized reaction when I hear stories of people who have been served by The Village. The common thread is a message of hope and revival. When you look at the programs and services this organization provides to over 80,000 people each year, you can see the wealth of opportunity to make a huge impact in our region.

The Village has a rich history of 125 years, and that is something to be incredibly proud of. It is an honor to be part of this organization, and I am thankful for the dedicated Village employees who strive to inspire and strengthen the lives of people in our communities. These employees are great innovators, adapting to current needs and improving the quality of lives one person at a time.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to thank the individuals and organizations that support the mission of The Village. We are very grateful for your commitment and contributions!

Sincerely,

Carrie Bjorge, ChairpersonThe Village Board of Directors

From The President/CEO

From The Chair of The Board

Program Statistics Adoption Services .............................................................................................. 549 peopleBig Brothers Big Sisters..................................................................................... 723 peopleCounseling ...................................................................................................... 5,027 peopleFamily-Based Services .................................................................................... 2,947 peopleFamily Group/Team Decision Making .............................................................. 928 peopleFinancial Resource Center .............................................................................. 4,148 peopleFirst Step Recovery ......................................................................................... 2,283 peopleSupervised Parenting Time and Child Exchange ............................................... 270 peopleNokomis Child Care Centers ............................................................................. 257 peoplePregnancy Counseling .................................................................................... 1,200 peopleThe Village Business Institute....................................................................... 63,966 peopleTruancy Intervention Program ........................................................................ 2,542 people

Total People Served in 2015 ..........................................................84,840

2015 RevenueProgram Revenue ...............................................................................................$9,863,392Private Grants ........................................................................................................$691,761Contributions......................................................................................................$1,526,950United Way Support ..............................................................................................$751,050Fundraising Events ................................................................................................$526,241Other .....................................................................................................................$233,167Total Revenue .........................................................................................$13,592,561

2015 ExpensesPersonnel ............................................................................................................$9,803,336Contract Labor ......................................................................................................$586,748Professional Fees ..................................................................................................$152,917Interest .....................................................................................................................$56,582Supplies .................................................................................................................$243,469Telephone ..............................................................................................................$147,530Occupancy .............................................................................................................$857,398Equipment/Repairs ...............................................................................................$103,947Printing/Publications/Dues ...................................................................................$253,128Travel ....................................................................................................................$344,758Staff Training ..........................................................................................................$95,374Events ....................................................................................................................$254,190Advertising ............................................................................................................$179,536Depreciation ..........................................................................................................$126,479Other .....................................................................................................................$262,340Total Expense ........................................................................................$13,467,732

Change in Net Assets - Unrestricted ......................................$124,829(Figures are unaudited.)

2015 Financials

Scott Geiselhart should have died.The gun should have fired.

Instead, when he aimed his revolver at himself and pulled the trigger, it just clicked. Nothing more.

Scott slammed the gun on the desk at his mechanic shop in Frazee, Minn. He was stunned and shaking.

A long, painful path led Scott to this moment. He has been a volunteer firefighter for 20 years. It was something he was—and is—proud of. He helped build the Frazee Fire Department’s extrication unit.

“Got the truck together and all of a sudden, we got a bad run of some car accidents. Lot of fatalities,” he said. “Even without the extrication (vehicle), we ran across a lot of ice water rescue, lost a lot of people.”

Sometimes they were people he knew. He pushed the things he saw and heard to the back of his mind. But they weren’t gone.

“You come home from a car accident where you pull a kid out of a car, you know, and he’s dead, and a half an hour later you’re supposed to be playing ball with your kid,” he said. “I couldn’t do it anymore.”

One accident was particularly hard to take. A young person had crashed into icy waters. They got him to

Fargo, and things were looking good. It felt like a win for the good guys, but a few weeks after, he died.“And I started blaming myself for that,” Scott said. “And I

started blaming myself for every other one before that.”Scott had flashbacks and horrible nightmares. He’d dream that

his children were on fire and falling into water or that they were being taken from his home while he watched, unable to help.

He would go into fits of rage at home and at work.“Just uncontrollable,” Scott said. “Wasn’t really sure

where it was coming from. Wasn’t really sure who it was. It was like Jekyll and Hyde.”

His emotions numbed. He developed a massive meth habit “ It just felt like I

could breath again and see again… I could see color.”

LIVING IN COLOR A STORY OF HOPE

that grew to the point that he was doing “a line an hour, minimum,” he said. That kept him awake where the nightmares couldn’t plague him.

“I know I didn’t sleep probably for about a year and a half, two years,” he said. “I mean, I’d lay down for a few hours every few days, but never really went to sleep.”

He knew he couldn’t go on like this forever.“For five years I figured my life was done,” he

said. “I just kind of prepared myself for death. And I pulled away from everybody.”

He didn’t understand what was going on inside him, and he was ashamed.

“I didn’t think there was any help,” he said. “I mean, I was embarrassed about it.”

One day, he decided he needed to get himself “out of the picture,” and quit hurting the people he loved. He pulled out a revolver he knew was reliable, “the one that I knew would do the job,” he said. “I mean, it was supposed to be fail-proof.”

But it did fail.“There’s only one reason that gun didn’t go off. It’s

a perfect gun. It works fine. The only explanation is God,” Scott said. “There’s no other way that that gun did not go off.”

After he dumped the shells out of the gun, he started searching the internet, and “PTSD lit the screen up.”

He ended up at the Mayo Clinic website learning about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“I mean, every single symptom down that list—it’s like every one of them was like looking in a mirror,” he said.

He was surprised, but thrilled to finally begin understanding.

“I was so happy because I found out what was wrong with me and I wasn’t crazy,” he said.

The National Volunteer Fire Council’s “Share the Load” program directed Scott to The Village Family Service Center in Fargo and the Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy

available there. EMDR involves using stimulation (through vision, sound, or touch) to influence or interrupt how a client processes information, while they reflect on their trauma, allowing the individual to develop new thought patterns for dealing with painful memories.

“After I started counseling, the nightmares disappeared just almost immediately,” he said.

He began to move from a world of dark shadows and despair to joy and color.

“It just felt like I could breath again and see again,” he said. “I could see color.”

His attitude began turning positive, and the anger subsided.

“I started talking to my pastor, and, wow, that was incredible too,” Scott said. “That was a huge part of it also—my faith.”

He wasn’t afraid to sleep anymore. And, he says, with that inner turmoil calmed, with divine help, he was able to walk away from his meth habit. He threw away his stash of drugs and quit. It’s been over a year and a half since he did his last line, and he says he doesn’t even struggle with cravings.

The emotional numbness left, too.“I could love,” he said. “I could taste the air…I’d

stand outside in the rain and just look up and—feel things.”

He worried that it might all vanish. But it hasn’t.“That’s something that I just can’t get over—how

every day is better than the last,” Scott said. “I think I could cure cancer with whatever this is, you know. It’s pretty awesome.”

Scott has a passion to help others and has already begun speaking out publicly about his situation, in hopes of educating emergency workers and others about the dangers of PTSD and the hope for recovery.

“I can’t shut up about it,” he said.In short, Scott is loving life.“It’s awesome being alive. It’s the best drug I’ve

ever had,” Scott said. “I feel sometimes as if I’m overdosing on life!”

LIVING IN COLOR A STORY OF HOPE

2015 Board of Directors MeetingsJaunary 28, 2015

February, 25, 2015March 25, 2015

April 22, 2015 (Annual Meeting)May 27, 2015June 24, 2015 July 22, 2015

August 26, 2015September 18, 2015

October 28, 2015November 25, 2015November 30, 2015December 7, 2015 December 16, 2015

United Way Contributors The Village receives local support from the following United Way agencies:

Lake Region Community Fund

Missouri Slope Areawide United Way

Souris Valley United Way

United Way of Barnes County

United Way of Cass-Clay

United Way of Central Minnesota

United Way of Douglas & Pope Counties

United Way of Grand Forks, East Grand Forks & Area

Jamestown United Way

United Way of Otter Tail County

United Way of Richland-Wilkin

Bowl For Kids’ Sake is Big Brothers Big Sisters’

biggest fundraiser of the year. At Nokomis Child Care Centers, we believe every child deserves quality care.

Grant ListU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

CitibankCity of Moorhead

Capital OneHomeownership Education, Counseling and Training

Fund (HECAT)Cass County Electric SERVE Foundation

Alex Stern Family FoundationDevils Lake Area Foundation

Minot Community Endowment FundVictor and Nina Cranley Charitable Foundation

Safe HavensCommunity Foundation of Grand Forks, East Grand

Forks & Region, Women’s FundU.S. Bank

Stop Violence Against Women: North Dakota Department of Health

Verendrye Electric

Newfield FoundationOppen Family Guidance

Myra FoundationSt. Joseph’s Community Health Foundation

City of FargoBismarck Tribune Jeans DayMDU Resources Foundation

Robert E. Herman Family FoundationMinnesota Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Capital ElectricCentral Minnesota Community Foundation Women’s

FundRunestone ElectricKiwanis of FargoBush Foundation

The Barry FoundationWilliam C. and Jane B. Marcil Charitable Foundation

FM Area Foundation Funds Prentiss H. and Joyce B. Cole Charitable Fund

Lloyd Dahley FundFred W. and Leopoldine Pardau Memorial Fund

Nokomis Endowment FundRoger Reierson Fund

Thomas and Georgia DawsonCarol Stoudt Fund

G. James “Jim” McKay FundWarner & Company Insurance Fund

A Child is Waiting/The Village Family Service Center FundWilliam and Anna Jane Schlossman FundNoridian Employees Credit Union Fund

Former Little Sister, Britany Williams, discusses the impact Big Brothers Big Sisters had on her life.

The Village Programs

The Village Family Service Center had over 20 locations in North Dakota and Minnesota in 2015.

Where We Serve

Adoption Services Big Brothers Big Sisters Program

Counseling ServicesFamily-Based Services

Family Group/Team Decision Making

Financial Resource CenterFirst Step Recovery

Nokomis Child Care CentersPregnancy Counseling

Supervised Parenting Time and Child Exchange

Truancy Intervention ProgramThe Village Business Institute

Each of these programs is grounded in our mission to “improve the quality of people’s lives.” We provide services in numerous

locations in North Dakota and Minnesota and nationally through our network of affiliate providers.

Nokomis provides child care for families facing special circumstances, including financial challenges,

developmental delays, and other difficulties.

Agency Quotes & Highlights

“We are so grateful to The Village/LSS for helping us find our amazing little girl—thank you.”

—Adoption Program client

“I am happy that I am going home.” —Child, Family Team Decision Making

“My son smiling every day as he goes into his classroom.”

—Nokomis parent on “What was the best part of your experience with The Village?”

“The ability to share painful issues in a non-judgmental, safe, and confident environment

was a huge help in my recovery process.” —First Step Recovery client

“Julie helped my daughter through this difficult time with such class.”

—Parent of Pregnancy Counseling client

The South East Education Cooperative (SEEC) partnered with Nokomis to implement the ND Reading

Corps Program. Through grant funding, Nokomis was able to train an internal coach and also have an AmeriCorps member in each of the preschool

classrooms to help implement the literacy tutoring model. Nokomis also hosted and facilitated two

“Gearing Up for Kindergarten” classes.

The Minnesota division was awarded an Early Childhood Mental Health grant for ages 0-5 for

the third time.

The Village Business Institute added a second EAP trainer to its staff, and John Trombley assumed the role of Consulting & Training Manager. Because

of the amount of business in the area of consulting, VBI also began an active search for another

consultant/trainer.

The Village’s Sandi Zaleski received the Lifetime Membership Award from the North Dakota Family-Based Services Association. Sandi has been a leader in Family-

Based Services in North Dakota for over 25 years.

Village Financial Resource Center clients paid $2,452,265 against their debts through the Debt

Management Program.

A Big Sister and her Little ran a “Lemonade for Littles” stand, raising $520 to support the Big Brothers

Big Sisters Picnic at the FM Redhawks stadium.

The St. Cloud Village office saw a 37% increase in kept appointments.

“Developing a lifelong friendship with my Little Sister.” —Big Sister in response to the question, “What was the

best part of your experience with The Village?”

“We have done trauma therapy for my foster kids and have seen unbelievable results.”

—Counseling client

The Village-St. Cloud launched a Women’s Anger Management program and initiated a new co-parenting

program.

“Having help with a difficult life choice and finding a family for my baby. Sue helped me and for that I thank her. She not only helped me but helped my baby and two others find love. I can

never repay her, but without her I’d be lost.” —Pregnancy counseling client in response to the question, “What was the best part of your

experience with The Village?”

“They gave me the knowledge and confidence to buy my first home.” —Financial Resource Center client

1201 25th St. S. • Fargo, ND 581031-800-627-8220

www.TheVillageFamily.org