Get to Know Bellmont Partners: Giving Back

This fall, many of us worked or vol­un­teered along­side client Twin Cities Habi­tat for Human­i­ty at the 2024 Jim­my & Ros­alynn Carter Work Project, help­ing media share the sto­ries of the week-long marathon that built 30 homes in St. Paul, thanks to the work of more than 4,000 vol­un­teers, all to bring more afford­able home­own­er­ship oppor­tu­ni­ties to the Twin Cities. This quick­ly became a pas­sion project for the Bell­mont Part­ners team, and it’s no coin­ci­dence. Giv­ing back is in Bell­mont Part­ners’ DNA.

In ear­ly 2017, in addi­tion to pro-bono work for a vari­ety of non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions, our agency for­mal­ized Bell­mont Gives Back, cement­ing a com­mit­ment to pos­i­tive­ly impact­ing our com­mu­ni­ties and neigh­bors. Through this pro­gram, each employ­ee is allot­ted paid vol­un­teer time, empow­er­ing indi­vid­u­als to spend this time vol­un­teer­ing for caus­es that are impor­tant to them. Since its incep­tion, our team has con­tributed more than 4,000 hours of indi­vid­ual vol­un­teer time, and we’ve donat­ed thou­sands more hours of time through pro-bono work. We’re proud of the work we’ve done, and we know there is still so much more to do.

As 2024 winds down, mem­bers of our team shared reflec­tions on how they used Bell­mont Gives Back time this year. We hope you enjoy this glimpse into some of the caus­es our team is pas­sion­ate about, and that we might even inspire you to think about how you’d like to con­tribute to your com­mu­ni­ty and neigh­bors in the year to come.

“Hik­ing and bak­ing are two things I love, and I nev­er thought I’d be able to use paid vol­un­teer time to do both for caus­es I’m pas­sion­ate about! This year I vol­un­teered with the Min­neso­ta Rovers, plan­ning and co-lead­ing a two-night back­pack­ing trip, where we helped pro­gram par­tic­i­pants gain back­pack­ing skills and con­fi­dence to help reduce bar­ri­ers to future out­door recre­ation. I also used Bell­mont Gives Back time to sup­port For Good­ness Cakes, an orga­ni­za­tion that match­es home bak­ers with social ser­vices agen­cies to pro­vide cel­e­bra­to­ry baked goods, help­ing bring joy to kids who might not oth­er­wise have treats to com­mem­o­rate spe­cial occa­sions.” – Sara Gras­mon

“This year, I spent my time on a num­ber of ini­tia­tives, but the main one was orga­niz­ing and host­ing Con­cert for Char­lie – a fundrais­er in mem­o­ry of my son Char­lie – to raise funds for Faith’s Lodge. It was a huge under­tak­ing, but immense­ly suc­cess­ful. I’m so grate­ful we have this pro­gram avail­able to us and for the sup­port of my col­leagues and the agency over­all!” – Hye­di Nelson

“I use my time to serve on the board of League of Women Vot­ers Bloom­ing­ton, a non­par­ti­san vol­un­teer orga­ni­za­tion in my city focused on pro­mot­ing civic engage­ment and vot­ing. I’ve served as the board sec­re­tary for the past two years and am a mem­ber of the Vot­er Ser­vices Com­mit­tee, which hosts forum events and oth­er oppor­tu­ni­ties for local can­di­dates to share their polit­i­cal posi­tions and con­tact infor­ma­tion, inform­ing vot­ers ahead of upcom­ing elec­tions. Vot­ing is your super­pow­er – make your voice heard!” – Johan­na Holub

“I have used my time to vol­un­teer as a coach for my daugh­ters’ vol­ley­ball team and cheer­lead­ing squad. I’d been want­i­ng to get more involved in the com­mu­ni­ty, and youth sports was a great place to start! It was a win-win for me to give back to oth­er kids through coach­ing and men­tor­ship, while also get­ting to spend more time with my daugh­ters. I great­ly appre­ci­ate the sup­port Bell­mont Part­ners pro­vides to ded­i­cate time dur­ing my work­day to plan out prac­tices and ensure we’re always ear­ly!” – Saman­tha Liebhard

“I use my Bell­mont Gives Back time to coach high school alpine ski rac­ing. Besides sim­ply lov­ing the sport, I’m grate­ful for the oppor­tu­ni­ty to nur­ture an inclu­sive envi­ron­ment where ath­letes learn val­ues like respect, com­mit­ment, col­lab­o­ra­tion and resilience. And now, more than ever, sports are a prime oppor­tu­ni­ty for kids to enjoy screen-free inter­ac­tions that build authen­tic con­nec­tions, trea­sured friend­ships and life-long mem­o­ries!” – Stacey Robert­son

“I am proud to be work­ing with Best Bud­dies Min­neso­ta to help cre­ate inclu­sion for peo­ple with intel­lec­tu­al and devel­op­men­tal dis­abil­i­ties. I have seen first­hand through serv­ing on the board of direc­tors and par­tic­i­pat­ing in events through­out the year, the incred­i­ble work that is hap­pen­ing through their life-chang­ing school pro­grams, 1:1 friend­ship match­es and lead­er­ship oppor­tu­ni­ties.” – Mau­reen Cahill

“This sum­mer, along with many of my team­mates, I once again used much of my Bell­mont Gives Back time to vol­un­teer for Live Your Healthy Lyfe, the annu­al block par­ty that con­nects Black and brown res­i­dents of North Min­neapo­lis with health care resources. We’ve been a part of this phe­nom­e­nal event since its incep­tion, and this year I’m proud to say I worked side-by-side with my entire fam­i­ly, which made it extra mem­o­rable.” – Bri­an Bellmont

“Through my com­mu­ni­ty choir, the Voca­lEssence Cho­rus, I vol­un­teered and per­formed at the annu­al WITNESS Young People’s Con­certs. VocalEssence’s WITNESS School Pro­gram is an excit­ing oppor­tu­ni­ty for Min­neso­ta stu­dents and teach­ers to learn more about the con­tri­bu­tions African Amer­i­cans have made, and are mak­ing, to the fine arts and to our shared cul­tur­al her­itage. Singing togeth­er in com­mu­ni­ty is a pow­er­ful feel­ing – and I think it’s impor­tant to share that cre­ativ­i­ty and curios­i­ty with young peo­ple and show them what’s pos­si­ble when they raise their voic­es togeth­er. This con­cert lifts up incred­i­ble artists and also pro­vides a chance for stu­dents to expe­ri­ence a pro­fes­sion­al con­cert at a major venue, giv­ing access to many who might not oth­er­wise have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to attend such an event.” – Syd­ney Schoeberle

“I’m very grate­ful for the chance to use some of my work­ing hours to sup­port caus­es that are impor­tant to me. This year, I’ve spent most of my Bell­mont Gives Back time vol­un­teer­ing at my daugh­ters’ schools. I got to reg­u­lar­ly vis­it a 2^nd-grade class­room last spring to do one-on-one read­ing with stu­dents in my daughter’s class through a pro­gram called “ChiRP” – Child Reads to Par­ents. I also vol­un­teered in my kindergartner’s STEM class and chap­er­oned field trips to the zoo, the apple orchard and more! I know how hard our teach­ers work to help all stu­dents learn and grow, and I love to be able to sup­port them when­ev­er and how­ev­er I can.” – Megan Derkey