Mark Rentz and Ellen Ruiters gave a very interesting presentaion to our club last Wednesday about the St. Francis Foundation. Mark & Ellen passed the baton back and forth talking about this:
St. Francis is a nonprofit, faith-rooted healthcare system serving Minnesota.
We provide nursing-facility care, assisted living, and supportive services for seniors and adults with disabilities across multiple rural communities.
Our work goes beyond medical care. We create home-like environments where people are known by name, supported in daily life, and able to remain close to family, community, and the places that give their lives meaning
The St. Francis Legacy Foundation exists to protect the promise of dignified, community-rooted care in Minnesota—today and for the next generation.
It invests in people, places, and programs that help seniors and adults with disabilities
So the Foundation focuses on three things.
First: Keeping rural care close to home. What that means is helping people stay in the communities that shaped their lives—surrounded by familiar places and faces.
Second: Enhancing quality of life. Not just adding years to life, but adding meaning, connection, and dignity to every day.
Third: Honoring lives and legacy. Not seeing people simply as recipients of care—or even as donors—but as partners, advocates, and ambassadors for dignity-centered care.
Because here’s what we know to be true: When communities invest in caring for those who cared for us, we all experience greater fullness of life and dignity.
Pictured with Mark and Ellen is Rotarian Jeff Holland (left):
