Grand Opening at Our Store in Big Stone on June 11 — Food!  Music!

Imagine you have to leave your home without a moment’s notice. You can take nothing but the clothes on your back. Imagine you are five years old, 10 years old, or maybe even 13. Favorite blanket? Gone.  Stuffed bunny? Gone. School backpack, lunchbox, or jammies? Gone. Then imagine it is not the first time this has happened to you. For children placed in foster care, it is a nightmare often played for them on repeat.

Terri Mielitz, along with the nonprofit organization Building Our Families is striving to interrupt that negative loop and bring positive assistance and practical support to families across northeastern South Dakota and southwestern Minnesota. 

In 2018, Terri began with $1500 and the memory of the heartbreak she had known when she was in foster care as a teenager. She also had a lot of ideas about what does and doesn’t work after 15 years of experience working with foster families and the court system. She also had served as a foster parent. When she received a call from Carol Weber, a member of Living Word Church, it sparked a desire in her to accomplish something useful and doable. Carol, on behalf of Living Word Church, offered Terri $1500 to help children in need.

 “I have a heart for our foster children,” Teri says. “It’s really hard when they get removed from their families. Children arriving in foster homes have little or nothing of their own.”

“I said to Carol, ‘Let’s pack a suitcase! Let’s put in five outfits. We’ll put in a Bible. We can put in a couple of toys, crayons, a book, socks, underwear, a toothbrush, and toothpaste.’ I was so excited.” 

“And that’s what we did! We filled it up. If the suitcase was for a little girl, we might have added a necklace or a doll or just something fun like a deck of cards or a cute chapstick. We just tried to fill it as full as we could.” 

She says, “A group of eight of us worked together. We formed our mission statement, picked out a name, and got started. Then, as soon as we knew a child had come into care, we delivered a suitcase to them. That was our first-ever donation. And that was how we created Suitcases of Love.”

They eventually began providing weighted blankets to help with anxiety and trauma. “A woman in Wilmot sews the blankets,” Terri explains. “She donates everything – her time and all the materials. It’s a godsend!” Building Our Families now provides free weighted blankets for licensed foster families in 10 South Dakota counties:Grant, Clark, Brookings, Codington, Deuel, Hamlin, Lake, Miner, Moody, and Kingsbury.

Suitcases of Love continued to grow and blossomed into Building Our Families – a multi-service nonprofit organization that supports foster and kinship families across Region 5 in South Dakota and Big Stone County in Minnesota. Region 5  includes Grant, Deuel, Codington, Clark, Hamlin, Brookings, Lake, Miner, and Moody counties.

Every day, Building Our Families provides support to help caregivers meet children’s needs, reduce stress, and build connections. They supply children’s essentials; trauma-informed comfort items, state park passes to encourage healthy family time; free cheese through a partnership with Valley Queen; foster camp opportunities; family events; and training and education to strengthen caregivers and reduce burnout.

Building Our Families recently opened a low-cost retail store in Big Stone City called Our Store.The store is located in the former Big Stone School building. A ribbon cutting and Grand Opening will be celebrated on Thursday, June 11. The event will mark the Our Store joining the Milbank Area Chamber and the Big Stone Lake Area Chamber. The celebration starts at 5:30 p.m.

Terri says, It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be Big! “First, we will have live music by Julie Lee and Her White Rose Band. Enjoy roast beef sandwiches, potato salad, and chips.” BYOL – bring your own lawnchair. (In case of rain, the event will move into the gym.) 

We have been working behind the scenes putting together something new, too, and you’re going to want to be there early. We will have Bulk Liquidation Pallets for sale. Choose from Pet, Baby, Kids, Household, and Surprise-themed deals. The pallets are packed with items that have tons more value than the sale price.You won’t know exactly what’s inside, but you won’t be disappointed. First come, get the first pick! 

“My personality is, build it, get it ready, and then find the person who can run it,” Teri laughs and says. “With our store, the goal is not just to bring money into our program, but also to offer affordable  products –clothing, household items, toys, and other things to our community.” The free side of the store provides things for  those in need.

“One of the reasons we started Our Store is because, although some of our families work full time, it’s still not enough income,” she says. “Working at the store our families have a way to earn extra groceries. It also encourages integrity and self-pride, because the families are able to help and to have a small part time job that would be hard for them to find otherwise.” 

“Our long-term goal is for the store is to create employment opportunities for some of the families,” she says. “We’re trying to give them a hand up, not just a handout.”

Terri, however, doesn’t take a paycheck. She is a volunteer. You name it;she does it. She also handles about a million details each week and serves as the executive director. She sums it up by saying, “I’ll go where the Lord leads me.”

She also adds, “Building Our Families exists because families in crisis need more than appointments — they need support in the moments in between. In our rural communities, mental health and family support services are often far away. Long distances, limited transportation, and complex systems can make it hard for families to get the help they need — especially during times of crisis. That’s where we come in.”

The organization is always open to expansion. They partner with several programs under the umbrella of Building Our Families:  BOOST, Rachel’s Hope, and A Speck of Hope. Parenting classes, anger management training, mentoring, and other wrap-around services also continue to update their portfolio.

Rachel’s Hope, founded and operated by Amanda Woodruff of Watertown, provides hygiene products, diapers, cleaning supplies, and household essentials to families in need. A Speck of Hope, founded and operated by TJ Jacoby  focuses on mental health education and awareness through monthly speakers and programming.

BOOST meets families where they are — emotionally, mentally, and practically. BOOST provides relationship-based support, including:
*Support during mental health challenges and crisis
*Ongoing guidance to reduce stress, isolation, and overwhelm
*Help navigating healthcare, schools, child protection, and housing systems
*Support for parents and caregivers working to stabilize their families
*Coordination with community partners to improve follow-through and outcomes

Despite the organization’s rapid growth, Terri says Building Our Families remains focused on one thing — helping families heal, stabilize, and succeed. “We’re trying to build community and connection,” she said. “Sometimes people just need someone who cares about them.”

“I want to make this very clear, though, “ she says, “we will never bring a homeless family into our community that does not have a connection here.

Building Our Families provides local, trauma-informed, wraparound support for children and families experiencing mental health challenges, crisis, housing instability, and child welfare involvement. They work alongside existing services — not in place of them — to help families stay supported, connected, and stable.

“Many of those families face complex situations involving poverty, addiction, trauma, or mental health struggles. Our families aren’t thriving,” explained Terri. “A lot of them are barely surviving.”

Building Our Families frequently works alongside Inter-Lakes Community Action Partnership (ICAP), local schools, counselors, and other community organizations to help families remain stable and avoid homelessness.

Terri shared several examples of families the organization has assisted, including helping a single father with three teenagers avoid eviction, supporting a woman relocating to Milbank after leaving a mental health facility, and assisting individuals struggling with severe depression and addiction. In many cases, Building Our Families provides practical support ranging from budgeting assistance and transportation to emotional support and mentorship.

Terri has hopes of developing a supervised visitation center for families involved in custody or child protection cases. Many local families currently must travel to Watertown or other communities for supervised visits with their children.

Terri also hopes the organization will eventually be able to secure a larger facility that could house multiple services under one roof and include office space, the store, visitation rooms, and temporary housing for families experiencing homelessness.

Terri believes the reason Building Our Families is thriving is because God has had a plan all along. “He has opened every door I’ve needed to go through to be able to get to where we’re at with this program today.” 

Way back, I worked for an attorney, I’ve worked in the court system, I’ve worked for Child Protection, I’ve been a foster parent. I was in trouble myself and went to jail when I just turned 18. (I got in trouble for aiding and abetting –knowing someone committed a crime and not telling on them.)

From when I was 16 to about 18, I was using heroin, living on the streets in the Cities, and homeless. Everything that I deal with now, I’ve experienced or learned. I went to college. I teach college part time now. Whatever I’m supposed to do, the doors open when the time is right. I just try to listen to God’s voice and walk through the door, and it works. Of course, there have also been times when I tried to push too hard and it didn’t work.” 

She also gives immeasurable credit to and praises her team for working so hard to make things happen and for building community understanding about the things Building Our Families is trying to achieve.

Building Our Families Board: 
Terri Mielitz – Executive Director
Kim Goetschius – President
Claire Frazee –  Vice President
Amanda Woodruff – Secretary (Founded and Runs Rachel’s Hope) 
Angel Mueller – Treasurer
TJ Jacoby  (Founded A Speck of Hope)
Megan Athey
Sandra Fonder
Julie French
Heather Schwenn – Program Manager/Family Advocate
Kristal Gallegos  – Assistant Manager of Our Store

Stop at Our Store in the former Big Stone School building to shop for great deals on hundreds of items. Or just stop in to get acquainted.  Hours – Wednesday from 1- 5:30 p.m. Thursday from 9 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. Friday from 9 a.m until 4 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.   

Everyone is welcome to attend the ribbon cutting and Grand Opening on Thursday, June 11, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Enjoy live music, food, and great bargains!

Photo: back (left to right) Julie French, Claire Frazee, Amanda Woodruff, Kristal Gallegos.
Front- Megan Athey, Sandra Fonder, Angel Mueller, Terri Mielitz, Kim Goetschius, TJ Jacoby.