Welcome message from Chair of the Board, Borromeo Housing, Inc. (BHI)

The following is a letter from Dani Seltzer, Chair of the Board, Borromeo Housing, Inc.

Dearest Friends,

It is a pleasure for me to have the opportunity to share my journey with BHI with all of you and welcome you to our modest organization.

I was introduced to Borromeo Housing in 2005 when a friend and neighbor enlisted my fundraising skills for their upcoming event. Always happy to help, I jumped in with both feet and began asking questions. At the time, I was a young mother myself, and right away I saw that BHI was different, and not just because of the fragile population it serves. I had been looking for a place, a cause, to devote my time and energy and knew immediately I had found my home, and my passion. This organization works tirelessly, daily to address the ever present issues of teen pregnancy and homelessness. Have you ever looked up the statistics related to the children born to adolescent parents? No? They are staggering. Teen pregnancy is an issue as old as time and not one likely to go away. However, we have options as a society and certainly as community in how we address, serve, and educate these young mothers. BHI does exactly that. It does not waste time and energy on judgment, instead welcomes these homeless parenting teens and their babies into our home and our hearts. We strive every day to break the cycle of poverty two generations at time, counteracting those staggering statistics with each family we serve. We are committed to be an EDUCATION FIRST program because we believe that education provides the necessary paradigm shift to empower our young, fragile families to achieve self-sufficiency.

In my many years of service to BHI and its families, I have had the pleasure of wearing a variety of hats; volunteer, board member, Board Chair, but my favorite is any opportunity I have to work hand in hand with our mothers and their children. I relish every holiday, birthday, and graduation I have attended. I have cried tears of joy and sadness with our families and celebrated many successes. I have also had the responsibility of being there when things went wrong, and didn’t work out the way we had hoped or planned. This happens. What we do in these moments defines us. This life can be hard and cold and these young women are doing the hard work each and every day for the betterment of themselves and their children. I am honored to walk this path with them in the good times and in the hard times, to celebrate the small things that so many of us take for granted, like gifts under the tree at Christmas, or a birthday cake with your name on it, putting your child on Santa’s knee (or maybe sitting on Santa’s knee for the first time themselves). The perspective, joy, and growth this organization has provided me is without measure and I wouldn’t trade a moment.

So, WELCOME friends, supporters, volunteers and cheerleaders – we need you, ALL OF YOU because our work is hard and our budget is humble…but many hands make light work and each of us at BHI, the board, the staff, and the families are grateful you are here.

Humbly and with Love,

Dani Seltzer

Chair of the Board

Borromeo Housing, Inc.