Staff photo by Fritz Busch Former MBW Company owners Brenda and Mark Wiger of Minneapolis provide a $15,000 matching donation to support the NUMAS mission Thursday. Pictured front row, from left, Lorna Cotner, EON CEO Tyler Berg, Mark and Brenda Wiger and NUMAS Haus Executive Director Nicole Schmiesing. Back row, Jared Hoscheit, Pastor Phil Schenck, Tim Knaak, Kristen Brustad and Kristi Anderson-Loose.

NEW ULM — The NUMAS Haus mission got a shot in the arm Thursday as former MBW Company owners Brenda and Mark Wiger donated a $15,000 matching grant.

NUMAS Haus provides shelter and support services to homeless women and their children in the Brown County area.

EON, Inc. of New Ulm, formerly MBW Company, provides a variety of home and community-based services to individuals in need with disabilities, or who are elderly, enriching their lives by supporting independence.

Tyler Berg of New Ulm and EON Inc. CEO, talked about the two organizations working together and thanked the Wigers.

“Their vision of community strength is more relevant than ever today,” said Berg. “We strive to find housing for folks in the community, just as NUMAS does. NUMAS and EON believe in finding people resources when they cannot do it on their own. We realize funding these resources can be difficult. There has always been a New Ulm tradition to take care of their own.”

Berg said the Wigers reached out to him late last summer about an opportunity to start a NUMAS campaign.

“We thought it that connected pretty well because of the shared vision we have with EON and NUMAS, it just made sense for the two of us to join together,” said Berg. “In the campaign, we reached out to MBW alumni and current EON employees in November and December and raised nearly $8,000. Then the Wigers were generous to match that offer. Putting that amount of money ($15,000) towards the cause of what NUMAS does is amazing. It can help somebody in a difficult spot, help them find a resource and build a better life.”

The Wigers founded MBW Company in 1978 with the belief that individuals with disabilities are an integral part of the community and should have access to community support and housing. The company became employee-owned in 2003 and became the Employee Ownership Network (EON, Inc.) in 2018, while maintaining its original mission.

“We came to New Ulm in 1977 in the period of institutional decentralization,” said Mark Wiger. “There were court rulings about housing people in large facilities away from home was no longer the way we wanted to have our public policies. So, we opened our first group home back then. Since then, the community has evolved much further. We are able to embrace the importance of providing supports where people need them in their own community.”

Wiger said he’s very supportive and happy about the support NUMAS Haus provides to the community.

NUMAS Haus Executive Director Nicole Schmiesing said a capital campaign of a little more than $1 million was “soft launched” about 18 months ago.

“Right now, we’re fully funded on that and shifting our focus on a project (in the former First United Methodist Church building) that will increase our capacity to three to five bedrooms,” said Schmiesing. “We’re also focusing our efforts on funding sustainability to support our programming for current and past residents. We’ve brought people in for programs like 3-D printing, woodworking, using power tools at home, yoga and other life skills.”

She said the NUMAS Haus construction project includes building a kitchen on the top floor of the former church building and adding living space including a play area on the main floor of the former church sanctuary.

“We were able to preserve the stained glass windows with a New Ulm Area Foundation grant,” said Schmiesing.