Our Story
All of us have been affected by Foster Care in some way. Some of us have been foster parents and some of us have been directly involved with foster kids. One thing we all saw, was the lack of support for foster families in the community. We strive to be a resource and help provide basic items to foster parents with a new placement.
Meet The Team
Jessalyn Altringer
President
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My name is Jessalyn and this is my husband Gary. We have 3 children, Brooklyn (12), James (6), and Hallie (1). We are currently fostering 3 kiddos.
We have been “mom” and “dad” to 38 kiddos, done respite for 31 kiddos (for other foster families), and we provide Crisis Nursery Care as well.
Our foster care journey started 8 years ago, with a friend mentioning us to someone who works for our county in the Human services department. After talking to her we signed up for the foster care information class. It was there that we knew we were fully called by God into fostering.
Our time spent fostering has not always been easy. There have a lot of bumps along the way. Days into our first placement we knew we had no idea what we were doing, and we felt so lonely most of the time. We didn't know any other families that were fostering, and there was very little support out there. It wasn't until we joined a small group at our church that we began to feel like our heads were above water. Since then we have found a wonderful community of people to love on us and all of our kiddos.
That’s one reason this closet became a dream of mine, and I am thrilled to see it coming to fruition. My hope is for all of the foster families in the greater Mankato area to feel supported and a part of a community, and for the kiddos who enter care to feel the love of Jesus through us.
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Amelia Schutte
Vice President
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Hi, I’m Amelia and this is my family. My husband Kai, Sabastian (23), Liam (11), and Elliot (2).
In 2018, my husband mentioned foster care to me because we just didn’t feel like our family was complete. I wasn’t ready at that time, so we held off.
It wasn’t until 2021 that we became licensed foster parents. We decided to go through Lutheran Social Services (LSS) because we knew no one that had been down this road and knew we needed as much support as possible. LSS was absolutely the perfect fit for us.
We have had 8 kiddos during that time and we have since adopted our daughter through foster care. It has been the most amazing journey that was orchestrated by God from the very beginning.
Throughout our time as foster parents, we have had so many ups and downs. We have laughed and cried…and cried again. We have been blessed to have met so many other foster families that have helped and supported us along the way. We couldn’t have done it without them.
My hope is that Five Sparrows will become not only a place for tangible items but a safe place for foster families to feel seen and heard; A place for them to feel the love of God throughout our organization. No one should be on this journey alone.​
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Anna Geissler
Secretary
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Hi, I’m Anna Geissler, and this is my husband, Ryan, and our 5 daughters, Grace (17), Ava (12), Ella(12), Lily and Junie (8).
We first felt God nudging our hearts for the foster care community in 2013. At the time we lived in Eau Claire, WI and had our 3 older daughters. We attended a CAFO (Christian Alliance For Orphans) conference in Chicago that really opened our eyes to the needs in foster care which prompted our church group, Impact 1:27, to invest our time and effort in raising awareness for the needs in the foster care community.
In 2014 we started the process to adopt from foster care, as we learned there are over 100,000 children across the U.S. waiting in foster care to be adopted, but God made it clear that it wasn’t His plan for us by instead blessing us with a second set of twin baby girls! We still felt God had put foster care on our hearts for a reason and remained committed to supporting other families during this time.
In 2020, we felt God calling us to Mankato for my husband’s job, so we moved here and found a wonderful church where I met Jessalyn, Tawnda and Amelia (and many other wonderful people!). We quickly realized we all had a heart to help the foster care community and wanted to do something about it. So, we started “Hillside Fostering Families” at our church, which attempted to raise awareness for the needs in the foster care community as well as provide support for other foster and adoptive families at our church.
In 2021, My husband and I felt God calling us to step out in faith, so we took the plunge, and started the process to become licensed foster parents and have welcomed 2 placements into our home since.
During our first long term placement, feeling very uncertain in what we were doing, we had some wonderful people show up with many needed items and meals and words of advice. It was such a blessing!! No family should ever feel they are carrying this, often hard, and messy work of foster care alone.
Currently, we are only providing respite care. I’ve also just started mentoring a teen mom in foster care, and provide crisis nursery care through LSS.
I’m amazed at the doors that God has opened in our willingness to say yes and am so thankful for the opportunity to serve those that often feel forgotten.
I’m excited that the foster closet is finally happening!! It’s been a long time in the works and hearts of these three wonderful ladies I get to work with and call friends and sisters in Christ. My hope and prayer is that through this ministry the children in foster care will feel loved and the families in foster care will never feel alone. Thank you all for your support and welcome to our page!
Tawnda Andrews
Treasurer
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Hi, my name is Tawnda. I’m married to Shawn and we have 7 children: Evelyn (16), Ella, Henry, Grant (triplets-13), Hazel (9), Cora (6) and Catherine (10 mo).
I was introduced to the world of foster care through my youngest sister, Jessalyn. When she became a foster mom, I became a foster auntie and my heart has known and loved all of her 38 foster kids. What an honor and joy that has been.
When you open your heart to these image bearers of God you cannot help but be moved to want to do more when you hear their stories and when you see the work that a foster family does. I’ve been there when new ones arrive and it’s shocking how very little arrives with them. Sometimes not even enough clothing to get them by for the next 24 hours. Our hope for the foster closet is to help foster families meet the needs of their new children and give the children a tangible reminder that they are not forgotten.
Leah Garry
Board Member
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Hi, I’m Leah, and this is my family: my husband Andrew, and our children Emerson (15), Elliott (13), and Everete (10).
In 2016, we felt our family was complete, but we still longed for the joy of having little ones in our home. This led us to become licensed foster care parents through our County and through Lutheran Social Services for crisis nursery care. We were eager to support families in the reunification process, fully aware that foster care would be challenging—but we had no idea just how difficult it would be until we stepped into the brokenness ourselves.
Over the years, we often found ourselves longing for a sense of community, feeling that our friends and family couldn’t fully understand the struggles we were facing. In 2020, we felt God calling us to leave our Church and seek a new Church home. By 2021, we found Hillside Church, which has been an incredible blessing to our family. After accepting a placement in 2023, I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support I received from the women in our church community. They not only provided physical items but also prayed fiercely for our needs. I am so grateful to have finally found a community that understands us, and I was happy to pay it forward by supporting their mission.
My prayer is that Five Sparrows becomes more than just a resource closet for families in the greater Mankato area. We are a community of women who have been saved repeatedly by the grace of God, and we want to share our hearts with these foster care families. Most importantly, we want to ensure that these innocent children are blessed with comfort items during such a scary time in their lives.