Jake Kirchmaier’s small family business operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year. He took a few minutes in early January to answer questions about his business.
“During the holiday season, a time when people want to take breaks to spend time with family, it’s all hands on deck for us,” he explained. “Now that it’s the first week of January, we can catch our breath.”
On December 3, 2003, Jake and Rena Kirchmaier and two colleagues at Mt. Olivet Rolling Acres opened their first residential home for people with developmental disabilities. The four of them had bonded during their years at Mt. Olivet. They had a good mix of skills and good rapport with the staff at Hennepin County. The opportunity to run their own business was a dream they all shared.
Sadly, one of the partners—Scott Page— died shortly before the doors opened. They soldiered ahead and found a niche: providing community housing for young adults for whom living at home was no longer the best option. The business grew, and in 2013, the fourth original partner left to own and manage one of the four homes they had opened together.
Since then, Jake and Rena have been managing Total Living Commitment while raising their own family. They take pride in providing their clients with a safe family environment. The first two young men they housed were 17 years old when they started; they’re now 38.
“I am so blessed to have Rena as my life partner,” Jake explained. “This is truly a family business, and our clients even call her ‘Mama Rena.’ She runs our programs, manages staff, schedules all the clients’ medical appointments, and more. She truly is an impressive lady, and she’s the greatest wife of all time.”
Jake went on to explain that working with local banks has always been important to them as business owners.
“We moved to Delano in 2002 and began banking at the State Bank of Delano,” said Jake. “Our accountant encouraged us to consider another local bank after the State Bank had some internal issues and stopped communicating with us. I knew the loan officer at Crow River from his involvement in community activities, so I asked for a meeting. ddHe quickly sized up our situation and helped us work through a loan.”
Since then, Jake has worked with Sherry Valley, Vice President and Senior Commercial Lender. “We’ve been so fortunate to work with Sherry,” he said. “She listens to us, explains what she can do, and then goes about her business without drama. She is friendly and delivers what she promises, and I really value the personal relationship we’ve built. She crushes it!”
Jake and Rena now operate three homes with four clients living in each facility. The clients at Total Living Commitment range in age from 30 to 45.
One of the biggest challenges they’ve encountered is attracting people willing to work for them. “We seek folks who are willing to work hard, are honest and caring, but sadly we can’t find Americans who want to do this work,” said Jake. “Caregiving is not easy work, so we’ve turned to immigrants from Burkina Faso, Kenya, and Liberia. Many of them are first generation immigrants who’ve become naturalized citizens. It helps to have a climate where people welcome others with skills to do work we can’t find anyone else to do.
“Because they haven’t grown up in our area, they don’t always understand our culture,” Jake continued. “But what they do understand so well is the humanity, care and compassion that our clients deserve to live healthy lives, and our staff is exceptional in that way.”
Jake and Rena are almost fully staffed now and have experienced very low turnover due to their focus on treating team members like family.
“We work to create a family atmosphere, and it makes a difference. Our staff team typically eats meals with our clients,” Jake added, “and this fosters trust.”
Jake added that not only are he and his wife delighted with the business banking at Minnesota Lakes Bank, but the bank was also quick to help with a loan to purchase a lake home when the opportunity arose a few years ago.
“We called our banker, and he made it happen on the spot,” said Jake. “He asked what we needed, and within an hour we were able to provide the seller with a letter of commitment. We went from having a bank we worried about day and night to a bank that has served our every need. It’s hard to explain how much less stress we have in our lives because of that.”