Courtesy of Brittany's Place
There’s an unassuming building on St. Paul’s east side that conceals a fervently beating heart. From the outside, the structure looks like it could house a community center or office cubicles. But inside the front doors, there’s color and warmth. Artwork covers the walls in the front hall—with a butterfly motif showing up over and over. Through another set of doors, there’s a patio and lush courtyard garden, filled with vegetables and pollinator-friendly plants and flowers. There’s a handmade quilt, each square decorated by little hands, with personal notes and drawings of butterflies.
The quilt is a memorial to Brittany Clardy, made more than a decade ago by kids at the local rec center. Clardy grew up in St. Paul and, in high school, worked at the rec center with young students. She loved butterflies—and she was beloved by her friends, family, and the kids at the rec center. In 2013, at age 18, she was murdered in a sex trafficking incident.
This building—filled with hope and color—is Brittany’s Place, a shelter that houses girls from St. Paul and beyond who are survivors (or possible future victims) of sex trafficking. The shelter opened in 2015 and offers a haven for children and teens who have been groomed and abused. “These are girls as young as 10,” says Janet Hallaway, chief advancement officer at 180 Degrees, the nonprofit that runs Brittany’s Place. “Safety and basic needs are our first priorities. A lot of these girls are malnourished. They’re tired. Their bodies have been abused. Sleep is important; nutrition is important.”
Courtesy of Brittany's Place
Upstairs are the bedrooms, designed to feel homey and safe, with artwork on the walls and fluffy throw pillows on the beds. Downstairs is a community kitchen where residents can keep their own snacks or groceries and where cooking classes and group meals take place. There’s a fitness room and even a classroom, run by a St. Paul Public Schools teacher who helps the girls in residence keep up with their work and recover credits toward graduation. “If you think of the trauma they have, just getting up in the morning can be hard,” Hallaway says. “Having a school on-site, where they can come in for an hour or more, that’s a big thing.”
Many of the personal, cozy touches that make Brittany’s Place feel like a home rather than an institution have come from an unusual source: the “book club ladies.”
Since 1977, a group of 14 Edina women (plus two honorary out-of-state members) has been meeting every few weeks for discussions—and friendship—over novels, nonfiction, and everything in between. “We really felt encouraged to do something else for the community,” says Sandy Hey, who joined the book club in 1978. They started collecting donations for Minneapolis Public Schools, things like backpacks and mittens for kids in need. Their reach grew; they raised donations for St. Joseph’s Home for Children and funds for various organizations that served kids in the Twin Cities.
Courtesy of Sandy Hey
“I can’t imagine my life without the book club,” says Audrey Dammer, who joined the club in the late 1980s. “Not just because of the friendships, but because of the commitment the group has to these extra activities that give back to the community.”
The book club ladies are eminently creative and fun, hosting themed club nights—like dressing up as Red Cross nurses or Rosie the Riveter after reading a book about World War II nurses—but they come together in times of hardship and grief, too. “We had a member who lost her son when he was 20,” says Hey. “She said, ‘Could you just handle the food at the funeral?’ We’ve got it. We kicked into gear. Anything anyone could ask for, the people in this group will bend over backwards to make it happen.”
They learned about Brittany’s Place via Cory Johnson, a mutual friend and the associate director of advancement at 180 Degrees. “We got a tour, and seeing the facility and getting an understanding of what they provide was our introduction,” Dammer says. She and Hey called themselves “ambassadors,” and they came back to the book club with a request to get involved with Brittany’s Place. In the years since, they’ve adopted the shelter as a favorite cause. “We’re really here to support them on a regular basis,” Dammer says. “We go shopping to keep their closets filled with personal hygiene items and clothing.” They also help provide experiences and connection, through tickets to theater performances or classes at Brittany’s Place, like scrapbooking or cooking.
At Christmastime, the book club ladies shop for gifts. “The reaction of the girls is that they can’t believe somebody would care enough,” says Hallaway. “It’s a joyful time for [our staff] to be present, to see these girls who’ve never had anything—maybe not even a tube of toothpaste all to themselves.”
Hallaway says she wishes more book clubs, or similar groups, would “adopt” Brittany’s Place and organizations like it. “The staff has so much going on, and it’s hard to coordinate volunteers,” she says. “But if you get a group of 10 people who are already organized, they can get things done.” She encourages prospective benefactors to attend a fundraising gala, shop for and donate needed items, or reach out to staff—at Brittany’s Place or other local nonprofits—for other ways to help. “The book club ladies continue to show up and support us, and that means a lot to the staff… They’re a get-it-done group of women.”
Courtesy of Brittany's Place
Inside Brittany’s Place
Brittany’s Place is one branch of 180 Degrees, which was founded more than 50 years ago in Minneapolis to offer community reentry resources and housing to previously incarcerated men. When the organization was ready to launch its youth shelter in the early 2010s, the team connected with Brittany Clardy’s mom, and the mission—and name—took on a new life. The shelter is staffed 24/7, and case managers work one-on-one with each resident to provide school resources, group therapy, and guidance on what happens after Brittany’s Place, whether that’s longer-term housing, college, substance rehabilitation, or a different path. 180degrees.org
