201 N. 24th St.
Bismarck, ND 58501

Sr. Kathleen Atkinson
701-223-6315 (phone only)

About

Ministry on the Margins is a ministry of Sister Kathleen Atkinson, OSB, a Benedictine Sister from Annunciation Monastery in Bismarck, ND.

Nationally recognized as an energetic and creative leader in hunger and homelessness education, she has developed service learning experiences for all age groups and led service teams to a variety of foreign and United States locations.

MINISTRY ON THE MARGINS HISTORY

• November 2010    
  Sister Kathleen makes ‘The Call’ to the North Dakota State Penitentiary to see if there is any way she can be of service.  A weekly Bible Study begins.  
• March 2012 The Ministry has its First Reentry Client
  James is met at the prison gates and becomes our first prison reentry client 
• Easter 2012   
  Several Sisters of Annunciation Monastery go to the poor as did Jesus on the Day of His Resurrection. The First “Build Your Own Sundaes” Easter event is held at Grandma’s House.  
• November 2013   
  Ministry on the Margins becomes official with the registration of our name! 
• April 2013   
  We moved into a 500 sq feet basement office on Thayer and Fourth. Coffee, companionship and caramel rolls are served two times a week. A Mr. Coffee Maker and one pan of caramel rolls fed the small group. 
• With that space, we opened a Food Pantry – the first Bismarck ‘evening food pantry’ in order to serve the working poor and people who came to Trinity Lutheran Church for the Banquet meal.  
• While developing the MOTM Food Pantry, we immediately collaborated with others by assisting Wilton Senior Center to start a food pantry and Fort Yates Food Bank to reorganize their food pantry.  
• April  2014  Relocated to 115 N 2nd St
  Recognizing the need for ground floor access and our own bathroom facilities, MOTM moved to 115 n 2nd street, an amazing1,000 square feet of space! We’re grateful to Brady Martz for allowing us to lease space adjacent to their offices; for senior partners who moved out of their parking places when we had back to school drive that went abundant;  for junior partners who kindly walked around guests sitting on their steps to eat.   
• July 2016     
  Annunciation Monastery formed Benedictine Ministries, a separate    corporation, to oversee Ministry on the Margins and any future ministries. Ministry on the Margins became “Benedictine Ministries, DBA Ministry on the Margins.” There was a separate accounting system established at the Monastery, the Corporate Board consisted of the Prioress, Sub Prioress, and Treasurer of Annunciation Monastery and an Advisory Board was created.   
• November 2016
  With the total help of volunteers from the broader community and the community we served, Ministry on the Margins made a major move to our current location, 201 N 24th; then known as Spaedy Plaza. This move helped us expand services to 8,500 sq ft. We had adequate space for storage, so all rental units were emptied. MOTM acquired a car and a pickup. The Programming at that time was a Morning Breakfast/Coffee House/BINGO, Food Pantry, Dual Recovery Anonymous Group, Prison2Society Support Group, Bread of Life Worship/Meal, Sex Addicts Anonymous, Clothing Pantry, and weekly Prison Ministry.  
• We were serving an average of 500 people each week.   
• 2018
  The state of North Dakota began Free Through Recovery Prison Reentry Program  
• 2019  MOTM joined  FTR as a provider   
• March 2020 COVID 
  closes down everything. Prisons, Jails, Shelter bring numbers down.  Increased homelessness and public health issues.   
• After one week of closing down, MOTM opened in unique ways to continue to offer food, shelter, clothing to those impacted by COVID.   MOTM becomes the emergency response center. Emergency sheltering up to 50 people at a time at Bismarck Motel.   Sister Kathleen appointed to the Burleigh-Morton COVID  
• Emergency Task Force.   
• August 2021           
• The Sisters of Annunciation Monastery approved the official corporate establishment and sponsorship of Ministry on the Margins. Tom Bair assisted us in modifying the Benedictine Ministries bylaws into the MOTM bylaws.  After the approval of the new MOTM Board, the Articles of Incorporation were updated with the State of North Dakota.   
• December 2021     The new Ministry on the Margins Board of Directors was established   
• On Feb 1, 2022,     MOTM opened a Coffee House for low barrier homeless in Bismarck area. Started as a pilot program, we projected 10-15 people a night.  That has grown to 60-70 people each night.  
• April 2022   Julie Dahle is hired as Business Director and ‘financial, personnel, benefits, organizational charts, and all-around life’ Director.  MOTM enters a new time with our separation from Annunciation Monastery and independence as a corporation.  Employees