Staff & Board Members

Executive Director: Lori Bowman

The Executive Director is responsible for the consistent achievement of the organization’s mission and financial objectives. The Executive Director's primary responsibility is establishing and implementing the infrastructure needed to meet the organization’s budgetary needs and to build and maintain a Reserve Fund through the solicitation of major gifts, grants, special events, and corporate and foundation support.
Lori is a graduate of College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University. She has lived in Rice Lake for over 10 years and is a proud mom of 3. Lori enjoys reading, running, golfing and time with her children.

Assistant Director: Kayla hanson

The Assistant Director is responsible for all aspects of internal operations, including program management, administration, and human resources. The Assistant Director plays a large roll in strengthening existing partnerships and helping to introduce new community partners to help in the support of Benjamin’s House mission.
Kayla holds a bachelor's degree in Technical Management with a concentration in HR. Most of her time is spent with her husband and three young boys. She enjoys reading (huge bookworm) and spending time with friends.

Case Manager: Penny Hanson

The Case Manager is responsible for providing services to individuals and families who apply for admission and who receive emergency shelter assistance at Benjamin’s House. The focus is on working with residents on finding employment and securing and maintaining safe, affordable, permanent housing by addressing identified needs with available resources.
Penny is a certified social worker and graduate of the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire. She finds joy in spending time with her husband, five adult children, daughter-in-law, and two grandsons. Penny takes pleasure in gardening, scrapbooking, and finding a good garage sale or thrift store.

Continued Care Program
Case Manager: Jennifer rikkers

The Continued Care Program is an extension of Benjamin's House case management. Residents who qualify for this program are given assistance with security deposit and rent upon securing permanent housing. Residents move out of shelter but continue to work with resources in the community and set goals to stabilize with the help of continued case management. With additional efforts, we feel residents will become more stable and lower the rates of recidivism.
Jennifer is a graduate of University of Wisconsin-Madison where she earned a bachelor of science in Psychology and later received her Master’s of Social Work degree at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. After living in southern Wisconsin for 14 years, her family moved to Rice Lake in 2018. Jennifer is a proud mom of 4 children ranging in ages from 10-18. Jennifer loves spending
time with loved ones, practicing yoga, traveling and expressing herself through her love of art.

Office Manager: Amy myers

The office manager is responsible to provide support services to the Executive Director, Assistant Director and Case Managers to ensure efficient operational needs of the shelter. They are responsible for volunteer coordination, shelter operational needs and resident needs. They assist with coordination of building maintenance and crisis management of residents.
Amy enjoys spending time with her family which includes her husband, two daughters and her son-in-law. When she isn't working you can find Amy volunteering at Northern Star Theatre Company. In her spare time you can find her knitting, reading or cooking.

Benjamin's House Program Assistants

The shelter could not exist without the wonderful staff who help support and care for the residents.
We love our staff and appreciate their time and talents which help make the shelter a viable part of our community!