Guests participated in an engaging evening of high-stakes game play, emphasizing the real-life stakes for young individuals aging out of foster care. Professional dealers guided attendees through the experience, offering insights and strategy while fostering a lively atmosphere. More than just entertainment, the event underscored Northern Star’s commitment to providing safe spaces and opportunities for at-risk youth, with funds raised directly supporting the organization’s new building project.
Anticipation is already building for the second annual High Stakes Game Night in February 2026! Guests are eager to reunite for another exciting evening, supporting Northern Star’s mission!
Thank you to platinum sponsors: Senator & Mrs. Gooch, Montaluce Winery, Cornatzer & Associates, Inc.
Silver sponsors: Hollaway Electric, Dahlonega General Store, Dover Realty, Amerigroup, 1st Franklin Financial
“A great building must begin with the immeasurable, must go through measurable means when it is being designed, and in the end must be unmeasured.” – Louis Kahn, one of the Greatest 20th Century US Architects
Our retiree volunteers helped install all of the doors and windows. JB Metals did a fantastic job on the metal roof! Thank you to all of those on the Exovations team that made this huge siding project a reality! This mission wouldn’t be possible without incredible partners like Randall Brothers and James Hardie, whose generous donations of building materials are bringing Northern Star’s new 9-bedroom residential facility to life! Together, we’re not just building homes-we’re building hope.
With every board, beam, and nail, this home is becoming a safe haven for young adults seeking stability, growth, and opportunity. And we’re getting so close to the finish line!
AMAZING only begins to describe this past weekend for Northern Star. Friday was filled with volunteers and board members preparing for Sunday’s fundraiser. Saturday started off with 30 volunteers from Side-by-Side in Service working hard on three different projects throughout the day. Sunday brought supporters to share in Northern Star’s campus renewal and plans for the future at the 3rd annual Garden Party.
Northern Star’s final building plans are well underway and hope to begin construction this month. The overall goal is to complete the next building debt free, in order to be able to provide services to 9 additional participants. We can only make this goal happen with the collaboration of our supporters, local communities, and businesses. Keep in touch to find out how you could be a part of this next big project!
Northern Star serves young people that have been in foster care or at-risk environments that need to learn life skills and build the support system necessary to transition successfully to adulthood.
Collaboration is the piece of the puzzle that Northern Star is currently seeking in order to expand our program long term. We are “reaching for the stars” this Spring in order to build our next building.
Northern Star has accomplished so much this summer and they are already planning big goals for 2024!
Current Star House Progress Once finished, Northern Star will use the house for: ~ office space ~ meeting/social room ~ area to teach life skills ~ community hygiene/life skills program for people that may not have running water, need hygiene items, life skills, clothing, and/or a healthy meal on an as needed basis
Before and after pictures to give you a glimpse into what the Star House is becoming!
New Construction Triplex Building Will house the first 4 campus residents: ~ 2 single units, 1 double unit ~ slated to be complete end of November 2023 ~ move residents in before the end of 2023
Starting from the ground up!
Special Thank you to the following businesses for helping make this progress possible!
Preparing for 2024 We are only permitted to have 3 buildings, so our final one will have to be fairly large: ~ single bedrooms ~ large common living and meeting area
Northern Star needs to raise $200,000 to build this final building. We know this is a huge goal to strive for, and that is why we are reaching out to our supporters!
How you, your business, or organization can support:
Skilled Labor – Grading, Framing, Roofing, Siding, Electrical, Plumbing, Drywall, Painting, Flooring, HVAC Monetary donations via check (mailed to 2076 Dawsonville Hwy, Dahlonega, GA 30533, for Venmo or Credit Card donations, please click the Support tab Amazon wish list for new building https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/22QG60X9P09V8?ref_=wl_share Thank you for those who are learning more and supporting the mission of Northern Star. We hope that if you have the resources that you will help us work toward completing our current building and getting started on the next one! Your donations make it possible! Please continue to share Northern Star with others!
In 2019 Northern Star thought that we would be opening a maternity program at our recently purchased JW house. The final step to open the program was not able to happen due to Covid. We decided to use the house for several of our independent living program participants while waiting to see just how Covid would impact the future of Northern Star.
After taking time to think and discuss throughout 2019, the staff and board of directors came to the conclusion that the original idea of a campus program is the direction that Northern Star needed to pursue. Now we only needed to find the specified amount of acreage in the designated land use category within our price range. 2020 the search began, 2021 the search continues, 2022 we found a potential property but it fell through, then in 2023, with a new land use option opened to us, we found the perfect property for the campus we desired.
April 2023 was the start of the first chapter of Northern Star’s new book. The program purchased it’s own property, a place to build a future, a home. There is so much Northern Star has wanted to do, but has been limited by space and permanency. Lets skip to the good part…
Last week we were able to sell the JW house. While waving goodbye to that chapter was hard, we are excited to start working on our future program campus! Renovations to the existing Star House are moving along with the help of some wonderful volunteers! Construction on the first housing building, the “Starplex”, is now underway. There are so many individuals and businesses that have joined in and become a part of the new campus renovations and construction. We are so thankful for everyone that is playing a part in making the campus vision a reality!
Attendance was very low for our fundraiser. Even people who purchased tickets did not attend the event. With so much delicious food, many silent auction items, and of course the main purpose of a fund raiser being to raise funds, I was a little worried at the beginning of the evening that the event was going to be a failure.
I am sad to say that I even doubted the success of the event. I should know by now that when doing God’s work, He is running the show and that I need to have more faith in what He has called us to do!
A quote that came to mind after reflecting on last night’s event is…”it’s not the quantity, but the quality that matters.” A synonym for quality is excellence and everyone from the MC to the live entertainment, the speakers to all of those in attendance were excellent. I have no doubt that God put all of those pieces, I mean people, together last night for His purpose. Northern Star raised more money last night through donations and the silent auction than last year’s Garden Party with only 1/3 of the number of attendees.
Back to where I thought the event would be a failure…what was I thinking?! The testimonies that were shared were meant for the attendees who were there. The artists’ paintings were exactly what more than one attendee wanted…which made the auctions exactly what they should be. There was so much extra food you would think would be a problem, nope, just turned bags of meat into auction items and some happy bidders got to take a delicious meal home.
Thank you to all of those who helped support this event even if you were not there in person. Every prayer, dollar, donation, and minute of time spent played a part in making our 2nd Annual Garden Party a success! It was humbling to be reminded that we need to have faith in what we have been called to do and that God will do the rest!
Looking around at all the things Spring brings, you can see an abundance of blooming flowers, green grass, busy bees, and so much more going on. Northern Star’s new campus is also going in to full bloom! We have staff, board members, volunteers, past participants, and even children asking what needs to be done at the new campus. I wanted to share with everyone the plans that we have so far and will try my best to keep the website, Facebook, and InstaGram up to date with current opportunities and needs.
Northern Star would like to share the exciting news and first steps of making the vision of building a campus a reality!
The program has been searching for the ideal property for several years to be able to serve all our program participants in one safe, spacious, and convenient location. We are thrilled to announce the groundbreaking of our Northern Star Campus on April 15, 2023!
Plans are big, and we are reaching out to all our supporters, surrounding businesses, and organizations to get involved in becoming part of Northern Star’s mission. The campus, as outlined below, will be able to provide:
Individual housing for up to 14 young adults, under 26 years of age
Opportunities for learning, practicing, and mastering everyday life skills with concentrations in education, career, money management, physical and mental health, transportation, permanent housing, parenting, intrapersonal skills, and building a long-term support system
A day center for public use that will include help with the above-mentioned life skills, community resource connections, hygiene, and clothing closet.
Weekly Bible Study opportunities and Drug Free Accountability meetings
Northern Star is expanding to accommodate the growing number of young adults in at risk environment needing the transitional housing, life skills education, and support our independent living program can provide to aid in successful transition to adulthood.
If you would like to become a member of the campus committee, donate supplies, assist with labor, or monetary assistance for any of the Phase 1 projects, please contact Mandy Williams, northernstarga28@gmail.com, 770-364-9319. We are thankful for the generosity and support of our community and surrounding communities for coming together to help create this safe, educational, supportive environment for young people.
We have created a wish list for our local Dahlonega Home Depot. Items do not have to come from Home Depot, it was just the easiest way to have a central list. The campus address for delivery is 2076 Dawsonville Hwy, Dahlonega, GA 30533
We hope that you will be able to support our mission in one of theabove-mentioned ways! Please contact me with any questions or to volunteer.
Campus outline proposal
Phase 1: April – December 2023
Property clean-up:
Removal of old barnwood and tin
Clean up trash – will need several dumpsters
Demo log house, 2 chicken houses, barn, and mobile home
Clean up fence – all property line fence will need to be secured and hooked to existing t-posts (the posts will need to be firmly driven into the ground), majority of interior fencing will need to be taken down and rolled up.
Renovate existing brick house to include:
Kitchen appliances
Kitchen sink
Washing Machine and Electric Dryer
New countertops
Update kitchen cabinets
Take down 3 walls and adding header to create a large life skill & dining area
Sheetrock throughout
Painting throughout
Update minor electrical
Clean chimney
Patch and refinish hardwood flooring
Kitchen and dining room flooring
6” gutters
Add moisture barrier under house
Caulk and paint exterior windows
Add smoke and carbon dioxide detectors
Remove handicap shower and tile in added on room – will need flooring
Level/lift concrete porch and repair roof over porch
Preparation for Quadplex building
Blueprints
2 – 1500 gallon septic tanks
Grading
Stubbed plumbing and concrete slab foundation
Concrete slab foundation
Complete Quadplex building
2 story, 4-unit building will house up to 6 participants
For those who have followed Northern Star since our journey began in 2016, many of you know that our dream was to purchase our own property for a campus where we could oversee all of our projects, participants, and visions unfold in one location. Northern Star was grateful to be able to use our first location “The Bricks” on Carpenter Lane to get Northern Star started. During Covid we began searching for the perfect property to begin making our future vision a reality. God did not quite have that perfect property ready for us yet, so for the past 3 years we have been faithfully and patiently searching. After meeting with the county again a couple weeks ago, we found out that we could use a different zoning classification which opened some new opportunities for the right property. A week later we made an offer on a property and are currently…
Thank you to everyone who has supported Northern Star’s mission and vision over the years! We are so excited to share with you that we are moving in the direction of our dreams! More updates to come!
Northern Star wants to share with the community life “Through Their Eyes”.
The mission is simple…life skills, love, and support. Every youth/young adult needs these 3 things. Many who have been in the foster system, who have been left to learn life on their own, or are homeless, do not have any of these three things. Northern Star needs your help to provide life skills, love, and long-lasting support to all of the youth in our program both now and in the future.
If you would like to learn how you can be the difference to a young adult, please purchase your ticket to the Summer Garden Party and come learn all about Northern Star and making the difference in the lives of youth/yound adults in our community.
Thank you so much to those individuals, businesses, and organizations who have already donated to make this event possible!
Northern Star 