"I met recently with Jeff Bremer, Executive Director of Bridge Builders for Kids and learned that Bridge Builders for Kids is taking a preventative/proactive approach to working with some of the most at-risk group of children who are highly likely to end up part of the criminal justice system. They are doing that by connecting them with committed positive adults who teach them life skills and inspire them to live up to their God-given potential." The importance of those concepts is invaluable not to mention the cost benefits to the community by preventing kids from getting involved with crime vs. dealing with them after the fact.

"Working with Bridge Builders has been an exciting adventure. While The Salvation Army offers mentors for families of the incarcerated, Bridge Builders provides coaches or mentors for children of prisoners through the Minnesota Department of Corrections."

"A common consensus among all the ministries is that we need to be reaching out to the chidren of incarcerated parents when they are young in order to break the cycle of incarceration in these families. Bridge Builders for Kids is doing this very effectively."

"Bridge Builders has been a delight to work with and we have found them to be a great resource for children of prisoners. It is our intent to continue working together with Bridge Builders identifying children of prisoners in the Twin Cities area and providing support to them and their families"

"Because of Bridge Builders' efforts, fathers within the prison are coming together and offering support to each other, which has a positive effect upon the lives of their families. The energy created by the program between families and fathers are stronger due to the momentum of this program. The strength and the energy compels offenders to stay away from criminal tendencies and become a pillar in the life of their children. While the effort of the Bridge Builders program is to maintain a positive structure in a child’s life, I have never seen a program that is built around parents that are incarcerated. This program is very powerful and unique as it continues bridging children and their incarcerated parents."

"The Salvation Army and Bridge Builders collectively have collaborated together to benefit the whole family in making ends meet in their daily lives. Our Project Break Through program offers support to single parent families or families in need. It is a self-sufficiency program designed to help families making long term changes in their lives due to underlying issues related to poverty. It provides emotional support, resources, friends, and role models through both professional and volunteer intervention. Our role with Bridge Builders is to be a part of that family structure that mostly would work with the spouse of the incarcerated individual. Our partnership is to help mend families together and to support them with resources needed to make that happen. We continue to make differences in people's lives and without this partnership with Bridge Builders this simply wouldn't be possible!"

"I consider the work of Jeff Bremer and Bridge Builders one of the most critical, timely, and rewarding outreach ministries in which a church can invest. Having myself worked in corrections for over a dozen years, this ministry is the first I've seen that addresses the generational incarceration problem in a caring and meaningful way. If the body of Christ does not reach out to these least among us, the children of prisoners, there is little hope for the future of our cities."

"Studies show that over seventy percent of prisoners come from father-absent homes. They also show 7 out of 10 children with a parent in prison will end up incarcerated themselves someday. Bridge Builders for Kids is helping break this cycle of crime and father absence by encouraging and supporting mentors for these at-risk children."

"We would like to comment on the PAN-Time Theory that Bridge Builders for Kids has developed as part of the approach to their needs assessment. Our Psychologist, Ed Frickson, has reviewed this theory and found it to be consistent with our philosophy and approach to this population of children."

"You are a terrific encouragement. We want to work with you hand in glove. I'm thrilled that you've sensed the vision for working with these kids on a year-round basis. Camping is only one part of it. We can't let them go back into the inner city without having some support."