Q & A with Vanessa Vanderhoef

BUILDING THE WHOLE VILLAGE, ONE PIECE AT A TIME

I fund my own nonprofit while working as a personal care worker, Uber driver, and small business owner. My focus is on building projects that connect people to faith, housing, and hope. Everything I do fits into one circle of purpose but every part stands on its own.

Sustainable Farmstead Solutions (SFS) is the nonprofit focused on housing, sustainability, and financial literacy.

Mobile Communion Ministries (MCM) is the spiritual outreach serving those without homes or in need of sustainable living through direct care, compassion, and conversation.

The Makers’ Forge (TMF) is the media arm. A publication and storytelling platform that spotlights community makers, small businesses, and neighborhood revival.

Sustainable Elegant Rentals (SER) and Mad Tea Creations featuring Mood Cookies (MTC) are my private, for-profit businesses that generate the income that I use to self-fund these missions.

Q: What do you want people to understand about what you’re building?

A: That it’s not chaos, it’s choreography. Every project serves a different need, but together, they make a complete circle of support. Faith, housing, income, food, and storytelling are all things people need to rebuild.

I’m building the prototype right now in Milwaukee, but the blueprint could work anywhere: Montana, Detroit, Gary, or any ghost town ready for revival. I want people to see that you don’t have to be rich to start change. You just have to start.

Q: How do your private businesses support the mission while staying independent?

A: Sustainable Elegant Rentals is about affordable reliable tables chairs and tents rentals for all events. Mad Tea Creations / Mood Cookies keeps my income flowing while building community. Every cookie sale funds something tangible care kits, outreach gas money, or supplies for local events.

They’re my private ventures that support my personal household and my broader work. I don’t blur the lines. I just use what I have to push the mission forward until the nonprofit can sustain itself.

Q: How did Mobile Communion Ministries begin?

A: MCM started out of my car. I was handing out meals and care kits to people living outside. It felt like ministry not charity. It wasn’t about preaching; it was about showing up. Now, I want to grow MCM in to its own thing. It bridges faith and action. We pray with people, offer resources, and meet immediate needs.

Eventually, I want MCM to have its own dedicated outreach team and mobile setup for showers, food stations, and solar charging hubs so we can bring real comfort to people wherever they are.

Q: Where do you see this in five years?

A: SFS coordinating housing and education programs.

TMF publishing stories and running creative workshops.

MTC and SER operating as sustainable revenue streams to keep it all independent.

I am planning on writing a book that will document every lesson learned along the way so others can follow without reinventing the wheel.

In five years, I want to see a physical Community Hub that unites all of it. MCM offering mobile outreach and small-group ministries.

Q: That’s a lot of moving parts. How do they all connect without getting tangled?

A: They’re connected by purpose, not paperwork.

Each one plays a role:

SFS handles community programs and outreach.

MCM handles the food distribution system through faith work, and service from the heart, usually out of my car or at pop-ups.

TMF tells the story and gives others a microphone to share what they’re building.

SER and MTC are my personal financial engines.

I keep them legally separate each with its own account, brand, and structure, but they all work toward the same mission: to rebuild lives and neighborhoods with love, dignity, and sustainability.

Q: If someone wants to get involved, where should they start?

A: It depends on where their heart leads: Want to help families? Join or donate to SFS. Want to help spiritually? Volunteer with MCM. Want to tell stories or promote local businesses? Partner with TMF. Want to support me personally? Buy cookies from MTC or follow SER’s progress.

No matter where you step in, you’re helping build the same vision, a sustainable, faith-driven, community-powered system that keeps people housed, employed, and connected.

Q: Final thought, what keeps you going when it’s overwhelming?

A: Faith. Every time I want to quit, someone reminds me why I started a story, a prayer, a stranger’s “thank you.” This isn’t just business or ministry; it’s legacy. I’m not chasing fame or profit I’m building the kind of community I wish existed when I needed one most.