Joan and Bill Reiling are flanked Aug. 24 by President Emeritus Tim Marx, left, and President and CEO Michael Goar of Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, in front of a building on the nonprofit organization’s Higher Ground campus in Minneapolis. The building is now called the William and Joan Reiling Residences, named in honor of Bill, founder of Sunrise Banks, and his wife, Joan, and their decades-long support of the nonprofit organization. COURTESY DAVID MEYER, CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF ST. PAUL AND MINNEAPOLIS

Bill and Joan Reiling stood in front of a building in Minneapolis Aug. 24 that they helped acquire in the 1980s to provide homes for 75 people who had severe alcohol abuse disorder and were experiencing homelessness.

Now, it bears their name, the William and Joan Reiling Residences, and it is on Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Higher Ground campus, which also includes a homeless shelter.

“It’s refreshing and interesting to see where we are today with this complex,” thanks to the generous support of many people, Bill Reiling said at the gathering in his family’s honor, which included Michael Goar, president and CEO of Catholic Charities, and Tim Marx, Catholic Charities’ president emeritus.

“Catholic Charities has grown to this complex — as well as in St. Paul — and it’s really a compliment to this community and it’s a compliment to Catholic Charities. Because I think this indicates the leadership that was shown here and I think it’s outstanding relative to other cities in America,” Reiling said.

“With this complex, Catholic Charities is serving a lot more people in a lot of different ways and allowing them also to grow independently as well as they individually can,” he said. “Obviously, Joan and I are really privileged to be part of it, and I know you are thanking us, but really we need to thank you, because it is our privilege to be a very small part of this community.”

Reiling, the founder of Sunrise Banks, and his wife, who are members of Lumen Christi in St. Paul, also helped Catholic Charities purchase the site of what became Dorothy Day Center for the homeless in downtown St. Paul about 40 years ago. They have supported Catholic Charities’ growth in many ways over the years, and the Dorothy Day Center has now been replaced by the larger Dorothy Day Place campus, with a homeless shelter, apartments for those facing chronic barriers to housing, job assistance and other support services.