Spotlight on Alumni:

By: Turaj, Stephanie
Posted In: Entertainment

What does the Salve Regina Mission mean to you? To Ellen Schillace, (’71) the mission is her life’s work. Schillace, a realtor in St. Paul, Minn. is living the mission statement. She uses a background in social work and realty, her artistic abilities, and her experiences at Salve to give back to her community. Schillace is committed to helping the homeless, especially single women, find housing.

Schillace helps a number of minority women to get housing. She also helps the evicted, artists and other low income people. According to Schillace, giving back is thing she loves the most. “[My work is] very, very rewarding,” said Schillace.

Schillace’s commitment to charity grew out of her own motivation. Growing up in an apartment, she said, she wanted to have her own house. “My philosophy is people need shelter. Home is a basis for stability in their lives,” Schillace explained.

“It is very difficult for a single woman to buy a house. One to two percent of buyers are women. Most women get married to buy a house,” she said.

Schillace was instrumental in developing Emma’s Place, a housing development designed for chronically homeless women. Emma’s Place offers low rent housing to single women with several children. The program aims to help the women adjust, with after school programs and support groups. Schillace went through a year long process finding property for the development. “It was initially a challenge because neighborhoods would not allow it to happen. People don’t want low income housing,” she said.

Within the last few years, Schillace put together an LLC called With Ease. “It helps people look at the critical junctures of buying and selling a house and get through that passage,” said Schillace.

For example, Schillace might help a senior citizen sell a house the senior lived in for 60 years. Schillace explains that here is no entity to help a person through such a process. “Often people are in a crisis, [such as] a divorce or a foreclosure where there is lot of money involved. This is a sensitive time to help a person,” she explained.

Schillace also donates part of her commissions earned to the Edina Realty Foundation, an organization that financially supports housing for the homeless. In addition to the set portion of money taken out of her commission, Schillace said, “I’ve always given a little more”.

Schillace also has donated art for the last 12 years. She has donated work to Salve Regina. “By donating work and selling through auctions, [I can] give back to Salve, and find a way to support Salve for experience that I had, so other students can have similar experiences,” she said.

As an artist’s daughter, art has always been a part of Schillace’s life. Schillace creates art in a process with ink and brush, explaining she wants to do art in a different way. She incorporated color into her work after a transforming year in 2001 at the University of Colorado.

Schillace feels her art is a reflection of her life. “Art always been a dialogue with myself. The gift of art is to be able to have that dialogue with yourself, and it starts to communicate with other people,” Schillace explained.

Schillace returned to campus in Sept. to deliver speeches to social work classes. Schillace discussed how “her commitments for giving back has confirmed everything she does,” she said. She encouraged students to think about other jobs besides social work.

Schillace advises students not to worry about their future careers. “I never thought I’d be doing the work I’d do. [Everything you learn] you can use later on for something else. I’ve felt many times that being at Salve was a gift to appreciate memories,” she explained.

Last October Schillace received the Salve Regina University Mission award during fall festival weekend. “The Mission Award recognizes a Salve Regina graduate whose service to others exemplifies the mission of the university,” the award states.

Schillace admits she did not always consciously realize her work reflected the mission. “I have always been motivated to give back. It is important for people to contribute. The tiniest things a person can do can make a difference, [even] smiling at someone,” she said. When Schillace visited Salve with her daughter around 1999, she saw the mission in McAuley. “I recognized at [that] time I was doing the mission,” said Schillace.

Schillace transferred to Salve after a year at community college, attracted to Salve because of its campus. Schillace worked part time in Miley cafeteria, and painted portraits for extra money. Her art was published in the Salve Regina yearbook, which she was assistant editor of senior year.

“Enjoy the campus. As far as education goes, it’s a pretty valuable thing to have. The experience of being at school broadens your view of world. Take advantage of every opportunity and think about possibilities that out there. It’s your life and you can only perfect who you are. Don’t wish you were someone else,” Schillace advised.