Started by Gerald (Gerry) A. and Henrietta (Hanky) Rauenhorst, founders of the Opus companies, Enkel Foundation provides a forum for young family members to learn and live philanthropy.
Born in Olivia, Minn., in 1927, the son of tenant farmers and one of eight children, Gerry began his business career at age six selling sweet corn at a busy highway intersection near the family farm. Gerry learned early practical lessons about the necessity of hard work and faith, anchoring his life on the words of St. Augustine: "I shall work as if everything depended on me; I shall pray as if everything depended on God."
As a student at St. Thomas College, Gerry invited Hanky Schmoll, a girl from the College of St. Catherine and a neighboring farming community, to the Tiger Homecoming Dance. That date launched a lifetime together. The couple was married in 1950 and spent the next six decades raising seven children, building a business and living out their shared commitment to Catholic social values.
Gerry and Hanky started Enkel Foundation as vehicle to promote a new generation of giving, bringing hope and opportunity to those who need it most.
Born in Olivia, Minn., in 1927, the son of tenant farmers and one of eight children, Gerry began his business career at age six selling sweet corn at a busy highway intersection near the family farm. Gerry learned early practical lessons about the necessity of hard work and faith, anchoring his life on the words of St. Augustine: "I shall work as if everything depended on me; I shall pray as if everything depended on God."
As a student at St. Thomas College, Gerry invited Hanky Schmoll, a girl from the College of St. Catherine and a neighboring farming community, to the Tiger Homecoming Dance. That date launched a lifetime together. The couple was married in 1950 and spent the next six decades raising seven children, building a business and living out their shared commitment to Catholic social values.
Gerry and Hanky started Enkel Foundation as vehicle to promote a new generation of giving, bringing hope and opportunity to those who need it most.