Everything Mary Ann Stallings learned
about life started on her family’s farm near Venango, Nebraska. It was on the
farm where she grew into a strong woman with a passion for nurturing and caring
for others.
“I became independent pretty fast having
to fend for myself with three older brothers,” Stallings said. “I also grew up
around my grandparents and would help my parents take care of them. When we
visited them in the nursing home, I always noticed people who did not have
visitors, and I felt sorry for them.”
When she was a junior in high school, Stallings’
world changed when her father died. Suddenly, her mom, Amy Watkins, had to
manage the farm and was at a crossroads in her own life.
After graduation, Stallings attended the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln to earn a teaching degree while her mom, at age
49, enrolled at Kearney State College (now the University of Nebraska at
Kearney) to finish her teaching degree.
“Mom wanted to give me space at
college,” she said. “Education was important to my parents, and I was expected
to go to college. Mom could only afford one year of college after high school,
and this was her chance to finish.”
After a teaching career that spanned 28
years and 18 months as the first director of the Lincoln Children’s Museum,
Stallings and her husband Bob started researching retirement communities for
his parents when the lightbulb turned on.
“I spent my last year as a teacher
writing the business plan for Bridge to Better Living,” she said. “I took the
SCORE course to help me write and research it. I wanted to offer a free service
for our clients to save them the pain we went through finding communities for
our parents and other family members.”
Her experience getting the Children’s
Museum off the ground was invaluable to her as she sought partnerships with
living communities to offer her services for free. From her research, no other
business in this field was using this model.
“I had been told no so many times when I
was looking for the first location for the Children’s Museum that I was not
afraid to ask these communities to partner with us,” Stallings said. “To my
surprise, we were told yes more than no, and Bridge to Better Living started in
the loft at my house.”
Eventually, Bridge to Better Living outgrew
her loft and moved into the Focus Suites at the Southeast Community College
Entrepreneurship Center.
“It was a huge leap for us when we moved
into the Focus Suites,” she said. “It made Bridge to Better Living a real
business. What I liked about being at SCC was spending time with other
entrepreneurs and business leaders I could bounce ideas off.”
Fast
forward 10 years and Bridge to Better Living has six locations in Nebraska,
Colorado, Kentucky, and North and South Carolina. Stallings was recently
recognized as one of Franchise Directory Magazine’s 50 Women of Wonder.
“The best part of my job is getting to
know our clients by listening to their stories and finding them the best
community to match their personality and needs,” Stallings said. “When I see
the weight lifted off their shoulders and a smile put on their face, that is
the frosting on the cake for my career.”
For more, click on this link: https://www.homecarepartnersofnebraska.com/