A Lifelong Heart for Moms and Kids: How Jim Vogel’s Journey Led to Marshall Maternity Home
Every great building project begins with a foundation, but for Jim Vogel, the foundation for his latest endeavor was poured decades ago. Jim, a Wisconsin and Florida real estate business owner and a dedicated Christian, has spent his life quietly preparing for a massive assignment: stepping up as the volunteer project manager for a new maternity home in Marshall.
“Throughout my life, God has given me a passion for helping vulnerable families,” said Jim. “Long before entering the business world, I earned a master’s degree in early childhood education with a focus on special needs. I worked with a lot of moms in rural areas facing steep hardship.”
He also helped build schools for more than two decades in Guatemala. Then, 15 years ago, his small group from church met someone from Care Net. Instantly drawn to the ministry, Jim began volunteering, driven by a desire to give struggling women a real, supported choice: the life of their baby.
Eventually, Jim was asked to join the Care Net board. “I’m not a board person,” Jim admits. “I like to be hands-on.” Yet, sensing a tug from the Holy Spirit, he accepted the assignment— a move that positioned him perfectly for what came next – designing a mobile medical clinic and eventually a new maternity home.
“The ministry desperately needed a location for a new maternity home,” remembers Jim. “We spent months scouring properties and then, Chuck, a friend from church, showed us a property in a beautiful, safe neighborhood in Marshall. When we went to see it, I could feel the Holy Spirit whisper “This is the place.”
Jim immediately began redesigning the space in his mind. Construction was in his blood; his grandfather and great-grandfather were German wagon builders who transitioned into commercial construction, a trade Jim labored in as a young man. By age 27, he had designed and built his own house, later remodeling homes and commercial buildings for his business. God had given Jim a unique skillset for creating spaces that are light, bright, and welcoming—and now, He was using it.
From that moment, doors swung wide open. The Village of Marshall board gave unanimous approval, viewing the home as a positive community asset.
The build was not without spiritual warfare and logistical nightmares. The project initially started with some challenges and the first project manager was let go by the contractor. Yet, Jim’s lifelong faith—rooted in childhood bedtime prayers with his mom and solidified during his college years at a non-denominational church in Whitewater—reminded him that his trust was in the Lord.
An answer to prayer arrived when Scott, the project foreman, stepped in to face the challenges.
“He was like an angel from the Lord,” Jim said.
The two developed a deep, honest friendship, and Scott executed the vision beautifully. Even when major hurdles arose, like a sudden need to overhaul the building’s sprinkler system, solutions fell into place.
“We should never be surprised that the God of the universe can take care of a project like this,” Jim reflects. “It is an incredible joy to be used as a small tool of God.”
As the home is now complete, Jim is already looking past the physical walls to the lives that will change inside them. During a heart-to-heart conversation, Sara Patterson, CEO of Care Net told him he needed to treat himself for all his hard work.
Jim knew exactly what his reward would be. “The first day a mom comes in and needs help, I want someone to call me,” Jim said. “I want to play on the floor with her child.”
For Jim, onsite childcare is the beating heart of the maternity home. Having raised his own kids as a single dad since they were 3 and 5, he knows firsthand the chaotic juggling act of parenting. He passionately advocated to the board that while live-in staff and daycare are expensive, childcare is a huge stumbling block keeping mothers from breaking cycles of crisis. Thanks to Jim’s hands-on leadership, Care Net’s new maternity home will not just provide shelter. It will be a bright, light-filled sanctuary where mothers find hope, and where kids can just be kids.