About Cornerstone of Grace
Six families in Watertown find stability and support through our comprehensive residential program. Residents begin their journey with a 3-to-12-month stay, then transition to our "bridge house" as they prepare for greater self-reliance. Throughout this process, they receive holistic assistance through partnerships with The Greater Watertown Health Foundation and local organizations. This collaborative approach empowers families to overcome immediate challenges. Once they move into their own apartments, we provide dedicated follow-up support for at least a year to ensure a successful, lasting transition to full independence.
Mission
Our mission is to offer a safe environment for women and their children, equipping them to face life’s challenges by building healthy relationships. We offer love, discipleship, and resources to build a solid foundation for growth and stability.
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Vision
Our vision is to be regarded as a trusted program with a holistic support network for women and children in crisis.
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Values
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Serving with dignity and respect
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Extending grace and love to all
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Prayer as a foundation for everything.
Michele Had a Dream!
The dream of such a place as Cornerstone of Grace was started in the heart of its founder, Michele, over a decade before it came to fruition. In 2007, Michele had a vision to create a safe place for women and children. At the time, she started journaling her thoughts, asking God to bless her with a home that would, in turn, bless women and their children facing life-challenging problems. 12 years later, in 2019, God brought that journal entry back to Michele’s mind and a calling to her heart that now was the time to pursue that dream. That stirring led Michele to pursue the current location in Watertown, Wisconsin. Cornerstone of Grace opened its doors to residents beginning in January of 2021 and currently has residences for six women and their children.
Invite us to speak at your next church or civic group gathering!
~Learn about CSOG's initiatives and how we are making an impact.
~Discover ways to get involved and make a positive difference.
~Ask questions and engage in open discussion about important issues. Contact us today!
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Cornerstone of Grace Making An Impact
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Home Rentals
6
Families CSOG Can Serve at 1 Time
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Women CSOG Has Served Since 2021
27
53
Children CSOG Has Served Since 2021
68
Volunteers Who Have Served With CSOG
1
Our recently purchased duplex provides housing for 2 CSOG graduates
Meet Our Board
Michele Altman
Founder/Director
Michele Altman is the Founder and Director of Cornerstone of Grace in Watertown, WI, a ministry dedicated to serving women and children by fostering healthy relationships, offering love, spiritual guidance, and providing essential resources to build strong foundations for growth and stability through Christ Jesus. Having experienced hardship firsthand, Michele once walked in the same shoes as the women she now serves, which fuels her deep passion for empowering others. Through sharing her testimony, she demonstrates how God can transform brokenness into beauty for His glory. Michele holds an Associate Degree in Human Services from Madison College and is an inspirational speaker and published author of Roots of My Identity: I Am Who God Says I Am. Michele is devoted to serving and loving God’s people, helping them discover and embrace their true identity in Christ.
Steph Mazzoni
Connections Coordinator
Steph Mazzoni is a woman of faith, guided by a desire to live out God’s purpose with a heart for serving others and sharing the hope of the Gospel. She seeks to be a light in both everyday moments and mission opportunities. Having lived in Watertown for the past 21 years, Steph has developed a deep love for her community and a strong awareness of the needs around her. Steph is a proud mother of four grown children and “Nonna” to four grandchildren and eagerly awaiting one more.. Her family is a central part of her life and faith journey, and through both her personal and professional experiences, she has cultivated compassion, resilience, and a deep desire to care for others. With a background in administrative support, organization, and communication, Steph brings practical skills alongside a servant’s heart. Whether coordinating details behind the scenes or building relationships within the community, she is committed to supporting ministry efforts with excellence and compassion. Steph spent 14 years working in the local school district, followed by 7 years serving in city government. These roles gave her a unique perspective on the challenges individuals and families face and strengthened her passion for helping those in need within her community. She feels called to missions as a way to put her faith into action—serving, encouraging, and building relationships with others. Steph is committed to sharing the love of Christ in practical and meaningful ways, trusting God to use her wherever He leads. Her greatest desire is to live a life that honors the Lord through obedience, humility, and a willing heart to serve.
Deb Portman
Board Chair
Deb is the Office Manager with the Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation and the Community Manager at the Collective in Watertown. She brings organizational and administration skills to the board. She has a heart for service and hospitality and tries to make anyone she comes in contact with comfortable and welcome. She is an active mentor with Cornerstone of Grace and enjoys seeing the life transformation of the women and children in the homes. Deb and her husband live in Watertown and are blessed to have raised their two grown children in this community. In her free time, Deb enjoys photography, hiking, and being active with her church.
Jeff Finger
Treasurer
Jeff is a licensed CPA who is currently working as a controller in the consumer goods industry in the Madison area. He received his BS in Business Administration from Maranatha Baptist University and has an MBA in Accounting from Lakeland College. He is excited to be using his financial background to help advance this organization and see it help more women, children, and families in their time of need. In his spare time, Jeff enjoys spending time with his wife and daughters and serving in his local church.
Linda Oberbrunner
Board Member
Linda has been in ministry as a social worker for many years, serving women and men experiencing unplanned pregnancies and doing adoptions if desired. She has a heart and passion to hear each person's unique story and communicate the compassion, truth and love of Jesus Christ required for His transformation in their lives. Linda has served as the Wisconsin District Director of the Evangelical Child and Family Agency and has worked with homeless men and families at the Waukesha Salvation Army. Linda enjoys doing seasonal customer care at Ebert's Greenhouse Village in Ixonia. She is the author of Mercy Extended, The Gift That Transforms Lives, Impacts Generations, and Mobilizes Multitudes for Eternity. Linda and her husband consider themselves immensely blessed to be the parents of four awesome adult children and two of their wonderful spouses and grandparents to six fun-loving grandchildren. Linda has personally seen the transformational work God continues to do in the lives of the residents He has brought to Cornerstone of Grace.
Casey Hushon
Board Member
Casey Hushon serves as the Executive Director at Hope Lake Country, a non-denominational church in Oconomowoc. Before joining the staff at Hope, she spent over a decade working in advertising in the agriculture and food space. She grew up in Maine and graduated from Virginia Tech (Go, Hokies!). One of her first loves was dairy cows, a passion that has fueled her life. Casey and her husband Josh have a small farm in Watertown where they raise registered dairy heifers for show. During her free time, she can be found participating in endurance sports, like half-ironman races and marathons.
Lorelei Krueger
Evening House Manager
Lorelei served in public education for 37 years, most recently with the Lake Mills School District. She served as our prayer coordinator when Cornerstone was just a vision and volunteered as a tutor, house sitter, and did crafts with our families. She has been working officially with us since February of 2023. Her duties include all evening routines including homework and tutoring coordination. Lorelei loves helping the women and children grow in their faith and develop their gifts. She praises God for how He creatively touches and restores lives through Cornerstone of Grace.
Kimm Whitaker
Program Staff
Kimm serves by day as a paralegal in Waukesha. She has experience in customer service, children’s ministry, and has been a realtor. Kimm currently works weekends at Cornerstone of Grace and is a supportive and loving constant in the lives of our families. Kimm has faced her own life challenging circumstances and has overcome through her faith. She enjoys seeing growth and life change in our women and children.
Tom Merfeld
Board Member
Tom works as a commercial/consumer lender for Premier Bank in Johnson Creek and has worked in banking for 30+ years. He holds a bachelor's degree from UW LaCrosse in finance and economics. Tom's passion for serving others and professional expertise is invaluable for Cornerstone of Grace. Tom has previously served on the Board of United Way of Watertown , Big Brothers- Big Sisters, Watertown Family Center, as well as a youth baseball and basketball coach. Tom and his wife Andi have two grown children and have lived in Watertown for 25 years. In his spare time you can find Tom enjoying pickleball, racquetball or bicycling.
Melissa Howe
Board Member
Melissa has a social work degree and has been working in the mental health field for the last 22 years. She has served many people suffering from various emotional struggles throughout the years but has a heart for women and children. Her love for God’s Word and discipleship brought her to Cornerstone of Grace several years ago, where she mentors and disciples women. In her free time she loves to study the Bible, dance, and spend time with her husband and three children.
LaShawn Williamson
Case Manager
LaShawn Williamson is a compassionate case manager, ordained minister, and advocate for women who are overcoming life’s greatest challenges. With a heart for serving others, she is dedicated to empowering women to recognize their worth, embrace healing, and discover the purpose God has for their lives. As a mother of seven and soon-to-be grandmother of seven, LaShawn’s faith has carried her through both joy and unimaginable loss. After the passing of her son, she founded The Chosen One, a nonprofit ministry that supports grieving parents who have experienced the loss of a child. She believes that even in the deepest pain, God brings purpose, healing, and hope. LaShawn lives by the belief that God gives His toughest battles to His strongest soldiers. Through her work at Cornerstone of Grace, she strives to enable, encourage, motivate, and inspire women to understand that their past does not define them—it is shaping and molding them into the beautiful diamonds God created them to be. Her life is a living testimony that there is always purpose behind the pain.
Tracey Zettel
Board Member
Hi, my name is Tracey Zettel. I grew up in the small town of Wind Lake, Wisconsin, and was raised in a loving family that valued hard work, honesty, integrity, and giving back to others. Family and community have always been very important to me. After losing my mom to cancer, my family and I formed Sandy's Angels in her memory. Through Sandy's Angels, we raise money to help local families and children in our community who are facing medical hardships. Being able to take such a painful loss and turn it into an opportunity to help others has become a very meaningful part of my life. I spent many years working in the hospitality industry. Somewhere along the way, despite the values I was raised with and the life I had envisioned for myself, addiction began to take hold. Over time, my life began to spiral, and I found myself in a place I never imagined I would be. But God had other plans for my life. In a way I can only describe as God's intervention, He met me at one of the lowest points of my life and gave me the strength and willingness to choose sobriety. That decision ultimately led me to Cornerstone of Grace, which became a turning point in my life. At Cornerstone, my faith became my foundation. I began to meet God in the day-to-day through prayer, Scripture, and the people He placed in my life. Cornerstone gave me a safe place to rebuild, along with community, accountability, guidance, and the tools I needed to create a different life. Through that experience, God rebuilt my confidence, strengthened my faith, taught me healthier ways to navigate life's challenges, and put my feet back on solid ground. By God's grace, I celebrated three years of sobriety this August. Today, I am the owner of my own cleaning business, which I continue to grow with the same values of hard work, honesty, integrity, and service that I was raised with. My life today looks very different from the life I was living before Cornerstone, and I am incredibly grateful for that. Cornerstone of Grace invested in me during a time when I needed it most. Today, it means so much to me to have the opportunity to give back to the community that helped me rebuild my life, deepen my relationship with God, and become the woman I am today.
