COMPLAIN. COMPLAIN. COMPLAIN. We all do it, right? While venting helps, that doesn’t solve problems. But listening, really listening, and sharing ideas thoughtfully and respectfully moves us toward solutions.
With that introduction, I point to the city of Faribault and its monthly Council Chats, an opportunity to engage with elected officials, city staff and others on issues of concern within the community. I’ve been to several of these and really appreciate the informal format of short presentation followed by a Q & A and then mingling. “Chat” definitely fits.
This month’s meeting, set for 6 pm Wednesday, January 14, at the Viaduct Park building, is promoted as a “Community Listening Session” led jointly by city staff and the Community Action Center, a community-based human services nonprofit in Faribault (and also in Northfield). Lack of housing, environmental concerns and employment opportunities will focus discussion. Those have been identified as top issues by city residents.
Based on the pre-event information I’ve read, the Community Listening Session promises to be a worthwhile sharing of information, exchange of ideas and thoughtful conversation. Attendees will be able to view and give feedback on locally-themed posters with Faribault specific data. It is the feedback that I find invaluable in planning for the future of my community. Attendees may have other concerns they wish to address.
The Community Action Center, according to its Facebook page, has been working hard to gather information for Wednesday’s chat:
Over the last few months we’ve been collecting meaningful feedback from our neighbors about important topics impacting all of our daily lives. Through one-on-one conversations with food shelf shoppers and folks at community events, by carefully listening to parent groups and partners, while reading responses from multilingual surveys, and by hearing participant stories, we are finally prepared (and excited) to share the perspectives and experiences that will help inform the future of our community.
I am hopeful turn-out for this event will be good. People are too quick to criticize, especially on social media. Too quick to blame. Too quick to attack. Too quick to think their voice either doesn’t matter or is the only one that matters.
In many ways, these Council Chats are the most basic form of grassroots government—like sitting down over a cup of coffee, or a bottle of beer if you prefer that, and talking to one another sensibly. If we actually listen to one another, then perhaps together we can forge a plan of action that betters our community.
© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
Clearly I needed to write about homelessness & housing insecurity in Faribault…read on August 6, 2025
Tags: church, commentary, Community Action Center, donations, emergency housing, faith, Faribault, homelessness, housing insecurity, Minnesota, mission, Ridgeview Heights, Trinity Lutheran Church, Vacation Bible School, workforce housing, writing
ON MY WAY TO SUNDAY MORNING church services, I missed an opportunity to live my faith. Reflecting on that moment, I’m still uncertain what I could have done. But the guilt I feel about doing nothing at the time remains.
Let me set the scene. While driving to church, Randy and I dropped off some mail downtown. Up the hill from the post office, I noticed a parked car crammed with stuff. Someone clearly lived out of the vehicle, one I’ve previously seen. Then my eyes shifted to the adjacent street corner and an individual, cocooned in a bright gold blanket, sleeping atop a bench. And then we turned the corner.
“I should take a picture,” I told Randy, my mind already creating a story that would enlighten others about homelessness in Faribault. But then I quickly realized that taking a photo wouldn’t be particularly kind. And so we continued on to church.
Still, I couldn’t shake the image of that person stretched atop a bench along Central Avenue. I wondered about his story, why and how he found himself without a home. And I considered how vulnerable and exposed I would feel sleeping like that in a public place. Those thoughts followed me into church.
“HOUSING FOR THE HOMELESS”
When I stepped inside the sanctuary, I immediately noticed a “Housing for the Homeless” poster near the organ. There are coincidences and then there are what I term “God moments.” And this, in my mind, was clearly divine. I’ve seen enough of these occurrences in my life to distinguish the two. God was assuredly nudging me to write on the topic of homelessness and housing insecurity in my community.
That sign in church was a promotional for the chosen mission of this year’s Vacation Bible School, which started that very evening at Trinity. Participants are donating their monetary gifts to Ridgeview Heights, an accessible, sustainable housing community to be built in downtown Faribault just blocks from the slumbering man on the bench. The VBS fundraising goal is $500.
That $500 may seem inconsequential considering the $2.5 million project cost. But every dollar helps in constructing the two buildings aimed at housing families with children, including those experiencing homelessness. Two of the eight units will serve as free emergency shelters and the other six will be market rate workforce units.
A COMMUNITY ACTS
The Community Action Center, which works collaboratively to alleviate hunger, homelessness and poverty among individuals and families in the community, is the lead on Ridgeview Heights. With an in-kind land donation from the city of Faribault, two grants, gifts, community donations and financing, the CAC is able to break ground at 4 p.m. today, August 6, for the much-needed two and three-bedroom units.
So first I saw the sleeping man, then the poster. And then came the sermon…with a directive that congregations ought to think, plan and act in ways that bless people. The guest pastor encouraged us not to think less of ourselves, but to think of ourselves less (a loose quote from C.S. Lewis). In other words, turn the focus outward on the community rather than inward to the church’s needs. The VBS kids will be doing exactly that this week with their “Housing for the Homeless” mission focus.
A FAMILY THAT CARES
Now you may think my story ends here. But it doesn’t. On July 28, I received a mass email about an upcoming Helbling family reunion. Organizers are changing things up this year by raffling items made by family members. One of several ways to qualify for a raffle entry is via a $5 charitable donation. All donations will go to the Community Action Center in Faribault with a dollar-for-dollar match from my eldest niece’s employer.
Truly, I was meant to write this story. I may have bypassed the man sleeping on the bench. But I got the message, loud and clear, that I needed to write about homelessness and housing insecurity in Faribault. I’ve seen the tents pitched along the river, beside train tracks, behind evergreen trees, next to a park. I’ve seen the homeless in the library, sleeping in the Central Park bandshell, biking and walking about town, including past my house. I am aware of the long waiting list for emergency shelter. Even if I failed to “do” something, I can raise awareness through my writing. And by doing that, perhaps I am helping in some small way to bless my community, including the man sleeping on a bench in the heart of downtown Faribault on a Sunday morning.
© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling