MINI RED DONATION KETTLES decorated tables in the Faribault Lutheran School gym, site of the annual Rice County Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign Kickoff on Sunday, November 16. I was among the many who showed up to support this faith-based social services organization serving people in need. It is a non-profit that takes the biblical words, “Love your neighbor,” and puts them into action.
Via this kickoff event and also from donations received throughout the holiday bell-ringing campaign and into 2026, the county chapter aims to raise $100,000. Those monies will provide assistance for food, clothing, housing, travel expenses and more in addition to emergency aid for those in need and/or during a natural disaster. If the goal is reached, $88,000 stays in the county with the rest going to the larger Salvation Army organization for administrative costs.
The all volunteer-run county chapter works with the Community Action Center, Three Rivers Community Action and Rice County to provide assistance. The organization does a lot with housing and helping the homeless, according to local board members who spoke.
Additionally, Rice County’s Salvation Army unit offers a shoe program for school-age children, free camping adventures and Shop-with-a-Cop providing free winter gear to eligible elementary school students. Personal care items are also given to local organizations offering meal programs. All of these require lots of dollars and the need is anticipated to grow.
At Sunday’s event, donations flowed as county chapter secretary Rose Marraccini encouraged the crowd to give to their neighbors. “Do what you can with what you have where you are at.” I like that simple, clear directive recognizing that some can give more than others, but that every gift helps no matter how big or small.
Atop each tabletop red kettle, a thank you message read, “Gratitude is the music of the heart, when its chords are swept by the breeze of kindness.”
Music by the Old Country Boys was part of Sunday’s fundraising event. From Simon & Garfunkel to Johnny Cash, the tunes created a fun and relaxing vibe as folks visited and enjoyed complimentary slices of homemade pie purchased from and made by the Trinity Piemakers.
Later, whole pies were auctioned off. An apple pie fetched a winning $100 bid. A peach pie got $55. Strawberry-rhubarb, Dutch apple and cherry got $50 bids. On and on the bidding went of blueberry, apple-cranberry and more with all monies going to the Salvation Army.
And then the basket raffle, with items donated by businesses and individuals, raised even more funds to help our neighbors in need in Rice County. Strings of tickets covered tables and even flowed onto the floor as donors compared the numbers on their tickets to the winning numbers called. My hopes of winning a one-hour massage did not come to fruition. Randy and I won nothing.
But in a way we did. We, like others attending, won by giving. We experienced the satisfaction which comes in knowing that, in some small way, our monetary contributions will help our neighbors in need. Thus far in 2025, the local Salvation Army unit has assisted 274 Rice County families in crisis.
In reality, we are all only a crisis away from needing help. And that’s important to remember as we go about our daily lives while some of our neighbors struggle just to put food on the table.
FYI: Volunteers are still needed to ring bells during the holiday season. Sign up at RegisterToRing.com. A local office with a social worker is based at 617 Third Avenue Northwest in Faribault.
Additionally, there’s another opportunity to “love your neighbor.” Little Prairie United Methodist Church, 2980 130th St. E., rural Dundas, is hosting a Fall Ham Dinner from 4-8 pm Saturday, November 22. All profits will go equally to the Community Action Center food shelves in Faribault and Northfield. The Masonic Lodge of Northfield is matching donations to the CAC at this event, up to $10,000. For details on the dinner, click here.
© Copyright 2025 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