AGAINST A FESTIVE BACKDROP of The Polar Express locomotive, a gingerbread house, Frosty the Snowman, a Christmas tree and more, figure skaters at Shattuck-St. Mary’s School performed their annual holiday show on ice, “Lights, Camera, Skates! Christmas at the Cinema,” before an appreciative audience on December 13. And I was there, as I have been for many past figure skating shows that are as much an opportunity for skaters to perform as an early Christmas gift to the community.
I always enjoy the Campus Christmas Walk at the long-time private college prep school on Faribault’s east side. Students from around the world come here to learn, to skate, to play hockey and soccer, to participate in the arts and more. The school’s core, with its aged limestone buildings, seems more elite East Coast college than a Midwest prep school. But at the sports complex on the far north end of the campus, multiple ice arenas, a soccer dome and gym bring the modern to the historic.
Inside the J.P. Parise Arena, yes, that Parise of National Hockey League fame and a one-time hockey coach at Shattuck, costumed skaters glided, twirled, danced and entertained those of us bundled in our winter gear on a bitterly cold December afternoon in southern Minnesota. After an hour of sitting in the ice arena, I felt the cold creeping into my bones.
But my heart was warmed by talented skaters performing to favorite holiday tunes themed to favorite holiday movie classics. Cinematic clips played on a corner screen, introducing segments of the show, setting the mood.
If a sing-along had been encouraged, I expect many of us would have joined in belting out lyrics about a magical snowman, a red-nosed reindeer, a mean-spirited Grinch, wanting all of our loved ones home for Christmas…
Directly in front of me, a family of seven sat together watching the show. Five kids and their parents, the youngest a sweet 13-month-old who kept peeking around her mom to look and smile at me. I smiled back at Vivian, bundled in blue fleece with animal ears jutting out of her hood. She could have been Cindy Lou, a Who from Whoville, in disguise. So darling and precious, eyes bright with wonder and joy. What a beautiful family. In that moment, I wished my own three grandchildren could be there beside me watching the magic on ice, like the family I’d only just met.
After the show, skaters, audience members, including families of the skaters, walked atop glitzy Hollywood style paper stars past a red carpet backdrop on the way to the gym. There a star awaited. Santa. Kids lined up to see him. They also gathered around tables to create crafts. Randy and I grabbed cookies. I drank a cup of coffee Randy mistakenly thought was hot chocolate.
As in past years, I left in a cheerful mood, thankful for Shattuck’s Christmas gift to the greater community. That also included a holiday concert in The Chapel of the Good Shepherd. I have yet to attend that, but should.
The figure skating show, with narrated introductions, filled my spirit. I especially welcomed the encouragement to share compassion and kindness. For one hour I felt the closeness of community. I felt peace, too, as if all the mean Grinches of the world had vanished. Or perhaps their minds shifted and their hearts grew three sizes. If only everyone could sit shoulder-to-shoulder inside a Minnesota hockey arena on a bitterly cold afternoon 12 days before Christmas and feel the love, the warmth that is possible when we all come together.
© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
The value of village, especially now April 7, 2026
Tags: African proverb, art, charity, collection boxes, commentary, community, donations, Faribault, Faribault Community Action Center, food insecurity, food shelf, giving, Minnesota, Operation Metro Surge, Shattuck-St. Mary's School, village
“IT TAKES A VILLAGE to raise a child,” according to an African proverb turned catchphrase by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in her 1996 book, It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us.
While I’ve not read Clinton’s book, I understand the importance of a village, of community, in the lives of children. Kids learn, not only from their parents, teachers and each other, but also from being out and about in their communities.
They learn, and teach us adults, about care and compassion, about service and giving back, of lifting up community. In these days of innumerable challenges in America, such lessons are truly more important than ever.
I need only look within my own core family to see this. In mid-February, my two elementary-aged grandchildren helped their mom, my eldest, transport items from their Lakeville church to a food shelf in nearby Farmington. The kids sorted donated items. And my first grade grandson wrote about the experience for a school assignment complete with illustrations. “I helped at church (beacus (sic) of ICE),” Isaac wrote.
He knew. His mom has been working tirelessly soliciting cash donations, buying and delivering groceries to a south metro food shelf, and sorting and bagging donations during and after Operation Metro Surge. Not only has she assisted those sheltering in their homes, but she has also taught her children an important lesson in helping others.
Kids are never too young to learn about generosity, about loving their neighbors. About giving of themselves in service to community.
That brings me to Shattuck-St. Mary’s, a private college prep school in Faribault. While heading to walk at the Shattuck dome on a recent morning, I noticed several cardboard collection boxes in the public gathering space/hallway of the athletic complex. I stopped to investigate.
While the boxes were empty, I read about their purpose. Students, calling themselves “Sabre Storm,” “The Breakfast Club” and “Team Cheese,” are collecting non-perishable food and household and personal care items for the Faribault Community Action Center.
Most needed are: dry beans, canned soups, ramen noodles, canned chicken/tuna, size 7 diapers and pull-ups. I expect those attending hockey and soccer games, and other activities inside the sports complex will drop donations into the collection boxes.
I love that students like Jorge, Lara, Max, Miranda, Yujin, Rhys, Gael and 38 others, who signed the boxes, are connecting with the Faribault community via this drive. There’s not only a “heightened need” for food, household and personal care items at the Community Action Center, but also for cash donations.
I read that on the CAC website. But I’ve also heard this from a friend who volunteers at the CAC. The increased need all circles back to my grandson’s words, “beacus (sic) of ICE.” Many people in Faribault were sheltering in place, unable to work, during the height of federal immigration enforcement. And just because that operation has scaled back, the crisis has not ended.
The CAC has established a Community Response Fund “to meet urgent and evolving community needs” for food, rental assistance, etc. Every donation helps, my friend says. Even $10.
It takes a village. It takes a village to raise children. And it takes a village to help our neighbors through a crisis, a crisis created by the federal government. A crisis that has left too many Minnesota families facing overwhelming financial challenges, trauma, personal struggles and an uncertain future.
FYI: Please consider making a financial gift to the Faribault Community Action Center Community Response Fund. Click here to learn more. To those of you who have already donated, thank you. I appreciate your generosity during these challenging times in my community. It takes a village.
© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling