To everyone who showed up this spring — CAC thanks you

Dear CAC Community,

April is Volunteer Appreciation Month and this year, we want to take a moment to honor something remarkable that happened in our community this spring.

During Operation Metro Surge, our community was tested. Uncertainty touched nearly every household in some way. And what we witnessed in the middle of that uncertainty was people choosing each other.

Some of you volunteered your time. Some of you gave financially. Some of you kept your families together under incredibly hard circumstances and still found ways to look out for a neighbor. Some of you came to CAC for help and in doing so, trusted us with something precious. All of it mattered. All of it was an act of community.

As community leaders lamented over how to respond to the overwhelming response and offer for help, something someone said to me during those weeks has stayed with me:

“Instead of asking for jobs to do, find people to help.”

     Wednesday‘s Truck Crew — dependable and committed to receiving, in rain or shine.

    Members of CAC’s Faribault Advocacy Council enjoying our recent annual volunteer appreciation event held at Keepsake Cidery.

   CAC dedicated volunteer teams rally together to sort a last-minute delivery.

What moved me most during the surge wasn’t any single act of generosity — it was how many people, in how many different situations, made the same quiet choice: to turn toward each other instead of away.

Children got to school. Rent got paid. Doors stayed open. None of that happened because of programs alone. It happened because people in all kinds of circumstances showed up for one another.

At CAC, we talk about the difference between charity and solidarity. Charity meets an immediate need and that is never a small thing. But solidarity goes further. Solidarity says: we are in this together. It doesn’t sort people into givers and receivers. It recognizes that all of us, at different points in our lives, need support and that all of us have something to offer.

What we saw this spring was solidarity. And it looked like all of you.

When people ask what Community Action Center does, the easiest answer is to name our programs — food, shelter, financial assistance, housing support. But the truest answer is this: we help our community remember that it belongs to each other.

You reminded us of that these past few months.

Thank you for trusting us. Thank you for showing up in whatever way you were able. Thank you for being part of a community that refuses to leave people behind.

With gratitude and respect,

Anika Rychner

Interim Executive Director