HTEC's Gift Giving is a Means of Connection, Not Achievement

It was in late June when I received a call from Ariana Daniel, the Executive Director of the The Koochiching County Servants of Shelter orgaization. Our previous deacon Mel Mattsen who died lately, was an officer in the organization and the SOS management team often met periodically at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church (HTEC) in International Falls. Ariana got right to the point. “Your church has helped us financially many times since we were established in the past and now we need your financial help again. There has been a significant decrease in funds we have relied upon in the past for feeding our food insecure clients Would you find out if the Episcopal Church in Minnesota (ECMN) has any available grant money that you would seek.” Sure I said, but I need a narrative from you to present to ECMN’s leadership justifying the need for funding. Ariana provided the narrative and this is what we sent to ECMN.

Servants of Shelter (SOS) provides emergency and supportive housing services for people experiencing homelessness in the Icebox of the Nation, at International Falls, MN. SOS provides apartment-based emergency shelter, deeply affordable permanent supportive housing (PSH), and intensive support services out of our Northern Lights Drop-on Center. We provided over 5,400 nights of shelter to 329 individuals in 2025, and 5,284 nights of permanent supportive housing to 22 individuals who were living with a disability and experiencing homelessness when they became tenants.
 

SOS arose as a community-based organization out of a series of public meetings in 2009, regarding the lack of emergency housing in our remote and rural community. We were entirely volunteer based for 6.5 years; operating first a popup shelter, and then a hotel program, and apartment. In 2013, we became a 501 C3 nonprofit, followed by hiring our first paid staff in 2016. We now operate four programs out of three buildings we own. Bluehaven Family shelter is a 5- unit apartment-based family shelter at 420, 5 th Avenue. PSH is a 4-unit Permanent Supportive Housing program. Our Northern Lights facility houses our Northern Lights Shelter-a 7-unit adult shelter, Northern Lights PSH which has
14 units of deeply affordable supportive housing, and Northern Lights Drop-in-Center which provides support services 6 days a week. The Northern Lights Drop- in-Center offers essential services such as meals, laundry, showers, assistance obtaining IDs, completing housing applications, a client computer/printer, phone, hygiene items, frozen meal program, bus tickets/gas vouchers, a haircut program, grocery vouchers and pet boarding and care program for homeless households awaiting a pet friendly shelter space.
 

As the only homeless service provider, shelter and Drop-in-Center with a 100-mile radius, we offer essential lifesaving services to our most vulnerable community members. SOS provides twice weekly community meals, holiday meals, a frozen meal program, a mini food shelf and monthly grocery vouchers to families and individuals experiencing homelessness. We have stepped up to absorb some of the need as community food programs have shut down or downscaled in the last year as needs have risen. Unfortunately, our budget and funding sources have not increased at the same time that both the cost of food and food insecurity have skyrocketed.
 

Our food program costs for our One Pot Community Meals (twice weekly community meals), grocery vouchers ($50 monthly grocery vouchers per household), our mini food shelf, and our frozen meal program have risen more than 5 times since 2022. These cost increases took place at the same time that we lost important community food programs such as Community Café, Ruby’s Pantry, AEOA Prepared meal program, and our local food shelf has experienced serious federal cuts. Also, we lost one of our two community grocery stores, and the single new store is neither centrally located nor pedestrian friendly.

Once Canon Kelsey Schuster who oversees the operations of the Episcopal Church diocesan office and works closely with our bishop, to turn emerging strategic vision into concrete actions and systemic changes, considered Holy Trinity’s request she suggested we first raise funds locally. Then she would raise funds to match ours with resources. Most of the previous, available grant funds went to help people in MSP who were fearful of last winter’s ICE surge operations. The SOS food insecurity yearly budget gap is $12,805 out of a $41,590 budgeted for 2026-2027. Other organizations and church groups are also assisting SOS to make up its annual food budget deficit.
 

Once we became aware of what was needed, the question became can we work together to help meet the needs that Ariana has described for SOS. SOS is serving a large number of people living in the margins of our community that we rarely see. Should we ask the Diocese to assist us? Our Total Ministry Team seriously considered Kelsey’s advice. We liked the idea of synergistic connections through gift giving, led by the spirit within our church family, friends. and the linking with the Diocese.
 

Gifts inspire us to see life as a gift in itself. Redefining gifts as a process actually widened our potential at gift giving. When the gift, the givers, and the recipient are all brought together and the action is actually accomplished, that is generosity. So the team answered with a resounding yes and developed a plan to help SOS fill the budget gap.Now we needed to find the givers and the money. If you do not ask you do not get. We came together the next Sunday as a community to develop a parish outreach plan for gathering funds. Announcements were made in church that went out over Facebook Live and a local KCC-TV cable broadcast. An email was sent to the Vestry and parish members asking them to help SOS meet their budget food gap. An hour after the email was sent, a seasonal member in Minneapolis responded they would gladly donate a $1,000 gift. Other donations came in and shortly givers, the Vestry and Total Ministry Team raised another $2,580. The Diocese matched $1,500. Our final gift helped eliminate one third of the SOS food budget deficit for the coming year. Through a myriad of connections we imagined the consequences for the potential recipient, followed through and brought our generosity for SOS to completion.
 
Almighty God: You have called us to live and share Jesus-shaped lives, in a Jesus- shaped church, for a Jesus-shaped world. We are grateful and joyous that You have empowered us with the mystery of your Great Spirit to help our food insecure neighbors in International Falls and helped us live as disciples of Jesus Christ our Savior and Teacher. Amen.

Respectfully written and submitted by:
Northern ECMN Archdeacon
Leland H. Grim-
Holy Trinity Episcopal Church
International Falls, MN
 

Vestrywoman
Jeanne Corrin
Holy Trinity Episcopal Church
International Falls, MN
 

Ariana Daniel
Executive Director
Servants of Shelter
1602 2 nd Ae. West
International Falls, MN
 

Etta Millard
Treasurer
Servants of Shelter
1602 2 nd Ae. West
International Falls, MN