Joy, Community, and Collective Care in Challenging Times

Across Minnesota and around the country, school communities are navigating economic uncertainty. Rising costs, housing instability, and food insecurity touch far too many families. In St. Cloud, nearly 70% of our students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, and more than one in ten students experience homelessness during the school year. These are sobering realities.

But the story we want to tell today is not only about need. It is about what happens when a community chooses joy, generosity, and shared responsibility in response.

Public schools often sit at the center of public challenges. Families trust schools. Children spend most of their day with us. And when their needs increase, schools are often both expected, and compelled, to respond. But we also know we cannot and should not do it alone.

So this fall, we asked for help.

We shared openly that many of our families were facing food insecurity and difficulty accessing basic necessities. We invited community partners, neighbors, and organizations to join us in supporting students so they could stay focused on learning.

And St. Cloud showed up.

Retired teachers and administrators. Parents and grandparents. District staff and union members. Local businesses and nonprofits. Faith leaders. Civic partners. People offered time, talent, donations, and ideas. Together, they created what we can only describe as a bright tapestry of giving, each contribution a thread of care, woven into something strong and hopeful.

Because of our community’s generosity, and because partners and volunteers stood up to do the work, we are able to:

• Stock and sustain pantries inside every school,
• Provide twice-weekly food box pickup at school sites in partnership with Catholic Charities,
• Expand to include essential household items and personal care supplies,
• And soon, bring support directly into neighborhoods through partnerships with the Boys & Girls Clubs, COP Houses, local nonprofits, and even our PAKRAT mobile reading bus, reducing transportation barriers for families.
  
  

This is not a shift in our mission. Our mission is learning. It is also belonging, safety, and dignity, the foundation that makes learning possible. Community partners are making this effort possible; schools are not operating food shelves. Rather, we are serving as a bridge, a connector, and in many cases simply a place where trusted adults point families toward help.

We are deeply grateful to those who answered the call, from Catholic Charities to LEAF, from local churches to neighborhood volunteers, from teachers and staff who donated and delivered to businesses and families who offered support. This is what partnership looks like. This is how a community wraps around its children.

And it has brought us joy. Not a surface-level cheerfulness, but a deep, steady joy rooted in knowing we take care of one another here.

There is still work ahead. But what we have built together in St. Cloud proves something powerful: when faced with challenge, people don’t turn away. They lean in. They lift up. They remind our students that they matter and that their community believes in them.

To everyone who gave, served, delivered, stocked, organized, and supported: thank you.

You are the reason joy is alive in our schools, even in difficult times. And you are proof that when a community stands together, every child has the chance to learn, grow, and thrive.

Written by: By Dr. Laurie Putnam, Superintendent, St. Cloud Area Schools, and Chris Erickson, President, St. Cloud Education Association