Amplifying local voices and actions for justice.
Here is your roundup of opportunities for activism and community aid in and near Rochester for the week of December 1st -7th. We hope that you find at least one activity on the calendar that feels right for you this week. There are so many good organizations doing important work - give them a hand.
Are you participating in the Mass Economic Blackout? It is set to end on December 2nd of this week, but we encourage you to maintain a focus on mindful and limited spending throughout the holiday season. Use cash where you can and shop locally.
Read on for ways to take action, support others, and stay engaged.
Featured Actions
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Adopt a Family
We invite you to become a donor and play an important role in making this holiday season special for families in our community.
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Stay Connected
Follow us to stay informed about local actions, events, and community updates.
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Join a Demonstration
Indivisible 507 is at Barlow Plaza every Tuesday afternoon, reminding our community to resist the unacceptable actions of this administration. Grab a sign, put on a warm coat and join them!
[Learn More Below]
The holidays can be a joyful time, but they can also bring financial strain and uncertainty about food access. Our Food Resource List gathers local food banks, pantries, community meals, and opportunities to donate or volunteer in one place.
Thank you to Amanda Lipsky (MN50501–Rochester) for compiling the list, and special thanks to Yammy Bear and Family, Senator Liz Boldon, the Rochester Public Library, Rochester Public Schools, and Three Rivers Community Action, whose resource lists served as a starting point for finding this information.
You can view the online version on the Good Trouble Lives On MN website, and a PDF version can be downloaded here.
Please share widely so this resource reaches anyone who may need support or wants to give back.
Corrections or additions can be sent to resist@mn50501rochester.org.
Learn about the Village Grows Fund in our Community Spotlight to support long-term food security in 2026.
Food Resource List – Rochester & SE Minnesota
MONDAY — Dec 1st
Winter Service Project – Food Drive in Rochester MN
Date: Monday, Dec 1st • 12:00 pm CT
Sponsor: Minnesota DFL
Format: In‑person drop‑off with signup slots (Mobilize)
Details: The DFL is collaborating with local activists this winter to help alleviate hardships created by the current administration. Food assistance has been cut for millions of Americans nationwide, affecting Minnesotans today.
We will be collecting non-perishable food at the DFL office in Rochester to help with growing food insecurity. Please donate whatever you can.
Please select a time when you’ll drop off donations using the registration link below.
Location: DFL Rochester Office - 1500 1st Ave NE Suite A, Rochester, MN 55906
Registration: Sign up on Mobilize
TUESDAY — Dec 2nd
Date/Time: Tuesday December 2nd, 3:30-4:30PM (*note earlier start time)
Location: Barlow Plaza (1131 6th St NW, Rochester)
Sponsor: Indivisible 507
Details: Bring your favorite sign and fight for democracy with us! Please say on the public sidewalk, watch your step, and be peaceful and safe!
More information: https://indivisible507.org
Indivisible Weekly Protest
WEDNESDAY — Dec 3rd
Bystander Intervention to Address Gender-Based Street Harassment
Date: Wednesday, Dec 3rd • 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm CT
Sponsor: Right To Be
Format: Virtual Training (Webinar)
Details: As part of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign, Right To Be with NYC Commission on Gender Equity and the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence hosts a virtual bystander intervention training. Learn practical strategies to safely intervene and help build safer, more equitable spaces for all. This training may not be ADA-compliant.
Location: Virtual event — Join from anywhere
Registration: Event page
Rural Rally for Democracy
Date/Time: Wed, Dec 3, 5:00pm–6:00pm CST
Location: Chatfield City Park (305 Main St S, Chatfield )
Sponsor: Fillmore DFL
Details: Join us for a Rural Rally for Democracy and show your support for DFL values! This is a great opportunity to come together with fellow community members and show our community that we believe in democracy. Bring your energy, your signs, and your friends as we show up against the radical Republican agenda!
Event will be held rain or shine.
Please bring a non-perishable donation for the Chatfield Food Bank.
More information:
fcdfloutreach@gmail.com
Registration: Event page
THURSDAY — Dec 4th
Resilience For Sustainable Activism
Date: Thursday, Dec 4th • 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM CT
Sponsor: Indivisible
Format: Virtual Training (Conversation + Practice)
Details: The Resilience Toolkit offers an embodied, justice-aligned framework for sustaining activism. It reframes burnout, reactivity, and conflict as predictable stress responses and provides real-time regulation skills to stay engaged.
We'll explore: How stress shapes movement behavior and how stabilization interrupts these patterns
Embodied solidarity: enabling listening, repair, and care through nervous system capacity
Rest and joy as a political strategy, not rewards
Practical tools for steadiness in organizing and mutual aid
This session connects inner healing with outer solidarity — building resilient, humane movements.
"How we breathe, listen, rest, and relate is political."
For longtime organizers or those new to activism, this session offers embodied tools to put solidarity into action.
Location: Virtual event — Join from anywhere
Registration: Mobilize
Building a Local Democracy that Works for Everyone — Community Forum
Date: Thursday, Dec 4th • 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM CT
Sponsor: City of Rochester with the National Civic League
Format: In‑person Community Forum
Details: Rochester selected for the Democracy Innovations for Better Public Meetings project, in partnership with the National Civic League’s Center for Democracy Innovation, and funded by the AAA‑ICDR Foundation. Community forum to share ideas and reflect on research findings. Light dinner provided. Please register for the food count.
Also see the Civic Engagement Scorecard and Community Survey.
Location: Heintz Center, Commons Area (Rochester, MN)
Registration: Event page
More Info:
City of Rochester
National Civic League
Stand Up Against Street Harassment
Date: Thursday, Dec 4th • 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM CT
Sponsor: Right To Be
Format: Virtual Training (1 hour)
Details: We join forces with L’Oréal Paris to ensure everyone’s self-worth, leveraging our 5D’s methodology to help people safely intervene when they experience or witness harassment in public spaces. Through this 1-hour training, we use a clear, adaptable, and expert-approved set of tools that have been proven to reduce the prevalence of street harassment. The goal of the Stand Up program is to ultimately build a culture where street harassment is seen as unacceptable behavior.
WHY STREET HARASSMENT MATTERS Street harassment is an experience that devalues people of all sexual orientations, cultures, and beliefs, causing them to doubt their own experiences. When we watch harassment happen without intervening, it deepens the trauma for the person being harassed and shows the person doing the harassing that their behavior is OK. We want to disrupt this dynamic one intervention at a time. When we see someone fall, or drop something in public, we instinctively help out. Why don’t we have the same reaction when we see someone being sexually harassed? We see it happen, but uncomfortably look away. We feel the urge to speak up, but stay cautiously silent. We all want to do something about it, but don’t know what. Or worse, we end up thinking it’s “not a big deal.” Not knowing what constitutes street harassment and what to do, limits our ability to take action, chipping away at the self-worth of men and women who suffer from street harassment.
Registration: Event page
FRIDAY — Dec 5th
The Fifth Annual A Holiday of Hope Gala
Date: Friday, Dec 5th, 2025 • 5:30–10:00 PM CST
Format: Gala fundraiser benefiting The Landing MN
Details: The holidays are all about tradition. One of our favorite traditions is the annual A Holiday of Hope Gala. All proceeds support the members of our community experiencing homelessness through the programming of The Landing MN. We look forward to a festive evening of fine dining, live music, dancing, auction items and more! See you there!
Doors open at 5:30 pm for cocktail hour and Winter Market browsing with instrumental music by Bluewater Kings.
Dinner will be served at 6:30 pm.
Program and dancing to follow — music by Bluewater Kings Band.
Dress code is cocktail attire or better.
Location: Hilton Rochester Mayo Clinic Area, 10 East Center St, Rochester, MN 55904, US
Organizer: The Landing MN
More info: Event page
Questions: holly@thelandingmn.org
Gift Quality Book & Bake Sale
Date: Friday–Saturday, Dec 5–6, 2025 • 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM CT
Sponsor: Rochester Public Library
Format: In‑person sale (books + baked goods)
Details: Do some holiday shopping and support our local library, a hub for key community support. Quality used books and baked goodies for sale!
Location: Rochester Public Library — 101 2nd St SE, Rochester, MN 55904
Links:
Event info: rplmn.org
More about this org: Library events
SATURDAY — Dec 6th
Eye Care Clinic — Free Exams, Optical Care, and Glasses
Date: Saturday, Dec 6th • 12:30 PM – 3:30 PM CT
Sponsor: ZVMS Street Medicine / Zumbro Valley Medical Society
Format: Free Clinic
Details: Free eye exams, free optical care, and free glasses. With support from United Way of Southeast Minnesota and the Minnesota Academy of Eye Physicians and Surgeons.
Location: Christ United Methodist Church, 400 5th Ave SW, Rochester, MN 55902
Bingo Night!
Date: Saturday, Dec 6th • 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM CT
Sponsor: Social Garage
Format: In‑person (Community Night / Bingo Fundraiser)
Details: Bingo night fundraiser at NEW Social Garage Event Space. $5 per bingo card. Free meal included (pork sandwich, chips, drink). Bring a new, unwrapped toy to get an additional free bingo card. All proceeds support Nonprofit Wrench; toys go to Toys for Tots / Toy Joy.
Location: 229 17th St. SE, Rochester, MN 55906
Registration: Facebook event
Learn more about Nonprofit Wench -a really fantastic organization (https://www.nonprofitwrench.org/)
SUNDAY — Dec 7th
Adopt a family this holiday season
Date/Time: any time before December
Sponsor: Olmsted County
Details: Olmsted County’s Adopt a Family program is more than just a charitable act; it's a chance to make a direct and meaningful impact on the lives of families who could use a little extra support during the holidays. We invite you to become a donor and play a crucial role in making this holiday season special for families in our community.
Here's how you can get involved:
Join us: Register as a donor by emailing diane.tradup@olmstedcounty.gov or call 507-328-6346.
Match with a family: After you register you will be matched with a family. Each family provides a brief overview of their circumstances and a wish list to guide your generous contributions.
Shop for gifts: Purchase items from the family's wish list or consider contributing a monetary donation. Every contribution, big or small, makes a difference.
Gift drop-off deadline: Wednesday, December 13, 3 - 6 p.m. Thursday, December 14, 7 a.m. -1 p.m. Aune Hall, Graham Park, 1508 Aune Drive SE, Rochester MN
More information: https://www.olmstedcounty.gov/government/county-news-events/county-news/adopt-family-holiday-season
Upcoming events…
ISAIAH & Faith in Minnesota Statewide Ratification
Date: Saturday, December 13th, 2025
Format: Statewide gathering, agenda ratification, campaign training
Details: At this event, 5,000 people from across Minnesota will come together to ratify ISAIAH and Faith in Minnesota’s statewide issue agenda. Participants will also prepare to caucus around that agenda on February 3rd with thousands more people. The gathering includes training on mass-scale strategic campaigns designed to disrupt authoritarianism in early 2026.
We are coordinating bus transportation from Rochester for as many registrants as possible.
Location: Minneapolis Convention Center, 1301 2nd Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55403
Organizer: ISAIAH & Faith in Minnesota
Registration: https://bit.ly/ISAIAH2025
Questions: olivia@isaiahmn.org
Rochester Community Initiative Mock Caucus
Date: Sunday, December 14th, 2025
Format: Learning program and mock caucus for teens and adults
Details: Meet in the Rochester Public Library auditorium for a program put on by Rochester Community Initiative for teens and adults. Learn how to participate in the statewide caucuses coming up in February. Practice your caucusing skills! Learn about the caucus process if you have not attended a caucus before. This event will cover how people like YOU can get directly involved in our democracy!
Location: Rochester Public Library, 101 2nd Street SE,
Rochester, MN 55904
Organizer: Rochester Community Initiative https://www.rochinitiative.org/
Library Event Link: https://rochesterpubliclibrary.librarymarket.com/event/rochester-community-initiative-mock-caucus
Support our local nonprofits!
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Support our local nonprofits! ☆
Community Spotlight: Southeastern Minnesota Interfaith Immigrant Legal Defense (SMIILD)
This week we shine our Community Spotlight on an organization supporting our immigrant neighbors: Southeastern Minnesota Interfaith Immigrant Legal Defense (SMIILD).
With the ongoing targeted attacks from the current administration on immigrants specifically in Minnesota, SMIILD's work supporting immigrants in southeast Minnesota will be vital to organizing SE Minnesotans to stand up for ourselves and our neighbors.
Who is SMIILD?
People of Faith Committed to Justice.
The mission: to ensure the availability of immigration legal services for those who live or work in Southeastern Minnesota.
SMIILD believes in the sanctity of the family and inherent worth of every individual. They work to ensure the ideals of the United States apply to everyone in the community: presumption of innocence, right to legal counsel, equal treatment under the law, and humane treatment by government agents.
SMIILD is made up of members of faith communities and organizations that have endorsed the proposal for an Immigrant Legal Defense Fund and faith communities that have designated themselves as sanctuary or sanctuary support.
What does SMIILD do?
1. Learn of and respond to the needs of local immigrant communities.
2. Ensure legal representation through annual contracts with the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota (https://www.ilcm.org/) and The Advocates for Human Rights (https://www.theadvocatesforhumanrights.org/Home).
3. Coordinate with the Alliance of Chicano, Hispanic, and Latino Americans (ACHLA) (https://www.achla-mn.org/) and other local organizations to provide for local immigration legal assistance clinics.
SMIILD by the numbers:
90% Success rate over the last six years representing dozens of southeast Minnesotans in immigration court
88 Immigration clinic attendees helped with asylum applications, work authorizations and more in 2024
74% chance of immigrants avoiding removal WITH an attorney's representation
30 immigrants with ongoing cases through SMIILD's contracts right now
3% the percent of people who do NOT have an attorney's representation that avoid removal
2x how much the fees for immigration court have gone up under the current administration in an attempt to push people out of the country, but SMIILD helps people in need cover these costs
$0 how much our immigrant neighbors have to pay when SMIILD helps them access an attorney's representation and covers court fees so our neighbors receive equal protection under the law
How to reach SMIILD:
To access help:
If you live or work in Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Rice, Steele, Wabasha, or Winona Counties, are in ICE custody or involved in immigration court, do not have a private attorney representing you, and can’t afford an attorney, we may be able to help you.
For help through ILCM regarding someone in ICE detention, call 651-641-1011 Mondays from 2-4 pm or Thursdays 10 am - 12 pm.
To donate:
Contact form: https://www.smiild.org/contact-smiild
Website: https://www.smiild.org/