August 2025 - Congratulations!
Rochester Police Department
Congratulations to Cpt Hodgeman (center front) who is the first female Captain in RPD! Pictured with her are the new class of recruits at RPD as well as the RPD chaplains.
RPD always honors its officers well. Thanks to Chaplain Kwasi Kyeremeh for the invocation and Chaplain Adam Molina for the amazing food!
By the Numbers
While we do not share about the deeply impactful stories of personal first responder interactions here, for perspective, our chaplains have spent 256 hours with our first responders and responded to nine critical incidents just in the last four weeks.
Austin Police Department
This month, we are celebrating the awards for two Austin police officers, as well as the grant award from the National Police Association to help fund our work with APD.
Above: Officers McCormack and Hansen receiving statewide awards for DWI enforcement.
Pictured from left to right:
SGT Osborne, Chaplains Mielke, Wyse, and Goetz, ED George Beech, and Officer Josh Bradley.
Mayo Clinic Ambulance Service (MCAS)
For the past three years, we have been looking forward to the opportunity to serve the first responders at MCAS, and now we have the chance!
This is a short-term trial to see if we are a good fit. If all goes well, we hope to continue serving our MCAS EMTs and paramedics in 2026.
Chaplain Mark Mannenbach, MD, will be the assigned chaplain - please keep this work in your prayers!
Rochester Fire Department - Women's Expo
The annual Women's Fire Expo is coming up on 5 October from
12-5 pm at the Olmsted County Public Safety Training Center. This is a wonderful outreach to the community, and our chaplains have enjoyed attending and participating each year.
Know someone who might be interested? Participants will get the chance to experience some of what firefighters do, including:
Rappel from a three-story tower.
Climb the 110-foot aerial ladder.
Learn how to force open a door.
Advance a hose line and spray water from the hose.
Search for and rescue a victim.
Learn how to extricate a person from a vehicle.
Women and girls 16 years old and up are invited to register and attend the expo, including those with previous or current fire experience.
Registration for the expo is open through September 21 or until full and costs $10. More information can be found here.
Safe City Nights with the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office
Safe City nights continues to be a great place for our chaplains to support our first responders and meet with citizens in our community. This year was no exception, with excellent weather and turnout for each one!
Grief Retreat
This past weekend we had the privilege of serving first responder couples who have lost a child with space to heal during our Grief Retreat.
The retreat was a time of respite, healing, and fellowship in a beautiful setting on Red Cedar Lake. We are so grateful for the donors who allowed us to use this home and the couples who were courageous enough to step out and seek this type of fellowship.
This was the first time we hosted a grief retreat and based on the feedback from participants (and those who wanted to attend but were unable to do so) we will be hosting another grief retreat next year.
God continues to show us new ways in which we can support our first responders.
For First Responders - Sign Up! Adventure Day and Love at the Lodge
Looking for a great way to connect with your spouse? Salt & Light is hosting two events for first responders that can provide the opportunity!
Couples Adventure Day is a fun day of activities at Ironwood Springs for you and your partner. Have kids? No problem - bring them with you and they will have their own activities. We'll return them at the end of the day, happy and tired... :). The date is 13 September 2025.
Love at the Lodge is a weekend-long faith-based marriage retreat with all meals provided. This is an adults-only event, so alternate day care will be needed. Dates are 26-28 September 2025.
Interested in one of these opportunities? Send an email to stef@saltandlightpartners.org for more information or to get registered.
Around Town
Top Left: We were honored to be a featured local mission at Christ Community Church this month, along with New Life Family Services and Damascus Way. Thank you, CCC, for the chance to share our mission and for the Love at the Lodge funding!
Top Right: Grateful for People's Energy Cooperative, which provided funding for Couples Adventure Day this year.
Bottom Right: Shout out to Chaplains Cape and Kyeremeh for this fun picture of the new group of police recruits visiting a fellow recruit in the hospital. So neat that the chaplains and coworkers just got on the same elevator to visit the recruit at the same time!
Bottom Left: Chaplain Kwasi Kyeremeh jumped on the radio at KFSI for an interview about Salt & Light Partners. Thank you to KFSI and Wendell Amstutz for the opportunity!
Thank you for your continued support of this ministry.
Please always reach out with any questions or requests you might have.
With gratitude,
The Salt & Light Team