Heroes Compass

10/16/2026

Update: The boxes are coming together.

Last week we shared that Heroes Compass placed a $2,606.38 Amazon order to help pack 70 individual care packages for a local unit deployed overseas. One box for every single member of the unit so nobody misses a piece of home this Christmas.

This week the military wives gathered and got to work. The photos say everything.

We are also sending a separate shipment directly to the unit with Heroes Compass items including mental health journals, games, chargers, and more.

Thank you to Kate Glynn Och for tagging us, to Melissa Horner and Molly for doing the hard work of making sure every single service member in that unit feels remembered, and to everyone who has donated to Heroes Compass and made moments like this possible.

100% volunteer run. Every dollar goes directly to this.

More photos to come when the boxes ship.

10/15/2026

Heroes Compass is proud to sponsor the 119th Wing's Norwegian Foot March.

18.6 miles. Full kit. No shortcuts.

The Norwegian Foot March is one of the most demanding morale and fitness events a service member can take on. Every airman who crosses that finish line earns a medal they can wear on their blues. More than that, they earn something that cannot be measured.

We are glad to be part of making it happen.

To every Happy Hooligan who laced up and stepped off, we see you. That kind of grit does not surprise us. It is exactly what we have come to expect from the 119th.

Link to the full story in the comments.

10/14/2026

The following is being made anonymous out of respect and privacy:

A military wife reached out to us in July. Her husband was one of four soldiers medically evacuated after being injured overseas. He came home with a moderate TBI and loss of motor function on his left side. She needed help getting to Germany to be with him. They have a three year old at home.

She submitted the request on a Tuesday. We approved it the same day.

We helped cover her travel to the East Coast when her husband was transported from Germany a few days later. We also sent home cooked meals to her house, so she did not have to think about groceries on top of everything else.

The Heroes Fund exists for exactly this. Not the paperwork. Not the waiting. The moment when a military family needs someone to move fast and say yes.

We are glad we could be there for them.

10/14/2026

Back in July, we shared Colin Bales’ story after his diving accident, and Heroes Compass donated funds to his family. Our amazing community has rallied around Colin and we’ve been cheering him on ever since.

This update from Craig Hospital is one worth celebrating: a record 7.5 hours off the ventilator, more than 3 of them breathing completely on his own, AND some new feeling in both his palms! AMAZING! 🎉

Colin and Amy are working toward coming home to Fargo on November 10th and there’s still a long road ahead. Please keep them in your thoughts and keep sharing.

GO COLIN (and go Wild)!!! 🏒

Colin, we’ve still got you.

Some encouraging news from Craig! 💙

Yesterday, Colin spent a new record of 7.5 hours off the ventilator—including 3 hours and 10 minutes breathing completely on his own, without the ventilator OR his diaphragm pacer!

For the first part of that time, his pacer helped stimulate his diaphragm to produce breaths. He then continued breathing without either form of support. Earlier this week, his independent breathing stretches were around an hour. We have so much to celebrate.

And there’s more: Colin reported feeling touch in the palm of his left hand on Monday. Yesterday, he could feel Amy touching his right palm, too!

These gains take tremendous effort. Building his breathing endurance is exhausting, and rest remains an essential part of the work. Even on a day off from scheduled therapies, Colin and Amy spent their Saturday working together in his hospital room—with the Wild game on, of course. A win for Colin and a win for the Wild! 🏒

His goal is to be off the ventilator during daytime hours by their planned return to Fargo on November 10, while continuing nighttime support.

Recovery remains unpredictable, and there is still a long road ahead. Today, we’re grateful for longer stretches of independent breathing, new sensation, and the hope these changes bring.

Please keep Colin and Amy in your thoughts and prayers—for continued breathing strength, more return of sensation and movement, and good health as they prepare for the next chapter. Thank you for continuing to show up for them. 💙

10/12/2026

Thank you to these heroes for keeping our communities safe as well as caring for those in a time of need.

To learn more about our challenge coin visit:
https://www.heroescompass.com/coin

10/11/2026

There are no words for what the Calhoun family is going through right now.

Nick serves as a Guardsman with the 119th Wing here in Fargo and as a police officer with the Fargo Police Department. On October 7th, his 12 year old son passed away unexpectedly in his sleep.

Heroes Compass is sending $500 in Costco gift cards directly to the family through his First Sergeant. Because they have a large family and Costco is where they do their grocery shopping, and right now the last thing this family should be thinking about is food.

If you would like to help further, the links for the GoFundMe and Meal Train are in the comments.

Visitation is Thursday October 15th at 11 a.m. followed by a 1 p.m. funeral service at Bethel Church in Fargo. If you are able to show up, please do.

Nick, we see you. Heroes Compass is standing behind you and your family.

10/10/2026

❤️COMMUNITY

Sweat for Vets ‘26 is officially in the books, and we couldn’t be prouder of what this community pulled off. Every rep, every dollar, every person who showed up, it all added up to $1,075 going straight to Heroes Compass to support our local veterans and their families🙌🏼

Huge thank you to Heroes Compass for the work you do every day, and to everyone who sweated with us for a cause that matters. Fargo, you showed up big💯

We’ll see you next year, and we’re aiming even higher🫡

10/10/2026

A reminder of just how much flowers can mean.
This is the second year I’ve had the honor of donating flowers from Empty Nest Blooms to the Heroes Compass 2.2 Walk for veteran su***de prevention, honoring the estimated 22 veterans who die by su***de each day. Something Karen and Pat brought up to me last year and I of course said yes - lets do flowers!
When I donate flowers, I hope they bring a little happiness to someone’s day. Maybe they’ll brighten a kitchen table, bring a smile, or simply remind someone to stop and enjoy something beautiful.
But when I received an email today from Heroes Compass, it reminded me that flowers can mean so much more than that.
One of the walkers shared that she took her bouquet to someone who was grieving the recent loss of a loved one to su***de. The flowers gave her a reason to stop by, sit down, and have a meaningful conversation with someone who needed it.
The recipient said it was “just what she needed yesterday.”
I don’t think we always realize the impact of something as simple as a bouquet of flowers. They can bring people together, open the door to conversations that need to happen, offer comfort when words are hard to find, and remind someone that they aren’t alone.
As a flower farmer, I love growing flowers because they’re beautiful. But moments like this remind me that what I do is about so much more than growing and arranging them. It’s about the people, the connections, and the little ways flowers can make a difference in someone’s life.
I’m so grateful to Heroes Compass for allowing Empty Nest Blooms to be a small part of such meaningful work, and I’m honored that my flowers were able to be part of this moment.
Sometimes, you plant a seed, grow a flower, and send it out into the world without ever knowing where it will end up or what it will mean to someone.
You just never know what a bouquet might mean to someone who needs it.
If you or someone you know is struggling, please remember that you don’t have to go through it alone.

10/09/2026

We are proud to share that Heroes Compass is presenting its Unsung Hero Award to two volunteers who keep our mission moving: Karen Krebsbach and Melissa Lipton. This award recognizes the people who show up again and again, without ever asking for attention.

Melissa helped organize the addresses at our very first care package event with Cass County Electric and the Chamber of Commerce, donated many pairs of socks for homeless veterans with her work at Ulteig, and drove around town in the bitter cold delivering Girl Scout raisins and care packages. She also organized our entire Detroit Lakes care package event with coworkers at Ulteig, from buying the items to packing and delivering them to heroes.

Karen has been at every care package event, taking on whatever needs doing without hesitation. She handwrites appreciation letters for our care packages, crochets blankets for our raffles and auctions, helped gather raffle tickets at our wing event, and talks up Heroes Compass to family and friends, hands out our challenge coins, and supports us on Facebook.

Karen and Melissa, thank you for everything you do. Please join us in congratulating them.

10/08/2026

“Thank you Heroes Compass for supporting us while we are away from home. We appreciated all the goodies in our care package.”
CW3 Schreiner and maintenance crew