By: Tom Lindfors
“The basic purpose of non-profits is to create change, to address a problem, to make things better. We are in the business of change. Letting people know that change is possible is hope.” – Tim Puffer, Executive Director, Operation HELP
Operation HELP is the inaugural recipient of St. Croix Economic Development Corporation’s 2025 Non-Profit of the Year Award.
Operation HELP provides short-term emergency financial assistance to qualified residents of St. Croix County and adjacent communities to help pay for rent, utilities and other unexpected expenses to enable them to maintain stable living situations, food security, emotional well-being, and personal dignity.
Puffer applauded St. Croix Economic Development Corporation for officially recognizing the essential role that non-profits play not only in the social but in the economic well-being of a community. Enabling people to stay in their homes means maintaining their employment and that contributes to the whole of a community’s economy in a meaningful and measurable way.
“In the last five years we put $1 million into the community on behalf of clients. That went to landlords and utilities, mechanics and grocers. Almost every one of our clients is an employee of someone here in town and I have to believe that helps with the workforce,” said Puffer.
The difference between a non-profit and a for-profit business’s success often comes down to the critical role volunteers play in the non-profit’s success.
“The bigger acknowledgements should go to the hundreds of volunteers, major area foundations, churches, businesses, clubs and organizations and others who have provided an enormous amount of volunteer time and funding to make it all possible,” Puffer said.
Operation HELP was started by Bob and Mary Nasvik as a way to provide meals for the elderly and others in need during the holidays. The all-volunteer organization continued to grow, incorporating as a 501c3 in 1990, focused on providing short-term emergency financial assistance to qualified residents of Hudson and eventually all of St. Croix County to help pay for rent, utilities and car repairs.
In 2012 Operation HELP merged with The Source to create the Operation HELP Resource Center adding the ability to provide basic necessities including personal care items, vouchers, referrals and other amenities. Operation HELP continued to collaborate closely with other organizations that were serving similar populations including food shelves and the Hudson Area Backpack Program.
In 2018 Operation HELP created a strategic plan focused on long-term sustainability. Based partially on feedback from the foundations funding them, they prioritized building staff and infrastructure.
“Credit goes to the people involved in all of those organizations that came together, made that decision and worked on the change,” said Puffer.
Tim Puffer joined the organization as executive director on a part-time basis in 2019. He brought with him a wealth of experience in the non-profit world having worked in marketing, development and management for organizations including Wildlife Forever, Parents Anonymous of Minnesota and Store to Door.
“The common thread for founders of all of the organizations that have come under the Operation HELP umbrella is that they’re people who saw something in the community that needed to be done and they wanted to make the change,” Puffer explained. “It continues to be what motivates people to be on the board, show up and volunteer.”
In 2019 Operation HELP assisted 297 clients with rent and utilities. COVID doubled that number to 600.
“We assumed after COVID it would go back down. It did not. It plateaued at a number between 400 to 500 and it has continued to stay high,” Puffer said.
Demand on the backpack program also skyrocketed during the pandemic. It led to the addition of a curbside distribution program and eventually, a permanent brick and mortar pantry open 5 days a week and making it the largest distributor of food in St. Croix County.
“COVID caused us to ask, how could we do this better?” said Puffer.
Operation HELP and the backpack program formed a formal partnership with a goal to secure a common location from which to provide food security and housing services under one roof. In 2024 the partnership launched the Alliance Center, a 20,000 sq. ft. non-profit hub at the corner of Hanley Road and O’Keefe in Hudson.
Operation HELP and the pantry merged under the name of Operation HELP in 2025. In addition to Operation HELP, the hub is home to Fresh Harvest Pantry, Hudson Area Backpack Program, St. Croix Valley Foundation, Western Wisconsin Soccer, Big Brothers Big Sisters and St. Croix Valley Home Builders Association.
The non-profit hub demonstrates daily that the sharing of space, amenities and expenses makes long-term financial sense while improving the efficiency and effectiveness of delivering services.
Puffer realizes national issues that have dominated national news and have had significant effects on local non-profits.
“There are some very difficult subjects. Most of the things that people talk about whether it’s immigration enforcement, the government shutdown or tariffs, can be very polarizing. There is often very little middle ground,” Puffer said. “As non-profit organizations, our ability to do good for everybody depends on us maintaining that middle ground and we have been very intentional about doing that.”
Largely because of the lessons learned during COVID, Operation HELP and its programs have been well positioned to address the recent challenges. Clients unable to get out can apply for rental assistance online and by phone so they do not have to visit in-person. The food pantry program also provides food delivery and pickup so people unable to come to the food shelf in person can access services.
According to Puffer, they did experience a slight dip in services to clients from November through January, but an analysis of the numbers did not tie that dip specifically to their Spanish-speaking population.
“We can’t say that it was because of immigration issues. The biggest thing that we saw during that time period was a lot of intermediaries coming to us to get things that they could then deliver to other people. However, we aren’t set up to do that,” Puffer said.
He explained that Operation HELP lacked cultural competency and established connections within the impacted community to be able to help directly. Instead, they were able to provide support through programs like the St. Croix Valley Food Bank’s Los Amigos Program to ensure that their support would reach the intended families.
The intake process is critical to determining what services Operation HELP can provide and where other partners might step in.
Operation HELP can provide temporary emergency shelter in a hotel for up to 3 days for people experiencing homelessness because of an eviction, discharge from a corrections facility or other displacement.
“A large part of what Operation HELP is dealing with is related to affordable housing. People need rent and utility assistance because the cost of housing is so high here,” Puffer said.
The high cost of living in St. Croix County paired with rent and food is directly influenced by its proximity to the Twin Cities. The County finds itself caught in the middle, wedged between Twin Cities rental rates and disproportionately lower wages tied to smaller municipal and partially rural economies.
According to St. Croix Economic Development Corporation’s St. Croix County Housing Needs Assessment released in 2025, “Many of the county’s top employment sectors—including retail, food service, healthcare, and education—have wages below the county’s median income. Workers in these fields often struggle to find housing they can afford near their jobs. Over 36% of renters and 23% of homeowners with mortgages are cost-burdened, spending more than 30% of their income on housing.”
“For our rent and utility assistance clients, which is the largest portion of our program expenses, if they lose hours at work, a roommate moves out, they have a sick kid at home or have a major medical or other expense, they can’t make rent,” Puffer said. “The people we serve are often living right on the edge and just getting by. Keeping someone in their house by helping them pay rent when they can’t afford to do it otherwise helps create housing security. And if you can help address food security as well, the rest of the money stretches further.”
Operation HELP’s founders deliberately chose to not seek public funding to avoid being subject to the sometimes fickle nature of government grant programs.
Foundations currently provide 40 percent of Operation HELP’s revenue with individual donations providing another 30 percent. The balance comes from businesses, churches, clubs and organizations, United Way and fundraisers.
Operation HELP spends more than $260,000 annually on rent, utility and car repair payment assistance and another $128,000 purchasing food to supplement nearly $150,000 in donated and rescued food.
Puffer acknowledged that without volunteers Operation HELP would not exist.
“This is a tremendously generous community. I think oftentimes from a philanthropic perspective, at non-profits and especially ours, we try to be a conduit for people to turn their desire to help into actual help. They can do that by volunteering or by making a donation. Or they can do that by talking to us or inviting us to talk to their church or club or school or wherever people are willing to listen.”
