March 28, 2024

By Rev. Rick King

Sometimes good things come to an end.

Sara Nedeau, our longest-serving staff member by far with 12 years of service, is leaving the Twin Cities metro area to move with her partner to Iowa to be closer to her partner’s son, who lives there. Her last workday in our church nursery will be April 21.

Sara’s love for children and easy manner around them has endeared her to a generation of kids who spent happy Sunday mornings in the Falcon Heights Church nursery while their parents were in worship. Her role has been more than watching and babysitting; she loves teaching kids new things, and for a long time there’s been a curriculum and faith formation component integrated into the nursery care.

She comes by this natural gift for being with children partly because her mother ran a daycare business, and Sara helped. But it’s also her interest, even a calling: Sara took her first babysitting course at age 10 and babysat for several different families, in addition to helping her mom.

Sara has been with the Falcon Heights Church congregation through many changes and the stresses that have come with them. Her dependable, patient-yet-firm presence has been a constant throughout those years, and both parents and children feel safe with her and in the environment she creates in the nursery.

When I first came to Falcon Heights, Sara’s day job was in the Cub Foods bakery. But she has followed her calling to care for children, and for the last several years, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, she has worked in early learning full time.

We say goodbye to Sara next month with heartfelt thanks for her 12 years of ministry with the children of our church. We are collecting for a cash gift for Sara, and you can either write a check payable to Falcon Heights Church with “Sara Nedeau Gift” in the memo section, OR give online and select “Sara Nedeau Send-Off Gift.”