MONROE - Life hasn't always been easy for Rick Gleason, but he has no regrets. He's now a self-proclaimed "work-a-holic," who admittedly can't sit still for long and always feels like more can be done. He said it was likely because he "walked a mile" in the shoes of many he encounters each day that has led him exactly where he feels he was meant to be.
He grew up in La Crescent, Minnesota, near La Crosse, where he lived most of his life alongside his four siblings. They had a home in the country where Gleason could be found having fun on his father's game farm with several wild birds. The family business got the entire family involved in 4-H, which Gleason said fit well into their lives.
He recalls riding his bicycle up and down the road with saddle baskets, collecting bottles for money when he was young. By the time he was 14, he had a part-time job at a local cement plant providing weekend cleanup and scraping floors to earn money.
"I was, even then, like now, focused on work," Gleason said.
Gleason said his father was a "jack of all trades" and passed several of his skills down to his children. He and his siblings helped build the family home they lived in, as well as all of the outbuildings on the farm.
At La Crescent High School, Gleason was a fairly active student. He ran cross country and found a passion in the sport. That and senior choir were his extracurricular activities, although he said he no longer sings.
He worked retail in La Crosse before graduating in 1977 from La Crescent Junior-Senior High School and has now reconnected with several classmates through social media. After graduating without a plan, he decided to enlist in the military. He turned 18 by mid-June and found himself at the recruiting office to join the Navy Seabees.
"I needed time to figure out what I wanted to do with my life," Gleason said. "I saw some opportunity to see the world."
He took some of his construction background from working with his father and decided to continue that interest in the military. He was sent to Great Lakes, Illinois, for boot camp.
He spent five years on active duty and was shipped to several places around the world. Gleason said he was happy to meet friends who became his family and see places he knows he'll never see again. Gleason traveled extensively, including to the Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Diego Garcia island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Sicily, Spain and Rome, to name a few.
"It was such a great opportunity to see the world," he said. "It was an awesome experience for me."
He served as a construction plumber with his team; the trained skill allowed his team to go in before troops to build bases, barracks, airport runways and hangars. His involvement was mainly in fire foam systems and plumbing ranging from bathrooms to intricate sprinkler systems. He recalls chopping through coral to dig trenches in order to get to sewage lines.
He would also spend several months stateside and was part of the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 5 out of California.
"I didn't see it as a lifelong career," he said. "Those five years initially were something that really shaped my life."
After five years, Gleason decided to leave the Navy in November 1982 and went off active duty. The economy was failing at that time, and his construction and plumbing credentials meant nothing in the civilian world.
It was then that he spent 15 months as a homeless veteran on the streets, traveling from Michigan to Wisconsin in 1984. At that time, there were few shelters and meal programs. It was a trying time in Gleason's life, but he has no misgivings.
"It was meant to be that way," he said. "It was part of my life's journey."
In 1984, Gleason found direction again through the military, joining the reserves that year in his need for something familiar. He spent two years in the reserves until he was honorably discharged again.
Gleason finally found work at a factory in Oconomowoc and eventually started working in retail again. He grew as a civilian and an employee and joined ShopKo on its management team as a loss prevention manager. He traveled to Utah in 1989 with the company to help open, hire and train for seven new stores.
He hoped to eventually return to Wisconsin, so when there was an opening, Gleason moved to Janesville to take it. He met his wife, Kathie, there and said she is his best, forever friend. They have been married since 1993.
While still working for ShopKo, Gleason took on a part-time job at KANDU Industries providing job training for people with disabilities. Eventually, he made another career change in his life and took a full-time position there.
"I just grew to like the work," Gleason said. "I like working with people. I like helping people."
Eventually, he changed positions and joined Catholic Charities as a case manager. The new position gave him the opportunity to work with a lot of the same people, but he felt like he could help them more in their overall life.
On the side, he was also working for St. Coletta of Wisconsin in Jefferson, where he was training people to live on their own in their own apartments.
"I embraced it," he said. "I became a house manager for a number of group homes in Janesville. The work-a-holic in me started early."
Over the course of about six years, Gleason worked for several organizations with similar missions and spent almost all of his time working in ways to help people in their lives, careers and future paths.
"I feel I found my purpose when I started helping people," Gleason said. "It was very rewarding."
But eventually, a change in career came again, and Gleason needed to prioritize for himself and his family. He went back to factory work where he spent 9 ½ years on night shift. He always stayed involved working with people on the side in some way and has always had at least a job and a half. In his spare time, he ran a low-income housing group, managing 42 apartments on the side.
In 2000, he said his life took another turn when he began ministry studies. He felt he was called to the job and was invited to give sermons at his local church. He and Kathie were already involved heavily, helping teach Sunday school, and he said he felt a constant tugging to do more.
When he asked his pastor for direction, Gleason was told: "Follow your heart."
With the support of his family, he said he was ordained around 2004. He left his factory job and went to outreach ministry full time. Since then, Gleason has spent almost the last 20 years running homeless shelters.
He served as the Hilltop Community Church pastor in Albany from 2007 to 2010 and returned to seminary to complete his degree in Christian counseling before he returned to shelter work.
"It's where I'm drawn," Gleason said. "I truly believe the 15 months of homelessness I experienced was part of my classroom training. It prepared me for the bigger picture - which I didn't see until 25 years later."
Gleason went on to work at several homeless shelters in Madison and Janesville and then worked for St. Vincent de Paul for 7 ½ years. He also worked for the Community Action of Rock and Walworth County Shelter Program for 13 months, helping to rebuild there.
Around that time in 2011, the director of the Family Promise of Green County board reached out to him.
Gleason was already well-known in Green County and had made a name for himself. He served on the Family Promise board, and he and Kathie had their home in Green County licensed for adult fostering. When the county's Family Promise director resigned, it was a perfect fit.
"It was a no-brainer for me," Gleason said. "I spent 25 years commuting out of Green County."
In February 2014, Gleason became the director of Family Promise.
"I don't sit still. I can't. It's not in me," he said.
When Gleason first started leading Family Promise, he kept to himself that he had been homeless. When he was encouraged to share - it was important to relate - he said he simply didn't want pity for what happened to him.
"That was the greatest 15 months of my life," Gleason said. "It made me who I am today. It made me dig deep and make changes. The person that came out on the other side was someone I liked."
He also brought fresh ideas to the program and locally has started two nonprofits on his own. The first is the Men's Resource Center, serving homeless men in a five-county region; and the second, the Monroe Area Community Closet, is a clothing program that started after partnering with last year's Green County Leaders group - it serves several needy people in the area, including some children.
Although he is no longer a full-time pastor, he keeps finding ways to serve and give back to his community.
"We're not done yet," Gleason smiled.
Gleason serves as the local veteran for Operation Home Front and collects Christmas gifts for families.
He has connections with about 30 churches through Family Promise, but he and Kathie belong to the Monroe Methodist Church. He often serves as a fill-in for several local churches.
"As much as I enjoy the pastor position - being in the pulpit, I'm blessed because I have the best of both worlds," he said. "I preach to people who are lost and struggling, but in my day-to-day job, that's what I do firsthand."
In his free time, Gleason said he continues work, but at home, it's more therapeutic to work in the yard, gardening and remodeling. He and his wife bought a cheese factory in Oakley in 2014, which has been their "project home." He said he's a thrifty person who has always been resourceful, likely from more than 20 years of working with shelters and always trying to be a good steward of nonprofit dollars.
He said "things" aren't really important to him, and instead he's found happiness in life beyond material items. Gleason enjoys spending time with his family, his two step-daughters, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Talking about Gleason's future, he said he's likely a person who will never truly retire, although he sees himself slowing down at some point and stepping back.
"I've never been good at balancing work and home - I know that," he said.
He identified the scripture that always stays with him: "There will always be poor among us - we have an obligation to open our hand to them and to reach out to them."
And in his work, he said he does see people who remind him of himself, a man who was once broken but determined to change and do better.
"I've walked that journey," he said. "There was a time I believed foolishly that I was experienced and I could teach - I'm not the teacher. I'm a student as much as they are."
He grew up in La Crescent, Minnesota, near La Crosse, where he lived most of his life alongside his four siblings. They had a home in the country where Gleason could be found having fun on his father's game farm with several wild birds. The family business got the entire family involved in 4-H, which Gleason said fit well into their lives.
He recalls riding his bicycle up and down the road with saddle baskets, collecting bottles for money when he was young. By the time he was 14, he had a part-time job at a local cement plant providing weekend cleanup and scraping floors to earn money.
"I was, even then, like now, focused on work," Gleason said.
Gleason said his father was a "jack of all trades" and passed several of his skills down to his children. He and his siblings helped build the family home they lived in, as well as all of the outbuildings on the farm.
At La Crescent High School, Gleason was a fairly active student. He ran cross country and found a passion in the sport. That and senior choir were his extracurricular activities, although he said he no longer sings.
He worked retail in La Crosse before graduating in 1977 from La Crescent Junior-Senior High School and has now reconnected with several classmates through social media. After graduating without a plan, he decided to enlist in the military. He turned 18 by mid-June and found himself at the recruiting office to join the Navy Seabees.
"I needed time to figure out what I wanted to do with my life," Gleason said. "I saw some opportunity to see the world."
He took some of his construction background from working with his father and decided to continue that interest in the military. He was sent to Great Lakes, Illinois, for boot camp.
He spent five years on active duty and was shipped to several places around the world. Gleason said he was happy to meet friends who became his family and see places he knows he'll never see again. Gleason traveled extensively, including to the Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Diego Garcia island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Sicily, Spain and Rome, to name a few.
"It was such a great opportunity to see the world," he said. "It was an awesome experience for me."
He served as a construction plumber with his team; the trained skill allowed his team to go in before troops to build bases, barracks, airport runways and hangars. His involvement was mainly in fire foam systems and plumbing ranging from bathrooms to intricate sprinkler systems. He recalls chopping through coral to dig trenches in order to get to sewage lines.
He would also spend several months stateside and was part of the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 5 out of California.
"I didn't see it as a lifelong career," he said. "Those five years initially were something that really shaped my life."
After five years, Gleason decided to leave the Navy in November 1982 and went off active duty. The economy was failing at that time, and his construction and plumbing credentials meant nothing in the civilian world.
It was then that he spent 15 months as a homeless veteran on the streets, traveling from Michigan to Wisconsin in 1984. At that time, there were few shelters and meal programs. It was a trying time in Gleason's life, but he has no misgivings.
"It was meant to be that way," he said. "It was part of my life's journey."
In 1984, Gleason found direction again through the military, joining the reserves that year in his need for something familiar. He spent two years in the reserves until he was honorably discharged again.
Gleason finally found work at a factory in Oconomowoc and eventually started working in retail again. He grew as a civilian and an employee and joined ShopKo on its management team as a loss prevention manager. He traveled to Utah in 1989 with the company to help open, hire and train for seven new stores.
He hoped to eventually return to Wisconsin, so when there was an opening, Gleason moved to Janesville to take it. He met his wife, Kathie, there and said she is his best, forever friend. They have been married since 1993.
While still working for ShopKo, Gleason took on a part-time job at KANDU Industries providing job training for people with disabilities. Eventually, he made another career change in his life and took a full-time position there.
"I just grew to like the work," Gleason said. "I like working with people. I like helping people."
Eventually, he changed positions and joined Catholic Charities as a case manager. The new position gave him the opportunity to work with a lot of the same people, but he felt like he could help them more in their overall life.
On the side, he was also working for St. Coletta of Wisconsin in Jefferson, where he was training people to live on their own in their own apartments.
"I embraced it," he said. "I became a house manager for a number of group homes in Janesville. The work-a-holic in me started early."
Over the course of about six years, Gleason worked for several organizations with similar missions and spent almost all of his time working in ways to help people in their lives, careers and future paths.
"I feel I found my purpose when I started helping people," Gleason said. "It was very rewarding."
But eventually, a change in career came again, and Gleason needed to prioritize for himself and his family. He went back to factory work where he spent 9 ½ years on night shift. He always stayed involved working with people on the side in some way and has always had at least a job and a half. In his spare time, he ran a low-income housing group, managing 42 apartments on the side.
In 2000, he said his life took another turn when he began ministry studies. He felt he was called to the job and was invited to give sermons at his local church. He and Kathie were already involved heavily, helping teach Sunday school, and he said he felt a constant tugging to do more.
When he asked his pastor for direction, Gleason was told: "Follow your heart."
With the support of his family, he said he was ordained around 2004. He left his factory job and went to outreach ministry full time. Since then, Gleason has spent almost the last 20 years running homeless shelters.
He served as the Hilltop Community Church pastor in Albany from 2007 to 2010 and returned to seminary to complete his degree in Christian counseling before he returned to shelter work.
"It's where I'm drawn," Gleason said. "I truly believe the 15 months of homelessness I experienced was part of my classroom training. It prepared me for the bigger picture - which I didn't see until 25 years later."
Gleason went on to work at several homeless shelters in Madison and Janesville and then worked for St. Vincent de Paul for 7 ½ years. He also worked for the Community Action of Rock and Walworth County Shelter Program for 13 months, helping to rebuild there.
Around that time in 2011, the director of the Family Promise of Green County board reached out to him.
Gleason was already well-known in Green County and had made a name for himself. He served on the Family Promise board, and he and Kathie had their home in Green County licensed for adult fostering. When the county's Family Promise director resigned, it was a perfect fit.
"It was a no-brainer for me," Gleason said. "I spent 25 years commuting out of Green County."
In February 2014, Gleason became the director of Family Promise.
"I don't sit still. I can't. It's not in me," he said.
When Gleason first started leading Family Promise, he kept to himself that he had been homeless. When he was encouraged to share - it was important to relate - he said he simply didn't want pity for what happened to him.
"That was the greatest 15 months of my life," Gleason said. "It made me who I am today. It made me dig deep and make changes. The person that came out on the other side was someone I liked."
He also brought fresh ideas to the program and locally has started two nonprofits on his own. The first is the Men's Resource Center, serving homeless men in a five-county region; and the second, the Monroe Area Community Closet, is a clothing program that started after partnering with last year's Green County Leaders group - it serves several needy people in the area, including some children.
Although he is no longer a full-time pastor, he keeps finding ways to serve and give back to his community.
"We're not done yet," Gleason smiled.
Gleason serves as the local veteran for Operation Home Front and collects Christmas gifts for families.
He has connections with about 30 churches through Family Promise, but he and Kathie belong to the Monroe Methodist Church. He often serves as a fill-in for several local churches.
"As much as I enjoy the pastor position - being in the pulpit, I'm blessed because I have the best of both worlds," he said. "I preach to people who are lost and struggling, but in my day-to-day job, that's what I do firsthand."
In his free time, Gleason said he continues work, but at home, it's more therapeutic to work in the yard, gardening and remodeling. He and his wife bought a cheese factory in Oakley in 2014, which has been their "project home." He said he's a thrifty person who has always been resourceful, likely from more than 20 years of working with shelters and always trying to be a good steward of nonprofit dollars.
He said "things" aren't really important to him, and instead he's found happiness in life beyond material items. Gleason enjoys spending time with his family, his two step-daughters, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Talking about Gleason's future, he said he's likely a person who will never truly retire, although he sees himself slowing down at some point and stepping back.
"I've never been good at balancing work and home - I know that," he said.
He identified the scripture that always stays with him: "There will always be poor among us - we have an obligation to open our hand to them and to reach out to them."
And in his work, he said he does see people who remind him of himself, a man who was once broken but determined to change and do better.
"I've walked that journey," he said. "There was a time I believed foolishly that I was experienced and I could teach - I'm not the teacher. I'm a student as much as they are."