No one could have convinced Cathy Heying that, at age 38, she’d be sitting alongside men in their late teens and early twenties in the automotive technology program at Dunwoody College.
For years, she worked at St. Stephen Parish in Minneapolis where she repeatedly heard stories from parishioners about the need for affordable car repair. After avoiding many signs from God that she was to fill that need, Heying enrolled in the course in 2008.
Though not the typical profile of an enrollee, she dove headfirst into her studies.
“A couple months in, we were flaring brake lines, and I couldn’t do it,” Heying said. “After class, I kept trying but I just could not get it. I started crying and then felt embarrassed.”
Heying felt as though she was representing all women and felt discouraged that her tears conveyed a stereotype about women.
“I promised myself that I would try, that I would give it everything I had,” Heying said. “I felt that I had really done that and can’t do this, and I just need to be okay with that. That was hard for me to say.”
Heying believes that through her vulnerability, the Holy Spirit worked through her instructor to keep her eyes on the goal.
“You never think that God or the Holy Spirit, or a prophet, is going to show up in the form of an early automotive instructor, but there [Dave Duval] was,” Heying recalled. “He said, ‘You’re smart. You can do this. I have no doubt. You’ve got a great vision and I want to support that.’”
Duval kept his commitment and was there when she crossed the stage to receive her associate degree. In 2013, when Heying founded The Lift, a nonprofit aimed at helping people out of poverty and homelessness by providing low-cost auto repair, free pre-purchase inspections and honest advice, Duval joined the nonprofit as a founding member of the board of directors.
The road to establishing an up-and-running nonprofit garage was not easy. Over multiple cups of coffee with lawyers, members of the city council, executive directors of nonprofits, parish administrators, mechanics and development directors, she gained the knowledge and confidence to continue building the ministry she felt called to create.
“I always say that The Lift would not have existed without a lot of other folks. It’s really the reason we live in community,” Heying said. “There’s beauty to it, and I believe that is why we keep choosing it over and over again. We can’t do it by ourselves. We might be able to do a piece of it, but we just have to be open to the possibilities that open up when we say, ‘I need help.’”
When the first garage door for The Lift opened in 2013, the word about Heying’s work and the work of her team spread faster than expected. In 2015, Heying was named both a CNN Hero and the Irwin Tools Tradesperson of the Year.
In 2018, The Lift purchased its own building at 2401 E. Lake St. in Minneapolis. At that location, the organization continues to serve individuals and families who earn 150 percent of the federal poverty guideline or below.
Heying continues to be fiercely passionate about providing automotive services to individuals and families in need, creating an organization with Catholic social teaching top of mind and witnessing the Holy Spirit work time and again. She’s still keenly aware of the power of prayer — and the signs God will deliver as a result.
“When people will say, ‘well, I’m going to pray about it.’ That’s a serious venture you’re about to get into,” Heying said. “If we have any sense of the possibilities that lie within God and our relationship with God and if we believe — if you’re going to enter prayer with authenticity, you better be ready.”
As part of a Theology on Draft model for young adult ministry started by One in Christ ACC, All Called to Christ ACC and Campus Ministry at Christ Church Newman Center in the St. Cloud area, the Diocese of St. Cloud is joining forces with several young adult ministry groups in three regions of the diocese to bring Heying’s message to local young adults. She will share her story through a presentation titled “From Minister to Mechanic: Finding God in all the places.”
If you go…
Thursday, September 26
7:00-8:30 p.m.
Depot Smokehouse and Tavern
104 Broadway St., Alexandria, MN 56308
Tuesday, October 8
7:30-9 p.m.
Beck’s Burgers,
119 3rd St. NE, Staples, MN 56479
Thursday, November 14
6:00-8 p.m.
El Loro Restaurant
415 N Benton Dr., Sauk Rapids, MN 56379
Pictured above, Cathy Heying in her garage in Minneapolis. (Photos by Dianne Towalski)