Meteor.startup(function () { Template.current_release.created = function () { this.release = function () { return Releases.find({read: false}).fetch()[0]; }; }; Template.current_release.helpers({ current_release: function () { return Template.instance().release(); } }); Template.current_release.events({ 'click .release-dismiss': function (event, instance) { event.preventDefault(); Releases.update(instance.release()._id, {$set: {read: true}}); } }); });