Template.textDialog.helpers({ value: function(){ var fieldSelector = {fields: {}}; fieldSelector.fields[this.field] = 1; var char = Characters.findOne(this.charId, fieldSelector); return char[this.field]; } }); Template.textDialogEdit.helpers({ value: function(){ var fieldSelector = {fields: {}}; fieldSelector.fields[this.field] = 1; var char = Characters.findOne(this.charId, fieldSelector); return char[this.field]; } }); Template.textDialogEdit.events({ "input #textInput": _.debounce(function(event){ var input = event.currentTarget.value; Characters.update(this.charId, { $set: {[this.field]: input} }, { removeEmptyStrings: false, trimStrings: false, }); }, 300), });