COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER - August 11
10 THINGS WORTH HIGHLIGHTING THIS WEEK . . .
1.
THANKS TO SALEM HEALTH FOR PARTNERING WITH C@P
C@P was awarded $30,000 to continue our work of offering holistic shelter by furthering our efforts at integrating health care navigation services and housing case management to decrease homelessness. Funding from Salem Health will support our Community Health Case Manager to work alongside guests to take their next steps toward stability. The Case Manager will help unsheltered individuals to sign up for OHP, establish medical care routines, stabilize their health conditions, reduce their use of emergency systems, and transition to more stable housing.
Thank you Salem Health!
2.
HUMANITY OF HOMELESSNESS
Re-introducing a familiar face - Stacy, who was formerly camping at Cascades Gateway Park and is now a resident at one of our shelters.
Salem Reporter did a piece on the reopening of the park and interviewed Stacy (see the next story in the newsletter).
“After he started coming to Church at the Park’s Turner Road facility, employees there helped him get his driver’s license and paperwork in order. He recently moved into Village of Hope, the church’s micro shelter site in northeast Salem, and said he now gets enough to eat and is on waitlists for his own apartment.”
“I love it,” he said of the micro shelter. “It’s one step toward getting my own place”
Stacy brings joy to the people around him and we are excited to see him make positive steps.
3.
SALEM REPORTER ARTICLE FOCUSES ON
THE RE-OPENING OF CASCADES GATEWAY PARK
4.
STAFF HIGHLIGHT
Meet Tabitha. Tabitha does reception at Village of Hope. Here is what Micaela had to say about her: “Tabitha is such a joy to work with, she is such a caring person always willing to help wherever she is needed. She helps all guests that come in with a smile on her face. Guests tend to come in and ask for Tabi, even if it's just to say hi and make sure she is having a good day just as she does for everyone. I am so glad to have a person like Tabi on board, who is had a willingness to learn more and have the knowledge she needs to help those we serve most.
Big shout out to Tabitha for being such a welcoming and helpful presence for our guests!
5.
HUMANITY OF HOMELESSNESS : STORYTELLING EVENT
We are excited to invite the community to our next Storytelling event. The event will feature stories from people with lived experience of homelessness, time for Q&A, and an opportunity for people to engage with C@P staff and other community members. Our first Storytelling event, held in June at Willamette University, was an enriching experience for the community.
Thursday, September 29 7:00-9:00PM IKE Box - 299 Cottage St NE RSVP required
The event is free. Light appetizers and drinks will be provided.
6.
OPEN HOUSE AT THE NEW VILLAGE OF HOPE!
Work is underway to prepare the site on Center Street for Village of Hope’s big move.
The date for the grand opening:
Sunday, September 11th
1:00PM to 3:00PM and 5:00PM to 7:00PM
This is a time for neighbors, supporters, and other interested parties to come and see the new site and to hear from staff about how the site will operate.
7.
YOU CAN NOW DONATE TO C@P FROM YOUR BottleDrop ACCOUNT
If you use BottleDrop Green Bags to recycle your cans and bottles, you can now donate directly to C@P from your account. Here’s how:
Use the button below to go to BottleDropCenters.com (these instructions are only for the website, not the app).
If you’ve already created an account, use the ‘Login’ button to access your account. If you haven’t created an online account, you’ll need to do that first.
You’ll see a section titled “Donate from your Balance. Use Give.” Below that, click ‘View Details’
Click on ‘Search Nonprofits’
Enter ‘Church At The Park’ into the search box and hit ‘Enter’
Scroll to find ‘Church At The Park’
Click ‘Learn More About Church At The Park’
Click ‘Donate Now’
Enter the amount you would like to donate from your account and click ‘Donate Now’
That’s it. You should receive a confirmation email.
If you do not have a BottleDrop account, but would still like to donate your recyclables to C@P, we have green bags with tags on them that we can share. Come pick up some bags at our Front Street office, fill them up with cans, and then drop the bags off at any BottleDrop location. If you are interested in picking up bags:
8.
INVITATIONS
SATURDAY MEAL PARTNERS NEEDED. We are looking for people to cook/serve meals on the 3rd, 4th, or 5th Saturday of the month. If you are interested, please contact us by using the button below.
READY-TO-EAT FOODS/SNACKS NEEDED. We have a need for non-perishable foods and snacks that are ready to eat. We provide our guests with one cooked meal per day. Our sites also provide snacks and ready-to-eat foods, along with microwaves available for guests to use throughout the day. We are currently running low on food items such as: microwavable mac and cheese, soups, noodle cups, etc. Donations can be dropped off behind Catholic Community Services at 3737 Portland Rd NE.
TOUR ONE OF OUR MICRO-SHELTER SITES. One of the best ways to see and learn about the work being done at C@P is by joining us on a tour of our CCS Micro-Shelter Site. If you know someone who has questions or concerns about what we are doing, invite them to join you on a tour. You’ll get to converse with one of our leaders, talk with some of our on site staff, and see firsthand what life at one of our sites is like. Tours are offered every Thursday at 1:30PM. Use the link below to email Krystal to inquire or sign-up.
9.
NEW BOOK ABOUT ENDING HOMELESSNESS
Author Kevin Nye, a social worker, writer, and advocate in Los Angeles, wrote a book on ending homelessness, which came out yesterday.
Religion News featured an interview with Kevin on their website. From the interview: “When we encounter Christ in the face of the poor, we shouldn’t so much seek to transform them, but to be transformed ourselves,” Nye advises in the book’s opening chapter, using insights from years of firsthand experience as a homeless services worker in Los Angeles as well as from his theological training. If anyone is interested in reading the book together, or reading it and leading a book study in your community, let us know.
10.
LECTIONARY REFLECTION
Each week, C@P staff engage with a reading in the Gospels from the lectionary. This week’s reading is from Luke 12 and includes some difficult, seemingly contradictory words from Jesus. “Do you think that I have come to bring peace? I have come to bring division!” What comes to mind when we think of peace? A peace that is nothing more than the absence of conflict? A peace that wants the superficial, or the status quo, to go undisturbed? A peace that does not seek repair or reconciliation, but only the elimination of the persons or events that we feel are the causes of conflict? Or does peace just mean my preferences prevailing over that of my foes? One author writes, “One of the titles by which Jesus is known is Prince of Peace, and he used the word himself in what seem at first glance to be two radically contradictory utterances. On one occasion he said to the disciples, ‘Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword’ (Matthew 10:34). And later on, the last time they ate together, he said to them, ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you’ (John 14:27).”
“The contradiction is resolved when you realize that, for Jesus, peace seems to have meant not the absence of struggle, but the presence of love.” The Prayer of St. Francis, also known as “The Peace Prayer”, can be a helpful tool for prayer and guidance as we strive to be peacemakers in our community. Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.
Jesus, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.