2020
ANNUAL REPORT
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Five years ago Brian combined his passion for justice and helping children by becoming a Family Promise volunteer. His congregation, St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church, partners with two other churches to provide shelter for families suffering from homelessness.
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Over the years, Brian has eagerly embraced his duties, which vary from sleeping overnight in the church, preparing meals, and organizing volunteers. Through it all he continues to hold the joy of a compassionate heart and a giving spirit.
The best part for Brian is playing with the children. He loves to engage the older ones in a game or a conversation, and he reads stories to the younger children. If he can bring a little laughter and fun into their lives, the night has been a success.
COVID-19 has not slowed Brian's generous heart one bit. When Family Promise asked if his church could take on an extra week of meal delivery for the IHN families, he answered, “Of course. If need be I’ll cook them all myself.”
Before we became involved with Family Promise, we were not in a good place. We could not find employment, and we were evicted from our family home. We jumped from houses of relatives and friends, but nothing was long term. We even slept in our vehicle. We went through tremendous hardship during this process.
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After working with Family promise, our lives were instantly changed. We had a safe place to sleep at night and my husband and I both found employment. After about two months looking for a home, our prayers were answered again: we found a home.
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Today, our goal is to keep our house and jobs, so we can maintain our family stability.We have learned a lot through this difficult time, and many people are currently going through these same hardships. There are still many people without hope and living on the street. Our hearts go out to those in need.
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We will never forget who helped us along the way.
WILDFIRE RELIEF
The wildfires disaster has taken our housing crisis response to a new level. Faster than we imagined, hotels in our area filled to capacity as fire refugees sorted out their next steps.
COVID-19 complicated our community’s recovery and rebuilding efforts. However, we are grateful
Family Promise was able to jump in and be part of the solution that negatively impacted many of our neighbors.
Restoring communities like Detroit, Gates, Mill City, Stayton, and Silverton to their previous strength is likely the longest portion of a long post-disaster road. We're thankful that our work at Family Promise was able to provide emergency shelter or a few months of rental assistance to help stabilize our neighbors.
NEW TRANSITIONAL HOMES
Thanks to funding from our local faith community, we were able to continue our emergency shelter services and rent multiple homes in the Salem area. Over 75 of our neighbors had a safe place to sleep because of this effort.
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Madison and her three children celebrated 2020 in their own home.
Madison and her three children came to Family Promise when they were facing homelessness after Madison could not find a job. Madison recovered quickly after receiving our homelessness prevention funds, which helped Madison and her family with the first month’s rent and deposit for their new apartment. This allowed Madison to regain stability and achieve lasting independence.
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Your support makes it possible for Family Promise to continue helping families like Madison’s every day with shelter, homelessness prevention, and stabilization.
Four-year-old Breelynn cherishes the Minnie Mouse doll she received as a a guest of Family Promise.
Breelynn and her family were living in a hotel when they found Family Promise. Her Minnie Mouse doll became a constant companion and source of comfort during this
uncertain time. With the help and services of Family Promise, Breelynn’s life returned to normal. Breelynn’s story is one of the hundreds that begins at Family Promise each year. Every story is a gift, and these gifts are made possible by supporters of Family Promise.
Thank you to Temple Beth Sholom for your lasting support for our newly resettled refugee neighbors.
In our partnership with Salem for Refugees, Family Promise was able to provide rental assistance subsidies and ongoing case management to support our new neighbors. This assistance enabled families to transition from resettlement agency services and receive tools to thrive in our community.
Directors Letter
We began 2020 in typical fashion. We had great plans to house and stabilize more families and to invest more resources in homelessness prevention. To do this would require Family Promise to raise more funds, engage more volunteers, and develop stronger partnerships than ever before, and we had solid strategies and a clear path forward.
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For the first two months of 2020, help from supporters like you enabled our plans to be successful, and we made tremendous progress. Then came COVID-19 and everything changed.
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We faced new challenges, but we kept true to Family Promise’s vision. Our goal, at its core, is to mobilize our faith community to help provide a home for every child in the Mid-Valley. This means removing barriers that prevent families from accessing their inner strength and providing a clear path forward as families work toward
self-sufficiency.
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As our organization presses forward, we reflect on the definition of resiliency—that is, robust, strong, able to withstand. The stories and statistics highlighted throughout our report speak to our mission: We are congregations practicing hospitality to stand together against homelessness and see lives changed; including our own.
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Although we will face challenges in the year to come, our commitment to this goal remains unwavering.
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We are so grateful and proud to have your support.
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Thank you for standing and serving with us as we build a community where every child has a home.
Warmly,
T.J. Putman
Executive Director
OUR BOARD
Dwayne Hilty, Chair
McLeod Group
Darcy French, Treasurer
Oregon Department of Transportation
Cherie Renae Atiyeh
Cherie Renae Studios
Mat Nyquist
Mental Health Counselor
The Rev. Anne Emry
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Miriam Haugen, Vice Chair
Haugen's Galleri Portrait Studio
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Michael Lamb, Secretary
Retired Actuary
& Seminary Student
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Carl Cramer
Marion County
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Gigi Merrill
Oregon Dept. of Justice
OUR STAFF
Kelsy Kangail
Executive Assistant
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Doug Odell
Program Manager
Tami Huston
Family Case Manager
Maya Jaramillo
MSW Intern
Hosting
Congregations
Holy Cross Lutheran
Our Savior’s Lutheran
Queen of Peace Catholic Church
St. Mark Lutheran Church
Trinity Covenant Church
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Salem
Westminster Presbyterian Church
St. Edward Catholic Church
Salem First Free Methodist Church
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
St. Joseph Catholic Church
First United Methodist Church
First Congregational United Church of Christ
Christ’s Church
Salem First Presbyterian Church
T.J. Putman
Executive Director
Julie Brown
Strategic Initiatives
Megan Jones
Program Coordinator
Supporting
Congregations
Keizer Christian Church
Salem Alliance Church
First Church of Christ, Scientist
Calvary Baptist Church of Salem
Peace Lutheran Church
To God Be the Glory
Salem Mennonite Church
St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church
St. John’s Lutheran Church
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: Battlecreek, Brush Hills, Chapman Hill, Cooper Hollow, Eola Hills,
Glen Creek, Monmouth 1st, Monmouth 3rd, Oakdale, and Perrydale wards
St. Hilda’s Episcopal Church
Dallas First Presbyterian Church
Trinity Lutheran Church
Temple Beth Sholom
First Baptist Church of Independence
Manantial de Aguas Vivas
First Christian Church
2020 Financial Overview
Income
Expenses
PREVENTION
COVID-19 was hard on some of our neighbors. Of the 250 people we served in December, households were over $1,100 behind on rent and $300 behind on their utilities. The threat of crisis looms closely for too many families. Preventing families from spiraling into homelessness is an essential part of the Family Promise mission.
We offered strategies to ensure the people we serve do not fall into the cycle of housing instability that can devastate families and alter the course for the next generation. This included providing rental assistance and landlord mediation, and community-based approaches that keep families housed.
STABILIZATION
In 2020 we learned that if you have housing, you have healthcare. Our world was destabilized because of COVID-19 and everyone needed a safe place to call home. Our homelessness stabilization program created the basis for security and stability that separates families
from poverty and allows them and their children to aspire to the future every child deserves.
SHELTER
In 2020 we changed our rotational shelter program to a static site model. Thankfully, the engagement of our faith community and other community partners did not change. We secured multiple sites around town for families to stay when they entered the crisis of
homelessness.
Volunteers connected families to the community, lending their passion and prayers to help families get back on their feet. Volunteers are the core of this program and provided every item for the new shelter; they provided funding, food, and encouragement
that helped families move forward. The families we served were able to create a home—and a community—for families with no place left to turn.
Envisioning a nation where every family has a home, a livelihood, and the chance to build a better future.
We help families experiencing homelessness and low-income families achieve sustainable independence through a community-based response.