Church at the Park, 2410 Turner Road SE, Salem, OR (2026)

10/09/2026

We’re deeply grateful to every sponsor supporting Welcome to the Table on October 15. Your partnership is more than event support—it reflects a shared belief that every person deserves dignity, belonging, and a place at the table.
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Thank you to the generous sponsors of Welcome to the Table 2026.

We’re honored by the businesses, organizations, congregations, and community partners who have chosen to invest in Church at the Park and in the people we serve. Your support helps make space for practical care, connection, and the long-term work of walking alongside our unhoused neighbors as they pursue stability, community, and home.

Thank you to:

Mountain West Center For Community Excellence
Dalke Construction Co., Inc.
Pioneer Trust Bank
REDW Advisors & CPAs
Willamette Health Council
Huggins Insurance
bau Oregon, Inc.
PacificSource Health Plans
Kaiser Permanente
Kithkin Real Estate
CB Two Architects
Valley Credit Union
Curandi Human Service Network
TeamLogic IT
Saint Mark Lutheran Church
Green Acres Landscape, Inc.
The Ike Box
Wild Pear Restaurant & Catering
Eola Hills W**e Cellars
Compass Visuals and its umbrella of specialized divisions

Our lunch gathering is now full—thank you! There are still seats available for dinner on October 15. Join us for an evening of good food, meaningful stories, and a shared commitment to building a community where all are welcome.

Reserve dinner tickets at the link in our bio, or here: secure.qgiv.com/for/churchatthepark/event/wttt26dinner

10/09/2026

Nineteen years ago, it was twenty neighbors and a potluck in the park. The table has been getting longer ever since. Come take a seat with us on October 15 at Mission Mill. There's still room at dinner.

🔗 Details and RSVP: https://www.church-at-the-park.org/welcomeevent (also in our Insta bio)

10/04/2026

October 10–11 is the Weekend to End Homelessness.

Across the country, the National Faith Coalition to End Homelessness is inviting congregations to consider a simple but urgent question: What does it mean to help make sure everyone has a place to call home?

The Weekend to End Homelessness is an opportunity for faith communities to learn, reflect, pray, and take action alongside people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity. It is also a chance to move beyond the stories and assumptions that can keep us from seeing one another fully—and toward the work of building communities rooted in housing, belonging, dignity, and care.

At Church at the Park, we know homelessness is not an individual failure. It is the result of systems and circumstances that leave too many of our neighbors without stable housing, safety, or support. We believe every person belongs, and that lasting change happens when communities listen, build relationships, and work together toward solutions.

We invite local congregations and community members to take part October 10–11. Explore free resources, worship materials, and ways to engage through the National Faith Coalition to End Homelessness:

https://www.nfceh.org/weekend

10/02/2026

From Jordan Newton, Workforce Development Manager:

"The last two weeks we launched our first ever church at the park workforce program Boot Camp. Boot Camp is an intentionally challenging 2 week experience to jump start our guests into early mornings, healthy routines, physical labor, team building, the power of gratitude, and owning their own stories. This experience is paid and is the gateway into orientation into our WDP before they start our new, Chemeketa partnered, culinary program.

Today (Thursday) we wrap up Boot Camp and we have completed four days of community service with the Salem parks department, four days of workouts, and jumpstarted everyone’s healing journey.

I’m so very proud of the work that they’ve done both in service learning and in choosing growth mindsets and their own future. These guests have been through a lot of hardship in their life, which has resulted in them being sheltered with us, but they’re not blaming anyone, they’re just ready to climb the next mountain."

09/26/2026

Church at the Park and Mary’s House of Hope are coming together for a rummage sale this October, and we’re collecting donations now.

If you have gently used clothing, home goods, toys, or linens to share, please drop them off September 22–October 10, between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., at 385 River Street NE, Salem, OR 97301. Donations are welcome Monday through Sunday. If no volunteer is present, please leave items by the carport.

To arrange a drop-off, call Mary at 503-884-3764 or Elmarie at 971-372-0701, or email [email protected].

Proceeds from the sale will help provide meals, warm clothing, gifts, and other items for local families during the holidays. Thank you for being part of this community effort!

09/15/2026

Interested in becoming a Community Health Worker?

Church at the Park is offering a six-week Community Health Worker (CHW) Training for people who are passionate about supporting neighbors experiencing homelessness and complex health needs in Marion and Polk counties.

Community Health Workers bring lived experience, cultural knowledge, language, and trusted relationships to their work. They help people navigate healthcare and services, build confidence, access resources, and identify the health needs that matter most in their own communities.

This interactive training is built around the idea that participants are both teachers and learners. Together, the cohort will explore practical skills in communication, advocacy, health access, mental-health promotion, substance-use recovery, community engagement, self-care, and more.

The course includes:

Five consecutive in-person training days
Five additional in-person Tuesday sessions
Four online learning sessions and homework
A certificate of completion for participants who meet attendance and course requirements

Scholarships are available, while funds last, for qualifying participants experiencing systemic barriers, including people from low-income backgrounds, formerly incarcerated individuals, racial and ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ community members.

We want this training to be accessible. If you need help with technology access or accommodations, please contact our training team at [email protected].

Learn more and sign up: churchatthepark.org/chwtraining

09/01/2026

Back to School Supply Drive

Kids staying as guests at our Family Site are getting ready for a new school year — and we'd love your help making sure they walk in with everything they need.

We're collecting 50 each of:
- Spiral-bound lined notebooks (70 or 80 pages)
- Safety scissors
- White glue (Elmer's-style)
- 24-count crayon packs
- Household-size tissue boxes
- Refillable water bottles of each

Easiest way to give: shop our Amazon list and ship directly to us → https://a.co/05Ztzh5k

Ship to:
Elmarie Parker
3749 Portland Rd. NE
Salem, OR 97301

Questions? Reach Chaplain Elmarie at [email protected] or 971-372-0701.

Every notebook and glue stick is a small vote of confidence in a kid who's ready to learn. Thanks for showing up for our neighbors.

08/28/2026

To everyone who followed along with us this week: thank you.

Supportive Housing Week isn't really about a hashtag or a calendar date — it's an invitation to slow down and actually understand a model of care that, when done right, changes lives in lasting ways.

This week we talked about housing, choice, dignity, accountability, relationship, and community. We talked about what supportive housing is, why permanence matters, the scale of need nationally and locally, who this work is built for, and the community connections that make it succeed. But underneath all of it is a simple question worth sitting with: what does it mean to belong to a community where someone doesn't have to be "fixed" before they're welcomed home?

None of that understanding happens without people like you taking the time to read, share, and ask questions. Awareness is often the first step toward real, sustained support, whether that's advocacy, volunteering, or simply talking about this work more accurately with the people in your life.

Permanent Supportive Housing is one of four core focuses in our own work, alongside Collaborative Outreach and Navigation, Housing-Focused Sheltering, and Workforce Development. We're committed to this work not just during designated weeks, but all year, because the need doesn't take a break, and neither do the people doing the work of rebuilding their lives. This work is never done alone. It takes all of us willing to keep showing up, whether that looks like volunteering your time, donating to sustain programs like the Coral Women's House, sharing what you learned this week with someone else, or simply checking in on a neighbor.

find out how to get involved at churchatthepark.org

We're grateful for this community, grateful for our neighbors who trust us with their stories, and grateful for supporters like you who help make this work sustainable.

Here's to more people having a place to call home, and to the communities that help make that possible.

08/28/2026

Pictured: Coral Women's House Staff

Supportive housing isn't a building. It's a network — and sometimes, it's a person sitting with you for hours, listening to your story.

At its best, this model only works because a whole network shows up: case managers, peer support, healthcare providers, chaplains, and neighbors willing to welcome someone back into community. Residents themselves are part of that network too. Our tenants aren't simply receiving support; they're neighbors who show up for one another every day. Quality standards for supportive housing call for exactly this: housing paired with a real community of support, not isolation.

We saw this recently at Coral House. Jess, our chaplain there, shared about Kathy (name changed), one of our longest-tenured residents. Health struggles had made it hard for Kathy to keep up with her space, and her room had slowly filled with belongings she couldn't manage alone. She hadn't slept on her actual bed in years, resting instead on a mat laid over the piles.

Our team came alongside her, not to fix her space for her, but with her. Support isn't something we do to people, it's something we do with them. They listened, gave her choices, respected what mattered to her, and stayed alongside her while she did something genuinely difficult. Together, they organized her belongings, cleared roughly 50 bags of garbage, and kept what mattered safe. Kathy got a new mattress and, finally, a real night's sleep.

But the team will tell you the best part wasn't the organizing, it was the hours spent listening. Every item in Kathy's room held a memory, a person, a chapter of her life. Sorting through her belongings became sorting through her story, together.

That's the piece of supportive housing that's hardest to measure and easiest to miss. Sometimes support means helping someone do something they couldn't do alone. Sometimes it means sitting beside them while they figure out what they want. And sometimes, it simply means staying. During Supportive Housing Week, we wanted to highlight this specifically, because Kathy's story is a reminder that stability isn't just square footage. It's being seen.

08/27/2026

Photo Credit: Coral Women's House resident Julie

Numbers can feel abstract until you see what they mean right here at home.

In our own community, the 2025 Point-in-Time Count found 2,154 people across Marion and Polk Counties experiencing homelessness — 953 of them unsheltered, sleeping outside, in cars, or in places never meant for people to live. These aren't distant statistics from another state; these are our neighbors, the people we pass on our streets every day.

At the same time, there are real signs that coordinated investment in permanent supportive housing works. Statewide, Oregon Housing and Community Services reports that 86% of households served through its homelessness programs remain stabilized in housing for six months or longer, and permanent supportive housing funded through the state has helped rehouse thousands of Oregonians experiencing unsheltered homelessness. Just north of us, in the Portland metro region, an average of 92% of households placed in permanent supportive housing stayed housed a full year later — proof that when housing is paired with the right ongoing support, people don't just move in, they stay housed.

Behind every percentage is a person who had somewhere safe to return to. Someone who had the stability to address a health concern, reconnect with family, pursue work, or simply rest. The numbers show us the outcomes, and the human stories tell us what those outcomes can mean.

That's the outcome we're working toward here in Marion and Polk Counties too. And it's worth naming clearly: outcomes like these are rarely created by one program or one person. It takes tenants, housing staff, case managers, peer supports, chaplains offering spiritual care, healthcare providers, community partners, donors, and neighbors like you. These numbers reflect a community effort, not a solo one.

Every one of these numbers represents someone with a name, a story, and a life they're working to rebuild. That's exactly why this work matters, and why we're grateful for a community that shows up for it.

Sources:
Marion County 2026-2030 Consolidated Plan (2025 PIT Count)
Metro Supportive Housing Services Regional Annual Report

Church at the Park

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