In the last year seven families were pregnant during their time with the Salem Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN), six homeless families and one executive director. Only one gave birth while a part of IHN. I hope this does not ruin their announcement, but Andy Lane and his wife are the proud parents of a beautiful baby girl! Her birth signified a lot of changes in a lot of lives. Andy resigned his position with the IHN to spend more time with his family and I stepped into his position.

For those of you who don’t know me, I am Salem native, graduate of North Salem High School, Portland State University and former youth director at First Presbyterian church of Salem. I spent the last six years based in San Diego, California, working with Amor Ministries, doing church development over North America.

I moved back to Salem in December with a heart and passion to make a difference in the community. Like many of you, I am a strong supporter of this organization. When I heard about the open position my heart jumped! I’m passionate about the mission to engage the faith community to come together and provide safe and warm shelter for homeless families.

It is an honor to serve as the new Executive Director for Salem Interfaith Hospitality Network. In this position I plan to continue regular correspondence to keep you informed of the mission, family stories, successes and needs.

As the Executive Director, I have the opportunity to work closely with families, staff, volunteers, churches, and stakeholders throughout Salem. My role will be to share the vision of the IHN, build on our solid foundation while expanding the momentum from Andrew Lane’s leadership. We have incredible opportunities for growth through solid congregational support, an active Board of Directors, full-time case manager and two support positions

My goals in the upcoming year are to:

• Ensure the continued success of our families.
• Become known as an empowering resource for the faith community.
• Recruit and retain the absolutely best congregations to support the IHN.

As we make this transition, Salem Interfaith Hospitality Network is in a healthy place. We are looking ahead to see how we can deliver an even better program. Thank you for your continuing support of this ministry. I am excited to serve with you.

T.J. Putman

London-based Christian pop/folk performers Newsong Group are coming to Salem for a concert to benefit Salem Interfaith Hospitality Network and Marion-Polk Food Share. This fundraising event is September 9th at 7 PM at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church. A donation of a can or box of food will get you into the concert and a freewill offering during the performance will be fully donated to Salem IHN.

Salem is just one stop on Newsong Group’s West Coast tour promoting their new CD UpBeats: Songs with Spirit. We hope you’ll attend and support this worthy cause! For more information contact Salem IHN.

Join us before the concert for an appetizer reception to talk with Newsong Group, Salem IHN staff and board. This is a great chance to connect with the Salem IHN community and organization.

Salem IHN is hosting our Spring Dessert on Thursday, May 26 7:00 PM at Mission Mill Museum. If you are interested in attending or hosting a table at this event send an email to: rsvp@salemihn.org.

This is a great evening to share stories of success with the families and congregations that we work with each day at Salem IHN. I hope that you can join us for dessert, hearing of stories and what we do, and the opportunity to support Salem IHN financially.