Maryland Salem Children's Trust

September 27, 2014

Gerry and I attended the annual "Outspokin' Banquet Fund Raiser" for MD Salem Children's Trust on Saturday, September 27.  It is a fund raiser for the Salem Trust and honors contributors and outstanding friends of the Trust.  Gerry has been a member of Chi Sigma sorority since 1965 and enjoyed belonging to the group all those years.  The sorority performs charitable work, is a big supporter of the Salem Trust, and in addition, a great fellowship organization.

We had an opportunity to try out our new car on some mountains and even a couple 9% grades.  It performed well and handled nicely.  The banquet was held in Bittinger, MD at the Mennonite Church Hall.  We weren't sure how long it would take to drive there and arrived early.  As a matter of fact, we were the first ones there and got a ringside seat. 

 Gerry, Kitty, Louise, Mary, Judy & Marilyn pose for a picture.  Louise was the founder of Salem Trust and retired a few years ago, but came back for the banquet.

 There was a silent auction with some nice things that Gerry had been eyeing.  It turned out that others had the same idea and Gerry came away empty handed, but with some money left in her wallet.  She did set a max limit on one item and then proceeded to bid more than double her original max bid. 

 Chi Sigma was selected as the "Friend Of The Year" award and the members went up and posed with the Executive Director of MD Salem Trust (Todd Meecham) and Kristen Fischetti (cute woman next to Gerry) who was in charge of the event.  Todd outlined all the gifts and support to Salem Trust over the years from the sorority and it was a significant amount.

 Dr. Woodrow Kroll, former president of Back to The Bible Ministry was the speaker.  He gave an inspiring speech relating the overlooked child, mentoring, and nurturing from the bible and as it related to the children in Salem House.  He is an excellent speaker and kept everyone's interest.

One other speaker, Justin, was a past student at Salem who told his story about growing up.  He was abandoned by his mother, grandparents, beaten, treated worse than a dog, moved from foster parent to foster parent and had a miserable life.  Finally at 11 yrs old he came to Salem and they turned his life around.  He is now a Senior at a college and looking to working toward a Master's Degree and PHD.  With his determination, I believe he will make it.  Salem requests that pictures of the students not be posted, otherwise I would show you this fine young man.

 

The school chorus entertained us at the beginning of the banquet and also at the end.  They tried their best and had a couple good singers and were entertaining.

 

 After the banquet we drove to Kitty's summer house in West Virginia and spent the night with her and daughter and son-in-law.  More to come on that.

 

I took the following from the Salem Trust webpage in case anyone is interested in learning more about them.

Maryland Salem House 

 

Restoring Hope

The Maryland Salem Children's Trust, Inc., founded and functioning on Christian principles, provides a home, therapy, and educational services to children who have been abused or neglected, or have educational or behavior needs that require a residential or day school placement.
The Maryland Salem Children's Trust is licensed by the Maryland Department of Human Resources to provide long-term group home care and short-term shelter care to children placed by the Department of Social Services, Department of Juvenile Services and children placed privately by their parent(s).

Set against a backdrop of old-growth cherry, maple, pine and oak trees in the Appalachians and bordered by exquisite Meadow Mountain and pristine state forest in beautiful Garrett County, Salem is a haven for children who have experienced repeated trauma at a young age.

It is a sanctuary whose mission is to glorify God and respect His creation through promoting reconciliation and peace in a broken world.

From its humble beginnings in a single residence over three decades ago to the nine structures now in use and a complete range of therapeutic services, Salem has grown steadily through divine guidance and the help of a world-wide network of friends. In its three and a half decades it has served 700 children between the ages of six and 18.