About two dozen organizations, programs, and churches were represented at the first ever Community Resource Roundtable held in Salem Tuesday night.
Angie Courtright of Mission Salem put together the program held at Idyllwood Entertainment Center.
“Applicants need more than just the services we can offer. We would like to be able to refer them and send them in the right direction that they need. We got to talking about what services were offered here in Salem and we realized we didn’t know what we didn’t know so we wanted to bring everybody together. We have a wonderful community of services organizations in Salem, we just wanted to bring them all to the table so we can network and work efficiently with each other so we can do a better job in serving who we serve.”
Courtright hopes to build upon last night’s program where each of the groups gave a brief description of services they provide.
“In the next couple weeks I’m going to reach out to those individuals to get some feedback and we hope to plan some future networking opportunities, some social events and to keep each other updated on what funding is available, what needs are available and how we can work together.”
Those in attendance were the Salem Rotary and Lions, Salem Ministerial Alliance, Salem Chamber of Commerce, The Pregnancy Care Center, Embrace Grace which helps young single mothers, Sleep in Heavenly Peace, YMCA/Salem Recreation Department, Keep Salem Beautiful, the Daffy Dill Garden Club, Modern
Woodman Fraternal organization and the Grace United Methodist Church, St. Theresa's Catholic Church, Trinity United Methodist Church, Marion County Housing Authority, Mission South Central, and the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association that assists veterans from Effingham to Cairo.
Courtright says a number of other groups that could not attend Tuesday night are expected to be part of future events.