Projects
Bulldozing Project At The Silver Center
House Painting Project In Sheridan
Stepping Out Steps Up
Published: September 19, 2006
By PAUL DAQUILANTE
Of the News-Register
SHERIDAN - Portlanders Joyce and Leo Blondo couldn't afford to re-do the
20-year-old paint job on their summer residence in Sheridan. So their
next-door neighbors, Steve and Tammie Silver of Salem-based Stepping Out
Ministries, brought a crew in and had it done for them.
Not just any crew, either. Stepping Out serves recently released felons
in need of transitional housing while they put their lives back
together, a category that includes sex offenders.
Joyce Blondo's parents bought the Faulconer Street house in the
mid-'60s.
She inherited it after they died and has been using it as a summer
refuge. She and her husband enjoy coming down to tend the half-acre
vegetable garden, often with the help of their grandchildren.
Blondo said it had been about 20 years since the house had gotten a good
coat of paint, so they knew repainting was a pressing need. She said
they kept putting it off because it didn't fit into their budget.
Earlier this year, McMinnville businessman John Boersma, no relation to
the Boersmas who own Boersma's Sewing Center downtown, helped Stepping
Out buy the triple-wide manufactured home next door. A devout Christian
long involved in faith-based programs aimed at rehabilitating felons, he
envisioned a halfway house like ones faith-based Stepping Out has long
operated in Salem.
However, when the Silvers converted the triple-wide into a halfway house
in Sheridan, and offered shelter to several registered sex offenders, a
storm of opposition swept the community. Heated community confrontations
and an adverse legal ruling by the city eventually forced the recently
released felons out, though the Silvers have continued to maintain their
residency.
Blondo shares a deep Christian faith with Boersma and Silver, so she
harbored mixed feelings about the halfway house project. While she
opposed it personally, mainly out of fear for the safety of her
grandchildren, she was distressed by the sometimes hateful and vengeful
tenor of the opposition.
A community meeting held in the front yard of the Silver residence had
to be shut down early by Silver himself out of fear for his and his
wife's safety.
Since Blondo was an opponent, she figured the Silvers would lump her in
with the hostile crowd and avoid making any neighborly contact. "I was
thinking Steve and Tammie wouldn't even want to talk to me," she said.
Happily for all concerned, Blondo was wrong about that.
"I was taking the garbage out one day," she said, "when Steve came out
and said, 'I don't suppose you want to talk to me.' I said, 'Of course
I'll talk to you, Steve.'"
She told him that as a fellow Christian, she supported what he and his
wife were attempting to accomplish.
She said her concern was limited to the safety of her grandchildren, who
like to visit while she and her husband are summering in Sheridan.
Blondo said Silver thanked her for her willingness to listen and went on
to explain what Stepping Out Ministries was all about.
A couple of weeks later, Blondo and Silver crossed paths again. And he
took the opportunity to ask if she and her husband would like their
house painted.
Blondo told him she knew it needed painting, but couldn't afford to have
it done.
Silver said he wasn't looking for paid work for the men in his program,
rather for a service opportunity. He said there would be no charge.
"I talked to my husband," Blondo said, "because I had reservations about
someone doing a job like that for free. But I knew residents of these
places got involved in community service work. Steve said we could make
a donation to the ministry. We agreed that it would be done."
The Silvers brought in former residents of the Sheridan halfway house,
current and former members of their Salem halfway houses and other
Stepping Out leaders. In no time, it was mission accomplished.
"We're glad to have the opportunity to give back to the community,"
Silver said. "It's what we tell people in the community we want to do.
If they don't believe our words, they can watch our actions.
"These are the kind of projects we want to do in order to give back to
the community. We were takers at one time, and now we want to be givers.
The men look forward to these opportunities."
The Blondos were overjoyed.
Tammie Silver said it wasn't the first time men from Stepping Out had
tackled a project like this. In previous projects, they had painted a
church, a retreat and another house, painted over graffiti and fenced a
home, she said
"The main thing is to teach these men to give back to society, and show
society they are trying to be productive citizens," she said. "They want
to show they no longer are taking from the system. They are giving
back."
Raymond, a member of the painting crew who asked that his last name not
be used, said he had moved into one of Stepping Out's Salem houses after
wrapping up a six-year prison term with a stay in the Marion County Work
Release Center.
"This is what I was called to do today," he said. "I was one of the
first ones to raise my hand."
He said he had hoped to relocate to Arizona and move in with his father.
He said he even had a job waiting there. However, those plans never
materialized. So he is determined to get on the straight and narrow on
his own, here in Oregon.
Raymond said he had secured a safe place to live, landed a full-time job
and embraced the Christian faith.
"I just had a huge change of heart," he said. "Deep inside, I started
crying out. Then I started crying out physically. It was time to turn my
life around."
Richard, another painting crew member who asked that his last name be
withheld, said he became a house manager at one of Stepping Out's Salem
facilities in February.
He said he jumped at the chance to help paint the Blondos' house,
viewing it as an opportunity to give back. He knew the couple would have
a hard time pulling it off themselves, he said, so he was happy to help.
"I've been in prison, been there and done that," Richard said. "I know
what it's like. People can say whatever they want to about people who
have been to prison and the crimes they have committed.
"But I'll tell you something. It takes a real man to make change. I'm
here today to help. I'm not who I once was. I'm trying to help others
change and grow and learn what it will take to integrate back into
society."