This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

A couple Sundays ago at our church – Salem Alliance Church – the speaker gave a couple of startling stats about students in the Salem-Keizer School District, Oregon’s second largest.

The context:  The speaker is in charge of our church’s outreach to our neighbors, a task which I report has gone very well over the last 20 years.

More about the stats later.

The goal of our work at Salem Alliance is to illustrate that being in tune with God means reaching out to people where they live and work in order to “earn the right to be heard.”  Several prime examples:

• A group that chops wood – the Order of Red Suspenders — and delivers the results to the home of persons who may be cold in the winter.

• A furniture-making shop – Sparrow Furniture — that provides jobs, often for immigrants, with the results – furniture – donated to persons in need.

• A program for refugees — Salem for Refugees — that started at the church, but has now branched out beyond church walls.  The name says it all – Salem FOR Refugees.  The goal is to reach out to refugees who have arrived in Salem-Keizer, including Afghans and Ukrainians recently, though many other groups before them.

• A medical and dental clinic — Salem Free Clinic – which involves more than 70 churches in the Salem-Keizer area.  They band together to provide services to persons without care – and there are a lot of such persons in the Salem-Keizer area.  The main clinic venue is a building on the site of Salem Alliance Church.

Now, for the starting stats from the Salem-Keizer School District:

• What ethnicity bears the largest proportion of students in the district?  The answer:  Hispanics at 41 per cent.

• What is the total number of languages spoken by students and families connected with the district?  The answer:  88.  Astonishing!

And just think how realities like this require smart management from those in charge of the school district, as well as, even more importantly, teachers.  Of course, the main language spoken inside a school room is English, perhaps with a smattering of Spanish, depending on the teacher.

But, still, Salem-Keizer is today home for a huge population of immigrants. 

I say welcome them with open arms.

It’s an obligation all of us have.  We need to go beyond the images of immigration promoted by various politicians and respond to immigrants and refugees AS PEOPLE in our midst – in our cities, in our region, in our neighborhoods…and in our school district.