Letter to the Community
Dearest Community,
I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you. Thank you for your constant support, feedback, and love for our center.
A building is only as strong as its foundation. At Salus, we took this saying to heart as we entered 2024. We know our organization’s history has been described as a turbulent one. Covid sent many small non-profits into a tailspin. For us, survival has been the focus since 2020. Every decision was made with the hope of keeping the organization running just one more day, every day.
The fact is we could not be where we are without the fundraising efforts of our previous Tri-Directors Oprah, Izze, and Dio in 2020. The funds they raised were essential to keeping our organization running and helped it grow into what it is today. We are forever eternally grateful for their hard work, resilience, and fortitude!
At Salus, we will always firmly advocate for the identities that make us all unique while celebrating the bonds we share as part of this community. We do our best to reflect this in all we are – our programming, events, provided services, along with board and staff recruitments. We have been revamping our policies and procedures to reflect the needs and hopes of everyone we serve. This has made us a stronger, more mission-focused center, the effects of which we’ve already begun to see ripple into our community. We’ve been working diligently, and we cannot thank you all enough for trusting us in this process.
In October of 2023, we were given an amazing opportunity through the Louise Sternberg Impact Fund, funded by her family and distributed by leaders at Edgewood United Church. This grant allowed us to begin a thorough strategic planning process. Early this year, we sent out a community engagement survey as the first step of this process. A huge thank you to all who participated! The feedback we received from all of you guided our discussions and decisions during our board and staff retreat weekend this past April. It was through this lens that we created revised mission, vision, and values statements for Salus:
Mission: To build and serve an inclusive 2SLGBTQIA+ community in the greater Lansing area.
Vision: We envision a greater Lansing community where 2SLGBTQIA+ people thrive as our whole, authentic selves.
Values: Liberation & Intersectional Advocacy, Inclusion & Affirmation, Community & Safety
These are more than just statements to us - they are the principles upon which we have grounded ourselves as an organization to continue our trajectory upward and foster a culture that reflects and honors these words. As a team, we constructed a three-year strategic plan to grow our center and better serve this amazing community we get to be a part of. This includes expanding our programming to better support our peoples’ many identities, fostering closer relationships with our valued donors and community partners, and eventually hiring more staff to further service the greater Lansing area as your 2SLGBTQIA+ resource center.
We are on a momentum forward to continue growing our center in ways that will bring safety, inclusivity, and joy to greater Lansing’s 2SLGBTQIA+ peoples. We cannot do this work without you! Please continue to give us your suggestions, requests, and feedback as it only allows us to better serve you! The best ways to reach us currently are by coming to an event or emailing us at info@saluscenter.org.
Again, thank you for your love and support of Salus. We are so proud to serve this community and I, personally, am so honored to be part of this organization.
In Solidarity,
KC Garcia
Salus Board President
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