Renea Salyer started as The Beaman Home’s new executive director on June 1. InkFreeNews photo by Leah Sander.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Renea Salyer enjoys working with people.

It’s what led her to start in the nonprofit realm.

“I was trying to find a position where I could work with people and kind of use the experiences that I had through real estate and I worked for Housing Opportunities for awhile, and then it … kind of moved into other things,” she said.

Salyer, of Warsaw, started her newest job with a nonprofit as The Beaman Home’s executive director on June 1. The Warsaw organization helps people who have been victims of domestic violence by providing housing and programs to help them recover.

“I think with this role my experience in the business arena and then also running the (Syracuse-Wawasee) Chamber (of Commerce) have really helped me to step into this role. It’s a lot more challenging here. There’s a lot going on at The Beaman Home and with Mary Ann’s Place and they do outreach services and my grant writing experience is very helpful,” she said.

Regarding Salyer’s previous work experience, she became a realtor after being a stay-at-home mom. She then started her work with nonprofits.

Salyer was vice president of and handled member relations for the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce. She followed that with stints at Junior Achievement and Kosciusko Cares Youth Services before becoming the executive director at the Syracuse-Wawasee Chamber of Commerce.

She said The Beaman Home position “chose” her.

“I was hoping that I would find something after leaving the Syracuse Chamber that would be local,” said Salyer. “I was just kind of waiting for that right opportunity and I had known George Brennan who’s on the board and he’s the treasurer of this organization and he called me and he (said), ‘We have an opening. Would you be interested?'” she said.

Salyer was ultimately chosen over several other candidates.

“I think the major goal is really just developing the staff and empowering them more. They’re a great staff. My goal is to really just make sure that we stay full staffed for as long as we can, so just making the staff happy,” she said. “The organization covers Kosciusko County, Marshall County and Fulton County. We have done a little bit of work in the past in those two other counties, but we need to develop that more and raise some awareness, so that’s one of my bigger goals too is to get into those two counties and raise some funds in those counties also.”

She also described what Beaman Home does.

“We are a comprehensive domestic violence service,” she said. “That includes The Beaman Home emergency shelter here and that offers victims of sexual assault, verbal and emotional abuse along with physical abuse a place for hope and healing. And a victim can stay as short as 24 days and up to 45 days and we offer them services to help them rebuild their life, so some can get counseling. There’s case managers that work with them to help them establish all kinds of resources to help them get through the process.”

“Then we also have an outreach program, which is like an outpatient type of thing where our case managers work with people to help them on the outside so they may not necessarily need to come in into the shelter. They just need the help,” added Salyer. “And then of course Mary Ann’s Place, which is our basic needs center where we offer our clients the opportunity to get things at that store and they can earn Mary Ann bucks to help them buy things and then the community can go there and shop and so that money that’s raised through the community shopping is used to continue to make that grow and move forward and also help The Beaman Home.”

Salyer said the average stay for individuals at the home is “about 24 days.”

“If they’re making progress and they need more time, they can stay up to 45 (days),” she said. “So by the time they get to 24 days if they’re in the process of needing to find another place to live, that just gives us time to help them get to that point. We do have a rapid rehousing program … where we help with deposit and some rental assistance for awhile depending on the other opportunities that they have.”

Salyer said one need for Beaman Home clients is getting jobs after they leave the facility.

“A lot of the people need jobs so it would be great to know if there were certain businesses that have openings that would be helpful for our clients,” she said. “Our case managers, I know they do a lot of things behind the scenes, so I’m sure they have some resources like that, but for businesses to just come in and say, ‘We have this.'”

The community can also help The Beaman Home by volunteering either at the home itself or Mary Ann’s Place. People should contact The Beaman Home at (574) 267-7701 to learn more about volunteering.

Donations of items are also needed. Clothing for adults and children, household items, holiday decorations, jewelry, books, movies, toys, baby items, furniture and toiletries may be given to Mary Ann’s Place with Salyer noting that people should call ahead to Mary Ann’s Place at (574) 253-2347 before they drop items off. Toiletries are also needed for people in the shelter and to give to them when they leave.

Food and monetary donations are also welcomed for The Beaman Home.

People may give funds via mailing them to The Beaman Home, P.O. Box 654, Winona Lake, IN 46590. There’s also a page on the shelter’s website the beamanhome.com/donate for people to give through.

Salyer noted that overall the community supports The Beaman Home.

“I’m really surprised. I mean there’s just so many organizations, businesses that really just wrap around this organization. We’re constantly amazed by the donations and the gifts that we get,” she said.

Salyer said she wants to help with the continued growth of The Beaman Home.

“Mary Ann’s Place has evolved and I think that’s an opportunity to make that into a little bit more,” she said.

“We do run off of a lot of grants and so I think trying to find some innovative ways to fund ourselves because grants are good, but they don’t always stay the same … So trying to find resources that are a little bit creative for the organization … We want to keep growing (the) donor base,” she added.

Salyer said she enjoys the job “because every day is different.”

“I’m excited to come in every day because every day is different and I can have my day planned out, but it’s just going to go all different ways, but I go home and I feel satisfied and I feel at ease about it all,” she said.

“The past directors have really put a lot of things into place that have made it a good organization and I hope to continue that progress,” she said. “I’m excited to be working in this role in this community.”

She’s been married to Jeff Salyer for 36 years. They have a son, daughter and four granddaughters.