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In 15 years, Salem Dream Center has grown to help hundreds of kids through its mentor program

Renee Oviatt helps a Salem Dream Center youth swing from a rope at The Rock Boxx Climbing Gym. (Aubrey Wieber/Salem Reporter)

Fifteen years ago, Craig Oviatt wanted to help children born into poverty escape things like food insecurity, a lack of education and criminal records.

He chose West Salem’s Edgewater neighborhood, at the time one of the city’s roughest, to start the Salem Dream Center. The organization brings kids into Walker Middle School on Saturdays to mentor them, feed them and nurture them.

Today, Craig runs the program with his wife, Renee Oviatt. In total, they have 463 kids participating, with as many as 260 showing up on any given Saturday. Salem Dream Center has also been validated by donations from Oregon titans like Nike, Columbia Sportswear, Applebee’s and Safeway.

Last week, the Salem Police Department met Craig, Renee and a handful of their teens at a local climbing gym to hand over a check for $1,150 for food boxes Salem Dream Center hands out over holiday breaks. Those boxes will help sustain families when their kids don’t have access to free breakfast and lunch in schools.

“Will any of our kids starve to death if we don’t do that? No. But it’s a burden on the house,” Craig said. “It adds stress to the family and it creates fear in the children.”

Salem Police Officer Travis Brossard (middle) gives Craig Oviatt a check on behalf of the Salem Police Department. Oviatt will use the money to pay for food boxes to give to kids to help sustain their families while schools are closed for winter break. (Aubrey Wieber/Salem Reporter)

Craig said Salem Dream Center was born from hearing people talk about wanting to “stop talking about making a difference and be a difference.”

He looked at Edgewater and saw a high crime rate, high food insecurity and high dropout rates. Today, that neighborhood has improved in all those categories, he said.

“They always give us partial credit,” Craig said.

A lot of the work is showing the kids what they might think of as a dream is actually possible.

“They are growing up in generational poverty,” Craig said. “They don’t know any different, their parents don’t know any different.”

Renee got involved about nine years ago when she married Craig. She’s now the assistant director. She said what sets Salem Dream Center apart is they are consistent. Every week, they provide a safe place for kids to come play and eat hot meals.

“They are just the sweetest kids,” Renee said. “They’ve really turned around.”

The organization works with kids from birth through college. They have watched some grow into nurses, others get full-ride scholarships to medical school.

“That’s breaking that generational poverty thing,” Craig said.

Others struggle more. Craig said recently a couple of their kids got in significant trouble. As a result, they weren’t invited to the event at the climbing gym. But the next day, they will again join Salem Dream Center and Craig and Renee will tell them they made a mistake, but they can learn from it.

“It isn’t how you fall, it’s how you get up,” Craig said.

Craig Oviatt has been running Salem Dream Center for 15 years, and in that time has seen kids grow up, go to college and break the cycle of “generational poverty.” (Aubrey Wieber/Salem Reporter)

On Friday, the Salem Dream Center kids intersected for the first time with the Salem Police mentorship program, Gladiators. The event grew from officers such as Travis Brossard, who sometimes comes by Walker Middle School on Saturdays to play basketball or soccer with the Dream Center kids.

Brossard said officers have a chance to reach kids when they are young before they get swallowed in a life of crime.

“You could arrest an adult addicted to drugs a lot of times and not have the effect you’re going to have spending maybe 30 minutes with a youth,” he said. “I don’t think we are going to win over all youth, but they are certainly going to see us in a different light.”

Salem Police have started working with the Salem Dream Center by joining the Saturday events to play sports with the kids. (Aubrey Wieber/Salem Reporter)

Reporter Aubrey Wieber: [email protected] or 503-575-1251.