Norm Naimark and his wife, Helen.

We are currently working on a memorial piece to honor Norm Naimark in the upcoming October edition of the Community Quarterly Newsletter. The article will include a profile of Mr. Naimark's life and work, and memories from family, friends and colleagues. Please check back soon for updates.

If you have any thoughts or words you would like to share about Norm Naimark, please feel free to do so in the comments section below.

The Fund is usually on top of new technologies when it comes to our website. Hey, how many other non-profits do you know that have an active blog?

Well, apparently we can't be on the cutting edge all the time. Lots of our fellow non-profits in the affordable housing and community economic development industries have been able to accept online donations for quite some time, but MITF has never offered this service.

At least... that was the case until yesterday morning.

The Michigan Interfaith Trust Fund is pleased to announce that our visitors can now make a donation to our organization over the internet through the Network for Good, the Internet's leading charitable resource.

All you have to do is load up the main page of our website and click on the "Donate to MITF Online!" button. That'll take you right over to our page on Network for Good, and will walk you through the donation process. If you would like to earmark your donation to a specific fund -- for example, the Naimark Fund, which honors one of our founding board members, Norm Naimark -- just make sure to include a note in the "Designation" box before submitting your donation.

The Michigan Interfaith Trust Fund fosters economic and social justice by providing loans and technical assistance for affordable housing and economic development throughout Michigan -- and your financial support makes this mission possible!

The Fund has some sad news to share today. Norm Naimark, one of the founding board members of the Michigan Housing Trust Fund, passed away on Sunday at the age of 89.

Mr. Naimark's family is in our thoughts and prayers during this difficult time, and everyone at the Michigan Interfaith Trust Fund extends their deepest sympathies.

Norm Naimark's funeral service will be held on Thursday, September 21 at 10AM at The Dorfman Chapel (main chapel) in Farmington Hills. Directions to the Dorfman Chapel can be found here.

The Fund will commemorate the life and work of Norm Naimark in the October edition of our Community Quarterly Newsletter.

The MITF Façade improvement project was featured briefly in the most recent edition of the Greater Lansing Business Monthly:

Old Town Improves Façades
Eight Old Town buildings have participated in the Old Town Commercial Association’s (OTCA) Façade Improvement Project. Funds for the program were provided by the Michigan Interfaith Trust Fund. Façade grants were awarded for exterior improvements, such as Red Head Design Studio at 408 East Grand River Ave., which received a grant that includes a mural that will be illustrated by local artist Barb Hranilovich. Also, the lower storefront at 107 East Grand River Ave., where the Michigan Historic Preservation Network is located, was removed and a storefront appropriate to the building’s original design was created.

We appreciate the attention of any and all media outlets who picked up on last month's press releases.

Stay tuned, there's more good news on the way...

NOTE: The following blog post will appear in the October editions of our Community Quarterly Newsletter and The Record, the newspaper of the Episcopal Diocese of Detroit. Enjoy!

Each year the Michigan Interfaith Trust Fund (MITF) holds its Evening for Economic Justice dinner in Detroit to celebrate the work of its parters in the affordable housing and community economic development industries. The organization fosters economic and social justice by providing loans and technical assistance for economic development and affordable housing throughout Michigan. This year’s event will be held November 9 at the Focus: HOPE Conference Center, located in the Center for Advanced Technology (CAT) in Detroit.

The dinner celebrates the Fund’s economic justice mission, its borrowers, and the accomplishments of the many non-profit organizations that are working to rebuild our communities. It is also a time to honor the generosity of the investors and contributors that make the work of the Fund possible. The resources channeled through these relationships make a remarkable difference in the lives of those in need, and the dinner is a great opportunity for MITF’s partners to gather together and celebrate their collective achievements over the past year.

This year’s event will take time to highlight the work of MITF’s current housing and economic development borrowers, and will feature two speakers. Carolyn Mosher, President of the Architectural Salvage Warehouse of Detroit, has been an MITF borrower since May 2005. As an alternative to traditional demolition techniques, the Architectural Salvage Warehouse of Detroit safely deconstructs deserted homes and removes historic materials, which then become affordable inventory that is available for re-sale to the public. James Balmer, President of Dawn Farm, will also speak at the event. MITF has made three loans to Dawn Farms over the years, funding transitional housing for people recovering from addiction.

MITF will also honor an individual and faith-based investor for their commitment to the work of the Fund. This year Mr. Biff Elliott and Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Monroe, Michigan, will be honored at the ceremony. Mr. Elliott is a longtime investor who has been involved with the (former) McGehee Fund since its earliest days. He worked as a volunteer with the Economic Justice Committee to start the Fund in 1988, and helped push the Episcopal Church at the National Convention to financially support an organization like the McGehee Fund, which was eventually formed in 1991. Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary are newer investors, and have been supporting MITF’s work since 2003. It is not unusual for religious orders to see the work of the Fund as comparable to their mission and beliefs. They are dedicated to serving those who are in need, and see their partnership with MITF as a way of spreading their social commitment out into the world.

The Evening for Economic Justice will begin with a short reception at 5:30 p.m. preceding the evening’s dinner and ceremony at 6:45 p.m. The Michigan Interfaith Trust Fund welcomes all to the November event. For more information on attending, please contact Melodie Balzer Sanford at (517) 372-6001 or Jane Carpenter at (313) 964-7300.

Sorry about the lack of updates on the blog lately. Don't worry though, there's been lots of activity this summer to keep the MITF staff buzzing along.

Here's what we've been up to:

• Designing, printing, and shipping our 2005 Annual Reports. Everyone on our mailing list should've received a copy by now. We hope you enjoy it!
  
• Distributing press releases about our new loan programs and endowment matching.
  
• Closing new loans (more on these new projects in our next newsletter, slated for late September).
  
• Planning another great Evening for Economic Justice. You know, the one on November 9 at Focus: HOPE in Detroit... it's already on your calendar, right? Right.
  
• Attending a staff retreat in Ann Arbor today and tomorrow. We're fine tuning our teamwork skills to serve our borrowers even better.

Check back soon for more news from your favorite non-profit.