MH/OSTA just received the following letter (greeting and name of park deleted) from members in a Salem-area Park. We want to share it so everyone will know that our District Directors do whatever they can to help people who own their homes but rent the land under them. We hope all you Polk and Marion County members will support Marilyn, your director, by encouraging your neighbors to join OSTA. We help OSTA as we help ourselves, and your directors are part of your team.
Dear _____,
Several months ago we contacted OSTA for some help with our park and were contacted by the current District Director, Marilyn Davis. We met with Marilyn and Susan DeLateur early this year. They gave generously of their time looking through our rental agreements, rules, and documentation of events here in the park and gave us guidelines to begin to work our way through the issues. To be honest, we were all very angry, and our original intent in wanting OSTA in our park was in hopes of putting an end to what seemed to us to be a bit of bullying, retaliation actions, threats, being lied about, and so on. Our attitude was ‘let’s get them’, believing somehow we could be vindicated and life here in the park would return to normalcy. Life here in the park hasn’t returned to normalcy, but changes have happened. They’ve happened in us. Through the gentle, positive, upbeat way Marilyn has, we have been able to view the situation in a new way. She has turned our ‘intent’ to one of bringing healing to our park by doing positive, good things. The stress we seemed to carry everyday has been turned to excitement. We are looking forward to offering some fun, uplifting events to the park that will lift the spirits of all, with great anticipation. Who woulda thought!
Your decision to choose Marilyn Davis as your new District Director was a wise one. It’s hard to find words to express our gratitude for her patience as we worked through our anger, discouragement and, at times, through our tears. She waited for us, encouraging us, empathizing and accepting, working always to change our perspective, until she brought us to a place where we could see light. The circumstances in the park haven’t changed, but we are no longer ‘under the circumstances’. We have risen above them! We have been empowered! We are amazed! You can’t purchase this with money. You just need someone like Marilyn. You should be proud to know she is out in communities representing OSTA in such a professional, helpful, life-changing manner.
Sincerely,
Jan Hurst
Becky Strom
Donna Barley
Lori Dollarhide
