A Full Dining Hall on Easter

Thanks to the hard work of volunteers, the LifeChange addiction recovery community and support from donors and prayer partners, hundreds of people in need and the homeless were able to enjoy a wonderful Easter Brunch.

Doors opened at 10:00 am and guests were seated and served a meal of eggs, ham, biscuits and gravy, fruit, juice and coffee.  Guests also enjoyed live music provided by LifeChange recovery residents.  Union Gospel Mission served 619 meals on Easter.

In addition to the meal, guests also received a “Hope Tote” hygiene kit, packed with essentials like socks, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste and deodorant.  The Mission distributed 387 Hope Totes.

Click here to watch a video of the Easter event

Thank you for all of your support to make Easter a special day for people in need!

Union Gospel Mission is partnering with LMG Concerts to challenge youth to get involved in helping those in need in our community.  The Youth Worker Challenge, asks youth groups to collect socks for an opportunity to win a pizza party and tickets to see Third Day on Sunday May 6 at Rolling Hills Community Church.

Here is what you need to do:  Collect new socks for Union Gospel Mission of Portland! The group that is able to collect the most socks by Tuesday May 1st by 5 pm will win  a pizza party and Third Day tickets for up to 20 people.

Drop off your socks on Tuesday May 1st between 10:00 am – 5:00 pm  at Union Gospel Mission’s Thrift Store located at 11611 SW Pacific Hwy in Tigard (across from the Tigard Cinemas)  Turn in your information and a representative will verify the amount of socks.

For more information about the Challenge, contact Summer at LMG Concerts at 855-564-8499.

Carl (left) and Tom near the Mission in Old Town

In 2005, Carl was in the sack lunch line, waiting for a meal with about 200 other people. Battling addiction, and homeless again, Carl was hoping for a meal and knew Missions were a safe, good place to come for help. In addition to his sack lunch, Carl found out about Union Gospel Mission’s LifeChange addiction recovery community. He joined that day.  After years of struggle to heal, grow in his relationship with Christ, and transform his life, Carl graduated in 2009.

That same year, Carl was awarded the Ford Family Foundation ReStart Scholarship.  This prestigious award led Tom Hallman, a veteran features reporter at The Oregonian, to interview Carl for a story. From that interview, a personal connection developed and Tom sought out Carl as what he called a “faith teacher” in Tom’s book about the power of faith, “A Stranger’s Gift: True Stories of Faith in Unexpected Places” which is available for sale today.

Not only did Tom chronicle the stories of Carl, and 12 others,  Tom himself went from a non-believing skeptic to a growing believer! Tom’s journey is also part of the book.

Today, Carl is a senior at Portland State University and a full time staff member at Union Gospel Mission.

THANK YOU donors, volunteers, and prayer partners for supporting the work of Union Gospel Mission! Your support makes incredible stories like this possible!

Help us provide 700 of these delicious meals on Easter!

Every Easter, Union Gospel Mission provides a place for those who are homeless, in need and alone to spend Easter morning receiving fellowship and delicious meal! This year we are doing it again. We prepare to serve as many as 600 to 700 meals to people in need.  To do this, we need your help. We can provide a meal for about $1.92, so for $19.20 you can help provide 10 meals! It’s easy, click here to make a secure, online donation.

The other way that you can help is to support our Hope Tote campaign.  We are currently collecting hygiene items to give away to our guests at our Easter brunch.  We would like every guests to have a full bag of essential hygiene items, so we are aiming for 600 Hope Totes or more.  This is a big goal! However, it is simple for you to participate- you can order Hope Tote bags to fill or make a donation to help buy hygiene items, just by clicking here

Our Easter Brunch will take place Sunday, April 8 from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm at 15 NW Third Avenue in Portland. This meal is free and open to anyone in need.

Donald Miller

We are very excited that this year’s April 28 fundraising banquet will feature New York Times best-selling author,  Donald Miller.  Donald Miller is the author of several influential books on faith, including the best-selling “Blue Like Jazz” which has recently been made into a movie (click here to see a trailer) and will be premiering in April 13.

In addition to his writing, Donald Miller started The Mentoring Project to address the epidemic of  fatherless boys, which he also wrote about in “To Own a Dragon.”  He also hosts Storyline Conferences to help people discover how to live a better life story.  Donald Miller is an excellent and engaging speaker, so it promises to be a great night! You can reserve your space online, just click here.

LifeChange graduates

On Saturday, January 28, Union Gospel Mission gathered to honor four graduates of the LifeChange addiction recovery community.  Our graduates, Chance, Linda, Kim and Leah (pictured) spent four years learning not only to overcome their addictions, but also to transform their lives and heal from past hurts.  All of the graduates endured trauma from past abuse, bouts of homelessness, and self-destructive addiction.  Each graduate worked very hard at their recovery and discovering the new person they could become.

At the graduation celebration it was evident that not only the graduates had experienced healing, but their families had as well.  The parents of the graduates had restored relationships with their adult children.  Leah’s  children, ranging in age from mid-20s to age 12,  sat at the table with Leah, proud of their mother’s accomplishment.  Linda’s adult daughter traveled across the country to attend Linda’s graduation.

It was truly a heartwarming evening to see how far these graduates had come!

Purchase your tickets using this link and be sure to use the code FAITHUGM.  A portion of tickets sold for this game will be donated to Union Gospel Mission.

Make plans to watch the Blazers beat the Sacramento Kings and support Union Gospel Mission!

Union Gospel Mission saw demand for meals increase by 29% in 2011, with total meals served at 170,585.  The largest area of growth was Union Gospel Mission’s hot breakfasts and hot lunches, with 66,625 meals served last year.  In addition to meals served at Union Gospel Mission, 1,801 food boxes were distributed to individuals and families in need.  Food box demand was especially heavy during the holiday season, when the Mission supplied over 100 Thanksgiving food boxes (including turkeys and pumpkin pie!) The Mission also supplied Christmas food boxes and distributed toys to families with children.

In 2011, Union Gospel Mission also conducted a survey of guests that access the Mission’s services.  Some of the heartbreaking statistics include: 29% of our guests had experienced physical violence in the past year, 39% of our guests are struggling with mental illness, and 50% of our guests have been homeless for more than one year.

Thank you for sharing God’s love with people who are struggling to meet their basic needs.

The cold days of January and February are here and Union Gospel Mission continues to meet the needs of the homeless struggling to stay warm in winter temperatures.  Every weekday Union Gospel Mission operates a clothing closet and distributes coats, blankets, socks and clothing of all kinds to those in need.  When it’s cold demand increases.

In addition, Union Gospel Mission serves as an overnight emergency cold weather shelter when temperatures drop below 32 degrees.  For the emergency shelter, as many as 50 people sleep on mats in the Mission’s dining room. When we provide shelter, we need to provide blankets and sleeping bags to our guests.

You can help! Union Gospel Mission is seeking donations of: socks, blankets, sleeping bags, coats, hoodie sweatshirts, boots or wet weather shoes, pants, and underwear.  Please drop these items off at Union Gospel Mission at 3 NW Third Avenue in Portland or call 503-274-4483.

Rick and Doug serve snacks in the dayroom at the Mission

Put your talents to use and serve people in need by volunteering at Union Gospel Mission in 2012.  Union Gospel Mission is seeking volunteers for many different roles.  Some of our needs include volunteers to serve at Union Gospel Mission’s thrift store, helping run the store with the residents of the Mission’s LifeChange addiction recovery community.  Other posts include serving the homeless guests during weekdays in the day room. Day room volunteers serve snacks, coffee and help distribute clothing.

That is just a sample of the volunteering possibilities available at Union Gospel Mission.  If you are interested in volunteering, the first step is to attend “Volunteer Encounter” a meeting which will acquaint you with the work of the Mission and the many volunteer roles available.   The next Volunteer Encounter takes place on Tuesday, February 21 from 7:00 pm – 8:30 at Union Gospel Mission.  All you need to do to attend is RSVP is fill out the form on this page.

If you have questions about volunteering at the Mission, please email our volunteer coordinator, Heidi Hege heidih@ugmportland.org