UGM helps people with a wide variety of needs—everything from stretching the food budget through an occasional meal to our long-term residential recovery programs. Twenty-year-old Vitaliy Silver didn’t have an addiction to drugs or alcohol; he was just lost.
Adopted from Russia at age 11 into a big family, Vitaliy struggled to find direction. Seeing that he needed something they couldn't provide, his parents sent him across the country to a program for troubled kids. The program turned out not to be a good fit, which is what led him to the Mission. “I started doing drugs because I didn’t like where I was and the house I was in and the people there, so the owner of the house brought me here.”
Shortly after his arrival, Vitaliy learned about the Job Corps—a government-run program that teaches a trade to kids in need and helps them find a job - and decided that's what he wanted to do. UGM’s Social Services Manager Dean Whisler worked alongside him to help get him into the program. Even though Dean had never helped anyone get into the Job Corps before, he could see that Vitaliy would be a good fit: “The bottom line is, he is an incredible worker. He is very shy and very humble.” With landscape design as his goal, Vitaliy will move to Astoria, OR and join the Tongue Point Job Corps.
Reflecting on who he has become since coming to the Mission and deciding to join the Job Corps, he now appreciates what he has and where he is going. He has mended the relationship with his parents and understands how lucky he truly is. “I was adopted into a big, rich family, but I never really took the time to look at what I had. Then I got here and was like, whoa, I had a lot of things that a lot of people don’t even think about having. I got closer to God and started praying every day and so then I got humbled.”
~Elisabeth Roginski, UGM staff writer intern
2 min read
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He Who promised is faithful…Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews...
9 min read
To celebrate 75 years of serving the Inland Northwest, we are spending the year remembering our history and the faithfulness that built us and...
2 min read
In 2026, Union Gospel Mission Inland Northwest is approaching our 75th Anniversary! This is a milestone that invites gratitude and reflection, and...
Barbara Comito, former marketing director : October 4, 2013
Next week,* Luke Hauflin, 21, will be headed off to Sacramento, California to join Americorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps). For now, he...
Barbara Comito, former marketing director : August 14, 2013
Chase Montgomery with his mom, sister, brother and grandparents Chase Montgomery’s mom dropped him off at the UGM Men’s Shelter the day before his 19...
Barbara Comito, former marketing director : January 16, 2013
We are just coming off of a GREAT New Year’s Eve party that was “off the hook” with fun, food, gifts, games and a challenging message. The food was...
Barbara Comito, former marketing director
The program turned out not to be a good fit, which is what led him to the Mission. “I started doing drugs because I didn’t like where I was and the house I was in and the people there, so the owner of the house brought me here.”