A Lifetime of Service and Beyond

Vern Scoggin, UGM's longest-serving board member, has overseen remarkable growth and change for over half of UGM's existence. Joining in 1985, he was on the planning committee that acquired and developed the Trent campus, which since 1990 has been the central hub for a growing ministry.

“When I first came on the board in 1985, we were able to provide food, shelter, some medical help and some spiritual counseling,” Scoggin says. “And now, because of the wonderful support of this local community, we are able to do  so much more  and even serve other communities.”

After over 40 years, Scoggin has no plans to stop serving. He enjoys working with like-minded Christian leaders who take their oversight duty seriously but nearly always come to a consensus.

While Scoggin serves behind the scenes, he is still motivated by a compassionate desire to see lives changed through the gospel. 

“When I see troubled people on the streets of Spokane with nowhere to go, I feel that most have gotten into that condition through  no fault of their own. Most have had the misfortune of growing up in abusive homes and have never had the opportunity to break out of that unfortunate situation.

“Now, because of the wonderful support of this local community, we are able to do  so much more  and even serve other communities.”

“When they finally find their way to the Mission or one of our  crisis shelters, all that begins to change. They are introduced to people who really care about them, and many for the first time are told of the love that Jesus has for them.” 

Like the others on the board with backgrounds in business, law, medicine, education, and other areas, Scoggin  volunteers his time and his unique gifts. While his career was in engineering, investments and finances have always been among Scoggin’s interests.

Scoggin remembers being shown around UGM’s facilities by Harry Altmeyer, also a longtime board member who served as UGM’s executive director from 1976 until 1987, when his son Phil took over. 

“It was a pleasure to serve with some of the founding members of the board,” Scoggin says. “They went through some real difficult times getting it started, and I heard one story when they had to pass the hat in order to get enough money to buy coal for the furnace.”

Things have changed, thanks to the generosity of the community over  74 years  and the God-dependent stewardship of the board. Scoggin is pleased to see UGM growing and operating comprehensive programs without a debt burden. “I feel blessed to be a small part of the UGM miracle,” he says. 

“I feel blessed to be a small part of the UGM miracle.”

Like many miracles, it didn’t happen overnight but as the result of foresight and planning by the board early on.  Growing numbers of financial partners blessed UGM through their estate plan, providing more and more bequests of cash, stocks and real estate – often completely unexpected. Some estates were large and some modest, but all had been sacrificially stewarded to help the poor. 

In 1984, UGM board members decided to safeguard and grow those legacy gifts in a formal sister organization dedicated to ministry expansion, called the UGM Foundation. The organization would have its own board, which would focus on the stewardship of the assets for such times as needs and opportunities arose. Scoggin was the second president of the UGM Foundation board after its creation in 1984, and he still serves on that board in addition to the UGM Association board. 

The creation of the UGM Foundation represented a unique philosophy that as partners left legacies, it would build the future of the ministry.   

“After many years of seeing how lives have been transformed at UGM, Vicki and I wanted to have a lasting impact for that to continue.”

Gifts from Legacy Partners, invested through the UGM Foundation, provide financial security for UGM far into the future and facilitate expansion projects allowing for quick completion and occupancy without long-term debt or  government funding. Scoggin and the board are grateful for UGM’s Legacy Partners, as needs continue to be met in the Inland Northwest.

“After many years of seeing how lives have been transformed at UGM, Vicki and I wanted to have a lasting impact for that to continue. So, when we updated our estate plan, we included a substantial gift to continue that legacy of miraculous transformation in the lives of men, women, and children that UGM serves.”

Serving as a board member, helping run a growing nonprofit, being a UGM Legacy Partner, it’s all for a higher purpose, Vern says. “We try to keep everything in perspective. We’re investing money and we’re buying property and we’re building buildings and doing all these things, but at the same time we’re wanting to do it because we know souls are being saved, and  lives are being changed. Families are being restored, and amazing things are happening all the time.”

For years UGM has been blessed to receive countless gifts from faithful partners who included the ministry in their estate plan. Today, we have 256 Legacy Partners who have made UGM a part of their will or trust, a beneficiary of an IRA or life insurance policy, or intend to leave a gift of real estate.

Questions regarding estate planning or becoming a UGM Legacy Partner?

Visit uniongospelmission.org/legacy for more information OR reach out to gwen.schwartz@uniongospelmission.org

Originally written by Lynn Yount in 2021, updated by Leanne White.