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Barbara Comito, former marketing director

Jim and Ken

4 min read

Am I Enough?

Am I Enough? Absolutely not. And absolutely yes. It’s a paradox: a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true. You are nowhere near enough. You are...

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5 min read

Is Housing the Answer to Homelessness?

Has America misdiagnosed the problem of homelessness? In her article “Does Poverty Cause Homelessness?” Marchauna Rodgers argues that we have. She...

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4 min read

Recovery: We Are All Broken

Conversations about “the poor and homeless” can quickly go off track. Our vocabulary and our frames of reference can lead us to the wrong assumptions...

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3 min read

The Polarizing Topic of Homelessness [and the hot spot in the middle]

In 2006, toward the beginning of the Spokane region’s focused efforts on addressing homelessness, 1,592 individuals were counted in the annual...

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5 min read

We Asked Homeless Men to Talk About Sin

Sin. What is it and why would a homeless shelter insist on talking about it? Sin is the divergence from the rules and order designed by God....

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6 min read

The Great Pain Escape

Pain: physical suffering or discomfort caused by illness or injury. No healthy person enjoys pain. Its whole purpose is to signal that something is...

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5 min read

Deep Trauma, Deeper Healing

Underneath homelessness, we often find addiction and, underneath addiction, trauma. Trauma invades, wounds, hides and resurfaces, wreaking havoc...

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6 min read

Facing the Nightmare of Childhood Trauma and Building a New Life: Krystal’s Story

In an essay entitled “Family Breakdown: Restoring a Damaged Masterpiece,” UGM Chaplain Sonny Westbrook describes what happens when God’s design for...

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4 min read

The Drug Crisis: What’s it got to do with you and me?

Opioids. Meth. Marijuana. Cocaine. Cartels. Addiction. Synthetics. Big money. Big pharma. Overdoses.

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5 min read

Radical Hospitality: Food as Grace

You may have heard us say we’re not just a soup kitchen, and while that is certainly true, it is also true that so much of what we do begins with a...

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6 min read

Robert’s Recovery: Phase by Phase

Author’s Note: From my earliest days at UGM, I have wanted to follow someone all the way through the LIFE Recovery Program, interviewing him or her...

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5 min read

Business Owners vs. the Unhoused: A False Dichotomy

A false narrative is being promoted that pits two groups against each other on the subject of homelessness in Spokane.

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3 min read

The Business Practicum: Getting People Back to Work

Gospel. Change. Jobs. These are our three distinctives. While the Inland Northwest is home to multiple organizations committed to serving people...

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3 min read

Low-Barrier vs. High-Barrier Shelter

All homeless shelters are not created equal. This may seem obvious, but before I came to work at UGM, I honestly thought they were. Pretty much,...

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5 min read

Recovery: Reversing a Lifetime of Distrust

James Bureau’s childhood did not prepare him for life. Or, it might be more accurate to say, James’ childhood prepared him perfectly for the life he...

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3 min read

Forgiveness Breaks the Shame Cycle

“I’m getting older, and I didn’t want to be that old lady that’s out on the street, looking to get high.” Before coming to UGM, Kerri was staying at...

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2 min read

Easter Series: LIFE after Easter

Jesus changed everything. More specifically, Jesus' life, death and resurrection changed everything.

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5 min read

Easter Series: What Does Sin Have to do with Homelessness?

As we mentioned in last week’s post, acknowledging the existence of sin implies a particular worldview – one in which God created the world and has...

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3 min read

Easter Series: Sin Ruins Everything

Sin. Talk about a conversation stopper. I’m not sure anyone is anxious to talk about sin, even Christians, but in society at large, it’s almost...

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5 min read

Easter Series: Who is God?

“God is not ordinary.” – Heather Harpham “I measure God by everything I am not. I begin with that.” – Flannery O’Connor “’For My thoughts are not...

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4 min read

The Government Agrees: "Housing First" isn't Working

In the fall of 2020, while the news media was focused on the pandemic and the presidential election, a significant report was quietly released by the...

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3 min read

2020 Vision: Jesus Changes Everything

O Come Let Us Adore Him Christmas is about adoring Jesus. It’s about the angels’ invitation to “come and see.” It’s about the shepherds leaving their...

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5 min read

10 Years Clean and Sober: The Difficult Daily Battle of Ongoing Recovery

Dean Brewer came to the UGM Men’s Shelter ten years ago this month with little more than the clothes on his back. He had been homeless for a year,...

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4 min read

2020 Vision: Bear One Another’s Burdens

“Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ” – Galatians 6:2.

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4 min read

Listen to Understand

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. –...

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