Skip to the main content.
Donate Need help?
Donate Need help?

Barbara Comito, former marketing director

Jim and Ken

2 min read

A Front Row Seat to Holiness

Editor's note: This is the first in an Advent devotional series based on Isaiah 61:1-3. Some of the posts in this series were first published as part of UGM Executive Director Phil Altmeyer's Heart to Heart column in the Mission News. We hope you...

Read More

1 min read

Barber to the Homeless

Who is My Brother? By Barbara Comito Ron, UGM's Day Room Manager, has been getting his hair cut at Dan's Barber Shop by Jody for about eight years....

Read More

3 min read

Once an Alcoholic...

Feeding the Hungry Series Meet Tod Randall, UGM Warehouse Manager Tod Randall is a logistics guy. He’s all about moving information or product from...

Read More
Derek in the UGM Kitchen

2 min read

Feeding the Poor Vs. Feeding the Rich

Feeding the Hungry Series Meet Derek Mobley Derek Mobley could be working with lobster and filet mignon on a daily basis as a cook at the Spokane...

Read More

3 min read

How to Pick a Charity

5 tips on how to be a discriminating giver Not many of us have piles of money lying around just waiting for the next good cause. And our time is as...

Read More

3 min read

On the Edge of Homelessness

Precariously Housed* By Barbara Comito While working on the October issue of Mission News, I visited Fresh Start, a drop-in center for the homeless...

Read More

4 min read

Addicted to Men

Amanda’s struggle to overcome relationship addiction Editor’s Note: We interviewed Amanda, 23, one year ago when she lived at the UGM Crisis Shelter...

Read More
UGM staff worshipping together

3 min read

Recovery: in it together

Editor's Note: Last week the entire Union Gospel Mission staff met at UGM Camp for a time of bonding, renewal and training. The focus of the two-day...

Read More

3 min read

UGM Motors: Reselling Cars, Rebuilding Lives

Get to know Curt Woodard: Salesman at UGM Motors If you browse the sales lot at Union Gospel Mission Motors, there’s a good chance you’ll be greeted...

Read More

2 min read

Panhandling: to give or not to give?

“Give Real Change” Photo credit: daytondailynews.com It is hard not to be moved by a thin, weathered-looking man standing on the corner in crusty...

Read More

6 min read

Rescue: Meeting people in the messiest of messes

Editor's note, March 2017: Since this was posted in 2014, the Crisis Shelter has moved to a beautiful, larger facility at 1515 E Illinois. Anne is...

Read More

6 min read

Ending generational dysfunction and giving recovery tools to children

MEET LORI BRADLEY Children's Program Coordinator at Anna Ogden Hall Who is “Lori Bradley” outside of her job? Much the same as Lori Bradley in her...

Read More

4 min read

What the Union Gospel Mission is all about

The Living, Breathing Story By Barbara Comito, UGM writer Sometimes I love my job. Tuesday night was one of those times. Twenty-five men and women...

Read More

5 min read

Recognizing Addiction in Your Life

This is the second of a 2-part interview with Mental health Counselor Dave Edwards on how addiction affects all our lives. The first part, How do you...

Read More

1 min read

Teenager to Camp Director: "You inspire me!"

"Aged to Perfection" by Hannah Jo Hannah Jo, 2013 camp intern, read this letter yesterday at Dennis Roach's retirement celebration. Dennis has been...

Read More

6 min read

Introducing at-risk kids to awe, trust-building and unconditional love

Dennis Roach: 40 years of working with young people Youth Outreach Director Dennis Roach is retiring at the end of June after 13 years with the Union...

Read More
jenna-day-309593-unsplash.donuts

4 min read

How do you know when you're addicted?

Addiction is so much bigger than drugs & alcohol. In this interview, Dave Edwards, a Spokane mental health professional and former UGM counselor,...

Read More

5 min read

Eddie Collins: from homeless junkie to business owner

A Junkie No More Photo by Robert Peterson Eddie Collins was the subject of my first newsletter feature when I came to UGM in January 2008. He had...

Read More
avoiding cropped-250949-edited

3 min read

Recovery: do I have as much courage as that homeless guy?

This is the second of two posts on UGM’s self-evaluation process. The first, “The courage to ask why I do what I do” explains how the process plays...

Read More
Eric.small

3 min read

Recovery: the courage to ask why I do what I do

Change requires courage. Often when I forget why I am here – why I am writing yet another newsletter story, wracking my brain for a bit of Facebook...

Read More
IMG_2687-1

4 min read

5 Reasons to Donate Your Vehicle to the Union Gospel Mission

Reason #1: Shari Griffin Shari, 50, just finished the first four phases of the LIFE Recovery program at the UGM Center for Women & Children in Coeur...

Read More

4 min read

Changing Life One Choice at a Time

“Life is not made up of minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years, but of moments. You must experience each one before you can appreciate it.”―...

Read More
Homeless-2

5 min read

3 Big Misconceptions about Addiction

Just say no. Not even once. DARE to keep kids off drugs and alcohol. The problem with these anti-drug slogans is twofold: 1) their simplicity belies...

Read More
Social-1

3 min read

The services homeless people need

(This article was posted in 2014 and updated in 2019.) UGM: the Whole Person Approach In its quest to break – not perpetuate – the cycle of...

Read More