Behind the Scenes: Meet UGM’s Longest Serving Board Member

As UGM turns 70 this year, we’re bringing out “both new things and old things,” as Jesus said in Matthew 13:52. Looking back on our history, we are overwhelmed by the goodness of God. He has faithfully provided for the poor in our community, and He continues to reach hearts with the gospel of Christ every day.

Vern Scoggin, UGM’s longest-serving board member, has overseen remarkable growth and change 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 36 years, Scoggin has no plans to stop serving. He enjoys working with a group of like-minded Christian leaders who take their oversight duty seriously but nearly always come to a consensus. Even the few times he’s voted against the majority, the board has come to “the right decision in the end,” he says.

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. They, for the most part, know little or nothing of the love of Jesus Christ and feel that no one cares about them and see little value in their life.

“Most have had the misfortune of growing up in abusive homes...”

“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. “I probably would not be a very good counselor, but I feel like this is a way that I can serve and benefit the Mission. I look forward to every board meeting.”

While his career was in engineering, investments and finances have always been among Scoggin’s interests. His church’s finance committee was where he met Harry McVay, who had been serving on the UGM board since the 1950s. McVay invited him to tour UGM’s downtown shelter and volunteer for the board.

Scoggin remembers being shown around 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.”

“...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 70 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.

“We’re never really in debt. We sometimes have money borrowed, but there’s always money to back that up.”

Like many miracles, it didn’t happen overnight but as the result of foresight and planning by the board early on. 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 Foundation is the tool through which legacy giving has enabled expansion and growth of UGM ministries. Bequests and other legacy gifts are invested in the Foundation apart from the operating budget, at first to save for the new Trent shelter and subsequently for other development and expansion opportunities.

Each of those opportunities has a story, and God still provides for needs right on time and in the right way. Scoggin recalls what former board member Bob Dunning used to say when a large legacy gift came into the Foundation: “There must be a project coming up, because God’s giving us some money.”

“There must be a project coming up, because God’s giving us some money.”

For example: Scoggin and the board were grateful for UGM’s Legacy Partners when they sought a new building for the Crisis Shelter for Women and Children, a much-needed replacement for the aging motel on East Sprague.

After more than a year of false starts in the board’s search for the right property, an ideal location on East Illinois became available in 2016. By that time, the Foundation held enough funds to secure the purchase and launch a capital campaign. That way, remodeling could already be underway while UGM recruited partners to cover the remainder of the costs – allowing for quick completion and occupancy without long-term debt or government funding.

Improvements and expansions like that couldn’t happen without board members like Scoggin who carefully invest and protect the gifts entrusted to UGM.

Serving on the board means dealing with the intricacies of real estate, investment strategy, human resources, estate law, tax law, and other behind-the-scenes aspects of running a growing nonprofit. But for Scoggin, it’s all for a higher purpose.

“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, and families are being restored, and amazing things are happening all the time.”

“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...” Click to tweet