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LIFE
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Inside stories of hope,
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Jim and Ken

4 min read

Life at UGM Camp: non-stop kids, non-stop beauty, just plain non-stop

Ken and Jenny Weddle and their three boys live at UGM Camp (formerly Tshimakain Creek Camp) - 125 acres bordering the Spokane River near Ford, Washington - year round. Ken has been the camp administrator for 12 years. Jenny volunteers in a wide...

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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,...

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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...

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3-2014-Phil-1

1 min read

The Darkest Dark

Do you remember the darkest dark you’ve ever experienced? I know I do.

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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...

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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...

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2 min read

Women in Free Fall: the missing safety net for homeless families

Part 2 in our series on "The Crisis: a troubling reality." Read part 1, Homeless Women: Who Will Belive in Them?

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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...

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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.”―...

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4 min read

Meet Jillian Devine, UGM LIFE Recovery Counselor

An Interview with Jillian Devine Jillian Devine started her tenure with UGM in Women's Recovery at Anna Ogden Hall back in 2004 and is now the lead...

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2 min read

Addiction: Broken Families Raise Broken Children

Recovery Kid-Style Of the 386 guests staying at UGM's four shelters on a recent evening, 99 of them were children. Not only do these children need...

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2 min read

Homeless women: Who will believe in them?

Editor's Note: This is the first in a regular series, "The Crisis: a Troubling Reality." We will begin to examine and discuss the causes, conditions...

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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...

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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...

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5 min read

5 reasons you should care about that hopeless drug addict

When the actor Philip Seymour Hoffman died of a heroin overdose, public reaction ran the gamut from disgust to sympathy. One controversial church...

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2 min read

Volunteer Profile: Biker Bob

“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” – Frederick Buechner Bob Peterson loves bikes....

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4 min read

10 ways you can help the homeless

Effective Compassion "Truly effective compassion means striving for human flourishing and seeking the conditions that make it possible." (Jennifer...

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2 min read

Good-bye, Julie

Editor's Note: Julie Marks, a participant in Women's Recovery at the UGM Center for Women & Children in Coeur d'Alene, passed away last week due to...

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4 min read

We were Victims

You showed us the love and power of the gospel. You broke the cycle. “I used to be one of those teenagers who just didn’t care about anything. I went...

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Phil-and-Grandsons

2 min read

Poverty and Family Breakdown

“If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a...

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3 min read

How my dad’s recovery changed my life

Editor’s Note: Ashley and her dad, Chris Kent, were featured on the cover of the February 2014 Mission News. Chris was absent from Ashley’s life for...

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Kimmi found a safe place at the UGM Crisis Shelter

3 min read

A Whole-Person Approach to Breaking the Cycle

Safe Shelter Kimmi Halbrook liked to play, “Let’s Make a Deal” with God: Get me out of this scrape, and I promise to get my act together. But at 39 –...

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4 min read

Recovery: The choice to change

Editor's Note: We first met Amanda while she was staying at the Crisis Shelter with her daughter, Daisy. She and Daisy moved into Anna Ogden Hall...

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5 min read

The Crisis Shelter: a safe place for homeless women and children

Seven years ago this week, UGM opened the Crisis Shelter for Women & Children at 1234 E Sprague. This week also marked the Shelter’s 10,000th...

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1-7-14-Tim_Whitman

2 min read

Rescue: From Homeless to Housed and Employed

Not everyone who walks through the doors of one of UGM’s shelters needs the same kind of help. Case in point: Tim Whitman. Tim had been sober for two...

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