3 min read
Union Gospel Mission: September 26, 2019
By Christy Zapata, UGM volunteer - A key component of the UGM’s approach to fighting homelessness is addiction recovery. The 20-month residential...
3 min read
Lynn Yount, UGM Volunteer: August 29, 2019
We use a lot of terms to describe the addiction recovery program at UGM: Christ-centered, holistic, long-term, deep-down healing, etc. One word...
5 min read
Union Gospel Mission: August 15, 2019
By Mike Doggett, former Aftercare Manager - A little over 21 years ago, I consumed my last drink of alcohol and went on what has proved to be a very...
4 min read
Lynn Yount, UGM Volunteer: July 24, 2019
“As good stewards of the manifold grace of God, each of you should use whatever gift he has received to serve one another.” – I Peter 4:10 Dale Fruin...
3 min read
Barbara Comito, former marketing director: June 26, 2019
What in the world do running and homelessness have to do with each other? You might be surprised.
3 min read
Lynn Yount, UGM Volunteer: June 19, 2019
“I was King of the Park.” From one point of view, Nicholas Walker had everything you might want: Prestige, respect, and power in his community. Not...
6 min read
Union Gospel Mission: June 12, 2019
Editor’s note: Mike Doggett, UGM’s Aftercare Manager, addressed the recovery participants at a recent phase-up celebration in UGM Women’s Recovery....
3 min read
Lynn Yount, UGM Volunteer: June 11, 2019
Five years. It takes five years actively pursuing recovery for an addict to have a strong chance (about 85%) of lifelong recovery. Five years minus...
4 min read
Lynn Yount, UGM Volunteer: May 2, 2019
Patty’s a self-described alcoholic. But sobriety isn’t what her recovery is all about. It’s about finding a new way after long-held habits and ways...
3 min read
Union Gospel Mission: April 25, 2019
The following testimony was given by Phil Reese, UGM Recovery resident, on Easter Sunday. In January of 2017, I was nearing the end of a four-month...
6 min read
Barbara Comito, former marketing director: April 10, 2019
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” – I John 1:8 We don’t talk much about sin on the UGM blog - mostly...
3 min read
Lynn Yount, UGM Volunteer: April 3, 2019
“As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” – John 13:34-35...
3 min read
Barbara Comito, former marketing director: March 27, 2019
Robert Kollenborn, 56, walked out of Geiger Correctional Facility on September 17, 2017, and walked straight to the Union Gospel Mission Men’s...
4 min read
Barbara Comito, former marketing director: March 13, 2019
Before coming to the UGM Center for Women and Children in Coeur d’Alene, Nikki Downs was in jail. Her infant son had been taken by Child Protective...
4 min read
Union Gospel Mission: March 6, 2019
By Kirste Richards, LIFE Recovery Intake Counselor, UGM Center for Women and Children - One of the first things a woman hears when she comes to a...
6 min read
Lynn Yount, UGM Volunteer: December 19, 2018
“Stay consistent in their lives, even when they’re the hardest to love.” That, in a nutshell, is the key to caring for the children living with their...
3 min read
Union Gospel Mission: December 5, 2018
By Kamee Bissell, former Counselor in Women’s Recovery at Anna Ogden Hall - Many of the women who apply for our LIFE Recovery Program at Anna Ogden...
3 min read
Lynn Yount, UGM Volunteer: September 11, 2018
“All my needs were met when I got here. The food, the shelter, and the fellowship. … I tried to do it on my own, and I couldn’t do it.” - Mike Mike...
3 min read
Lynn Yount, UGM Volunteer: August 23, 2018
Part 1 of the history of UGM covered our founding in 1951 through the retirement of Executive Director Harry Altmeyer in 1987. We pick up as his son...
4 min read
Barbara Comito, former marketing director: July 25, 2018
Ben Riggs knows tough. A former Marine from the 2nd Battalion, 5th Regiment, Ben was a soldier’s soldier, part of a “grunt unit,” infantry, “tip of...
3 min read
Lynn Yount, UGM Volunteer: July 19, 2018
Many of those who come to UGM for help have no family, or their families are still stuck in brokenness and addiction. Years of scrambling to survive...
3 min read
Barbara Comito, former marketing director: June 27, 2018
Stephanie sums up her childhood in just a few phrases: “A lot of broken promises, fighting, a lot of neglect, never being told I love you. No...
4 min read
Barbara Comito, former marketing director: June 20, 2018
“I was really angry with God and confused about…Well, if God really loves me, then how come I had to go through all this stuff? You know, there’s...
4 min read
Lynn Yount, UGM Volunteer: June 13, 2018
A common thread among many people who enter the LIFE Recovery program is an absent or abusive father. Samantha’s story reflects the devastating...
4 min read
Barbara Comito, former marketing director: June 7, 2018
Shame says… You are ugly. You are stupid. You are worthless. If people knew the real you, they would hate you. Work harder, do more, try to earn love...
