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Union Gospel Mission: June 23, 2020
Spoken by Sarah Johnson at a 2020 phase promotion for UGM Women’s Recovery at Anna Ogden Hall. Good evening and thank you for coming tonight. I got a...
5 min read
Lynn Yount, UGM Volunteer: May 13, 2020
Jerry Reese, Men’s Recovery Director at UGM, has a large stick mounted on his office wall. Underneath, there’s a plaque in Latin: “Lignum unum deum”...
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...
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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...
3 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...
