4 min read
Addiction Recovery: A Healing of the Heart
Mike is moving into the role of Director of Men’s Recovery as Jerry Reese retires.
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Men's Shelter (2)
5 min read
Honoring Jerry Reese: An Authentic Man
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
A Look Inside Men’s Recovery
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
God changed me through UGM.
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...
8 min read
Pursued and Loved by a Good God
Union Gospel Mission: September 27, 2018
Matt Lewis has worked with the guests at the Men’s Shelter a little more than a year – first as a resident advisor and now as day desk supervisor....
3 min read
A Brief History of UGM, Part 1: 1951 to 1987
Lynn Yount, UGM Volunteer: August 16, 2018
In the autumn of 1951, a group of businessmen from Spokane attended a dinner hosted by Albert Arend, where they heard testimony from a former...
6 min read
Lessons from 10 Years Working With Homeless Men
Union Gospel Mission: November 2, 2017
The inimitable Dean Whisler just marked 10 years working at the UGM Men’s Shelter, where he’s now the Social Services Manager. We asked him a few...
4 min read
Profiles in Courage: UGM Edition
Lynn Yount, UGM Volunteer: April 27, 2017
Courage was on display at Tuesday’s phase promotion celebration for the Men’s Recovery program. For one thing, it isn’t easy for anyone to admit they...
4 min read
Healing Homeless Men through Relationship
Lynn Yount, UGM Volunteer: February 16, 2017
When Joe Marsh came in for a job interview, it was his first time inside the Union Gospel Mission. Looking across the common area, the Men’s Shelter...
1 min read
We are Thankful - To Those Seeking Help
James Bishop: November 1, 2015
David, 31, spent half his life homeless. At the age of 14, he was taken from his family home due to a domestic violence incident. After that, he...
2 min read
Trace - Homeless
Union Gospel Mission: October 5, 2015
Trace spent 15 years intermittently homeless, fluctuating from employed to unemployed, living on the streets or in an RV without heat, running water...
3 min read
I Didn't Have a Job
Barbara Comito, former marketing director: April 1, 2015
Poor work history. Felony record. Long periods of unemployment. Addiction issues. Lack of education. No transportation. No appropriate work attire....
1 min read
Tod and Derek
James Bishop: November 1, 2014
Tod Randall, UGM warehouse supervisor, oversees the receipt and dispersal of food donations (an almost $2 million annual value). He sees the...
1 min read
Pastor to the Homeless
James Bishop: September 1, 2014
Shortly after moving to the Spokane Valley a year ago, Ken Carpenter, a retired pastor, visited the Union Gospel Mission Thrift Store. Noting the...
3 min read
I Was in Denial, and You Showed Me the Truth
Union Gospel Mission: January 1, 2014
Recovery is impossible... if you don’t believe you have a problem if you refuse to look at the problem if you blame someone else for the problem or...
1 min read
Mental Health and Homelessness
Union Gospel Mission: December 1, 2013
Holly Simons, a psychiatric nurse, worked in the prison system for 10 years and first visited UGM while researching safe places for an inmate to go...
4 min read
Why is homelessness higher among veterans?
Barbara Comito, former marketing director: November 5, 2013
11% of the adult homeless population are veterans. 20% of the male homeless population are veterans. About 1.4 million other veterans, meanwhile, are...
1 min read
Americorps Adventure
Barbara Comito, former marketing director: October 4, 2013
Next week,* Luke Hauflin, 21, will be headed off to Sacramento, California to join Americorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps). For now, he...
5 min read
The New Paul
Barbara Comito, former marketing director: October 4, 2013
Paul folded his lanky frame into one of the red chairs in my small office. I sat in the other, our knees less than a foot apart. He was wearing a...
3 min read
I Was in Prison
Union Gospel Mission: October 1, 2013
I was in prison and you gave me a second chance. Paul Staley was a self-described “peace-loving man.” A product of the sixties. A flower child. A...
2 min read
Dear Beer: A good-bye letter
Union Gospel Mission: September 18, 2013
Editor’s Note: We found this letter in our parking lot. As you can see, it was an assignment – write a good-bye letter to your drug of choice. Dear...
1 min read
Time to grow up
Barbara Comito, former marketing director: August 27, 2013
Meet Johnny Montes – young, handsome, a high school drop-out, and the father of a 2-year-old little girl. Johnny, 20, came to the UGM Men’s Shelter...
1 min read
Back on track
Barbara Comito, former marketing director: August 14, 2013
Chase Montgomery with his mom, sister, brother and grandparents Chase Montgomery’s mom dropped him off at the UGM Men’s Shelter the day before his...
1 min read
Into the water
Barbara Comito, former marketing director: August 2, 2013
Paul Stankiewicz, who was featured on the cover of the August 2013 Mission News, was recently baptized in the Spokane River at Harry Altmeyer Park,...
1 min read
A Working Relationship
Union Gospel Mission: August 1, 2013
As Paul’s strength returned, he was paired with volunteer Mike Updike to work in the Mission’s flower beds a few hours each week. Mike calls it...