New Video: Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Many volunteers shared Christmas cheer by serving a meal at Union Gospel Mission:

Christmas Day at Union Gospel Mission

It's 1:20 pm on Christmas Day, and the snow is falling! (Can you make out the snowflakes on the picture taken in front of the Mission minutes ago?)

Today Union Gospel Mission is serving a meal and distributing clothing to those who are homeless or in need of a meal and companionship on Christmas Day.

As of 1:00 pm we had served 560 meals, and we are on our way to serving about 700 or so.

Here is the scene in Union Gospel Mission's dining hall, where a meal of ham, mashed potatoes, yams, dinner rolls, fruit and pie are served.

Volunteers distributed gifts of clothing, hygiene items and toys for children from our garage entrance. Thanks to adidas, we were able to hand out bags of new clothing to people in need.

A team of volunteers from Union Gospel Mission took to the streets to distribute bags of clothing and reach out to people in need on the street. They stopped to chat with and wish a Merry Christmas to the gentleman with the blue coat and beard. This volunteer team distributed socks, underwear and few plates of food to people they encountered on Burnside street near Union Gospel Mission.

We are very blessed this Christmas to share a meal with people who come to the Mission, the volunteers and the donors who have been so generous.

Merry Christmas!

Getting ready for a Merry Christmas

Christmas is nearly here. In the kitchen the LifeChange addiction recovery residents assigned to the kitchen- Amber, Mary, Lisa are preparing ham, stuffing, yams, mixed fruit, dinner rolls and pie. Union Gospel Mission along with about 200 volunteers will serve the food, and hand out clothing to people in need Christmas Day from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm at 15 NW Third Avenue. We anticipate serving as many as 700 meals. It's not too late to help, you can donate to feed people in need at http://www.ugmportland.org/donate.html

LifeChange recovery residents and Union Gospel Mission staff had an early Christmas party and retreat at the Oregon Coast. It was a great time of prayer, fellowship and some pretty zany fun.

For some reason, many of the pictures from our retreat featured people with something funny on their head:

LifeChange resident Willie sports a furry hat. Actually, this is sort of Willie's signature look this fall and winter- he has several of these hats.

Union Gospel Mission's LifeChange men's facilitator, Dave, has moose antler's on...(no, this isn't Dave's signature look)

In addition to a great time, outings and events for people in LifeChange help residents overcoming addiction learn to have fun without drugs and alcohol. The Christmas retreat was a welcome break for the LifeChange recovery community during the busy holiday season.

Merry Christmas!