November/December 2008 Hope for the Hungry, Hurting and Homeless...

since 1940

New hope for

the New Year:
Terry’s story
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Thanksgiving Dinner

The Mobile Mission

receives national attention

Look inside for your

Christmas Catalogue 2008:
Gifts that Give Back!

Donate online
and learn more at

www.ugm.ca
 PRESIDENT’S REPORT
In preparing for one of the busiest seasons Friends, even in this tough economic
Union Gospel Mission offers hope to hungry, hurting of the year there is a sense of anticipation at climate, I know we are up to the challenge.
and homeless men, women, youth and children in
Vancouver and the Lower Mainland of BC by sharing
Union Gospel Mission. The holiday season Union Gospel Mission is committed to
and practically demonstrating the gospel of Jesus is another opportunity to extend a warm continuing to expand and improve our
Christ, providing without discrimination:
welcome to our guests, many of whom are programs to serve the growing need. We are
• Basic necessities and practical assistance seeking refuge from the streets, a way out of committed to working hard and sacrificially
• Effective recovery programs which offer
freedom from addictive lifestyles addiction or a helping hand to get back on to find lasting solutions to poverty,
• Educational and job readiness programs which their feet. addiction and homelessness. And we are
equip for successful living
• Outreach programs which provide encouragement, committed to working with you.
support, counselling, spiritual guidance and This Thanksgiving it was a personal joy
referral services, and
• Affordable housing for those in need through to see that caring donors like you helped How can you help? Volunteers are essential
our Union Gospel Housing Society provide thousands of meals to hungry to the work of UGM. This Christmas
Our desire is to be a bridge for people striving to regain people. But what is really exciting is you could help pack hampers or help
the basic necessities of life, restore their that each meal can be the start of a new with Christmas preparations at our New
God-given dignity and hope, empowering them to rejoin
the community as full and active participants. beginning for every guest. UGM’s wide Westminster or Mission Drop-in Centres.
range of quality programs and practical Also, why not give your loved ones a gift
Programs & Services Offered
assistance improves the lives of the people that matters from our Christmas Catalogue?
• Emergency Food, Shelter, Clothing
• Alcohol & Drug Recovery Programs we are called to serve. From helping provide a Christmas hamper
• Community Drop-in Centres for a family in need to feeding the hungry
• Employment Services
• Youth Outreach It is more important than ever to reach out at our Christmas Dinner to putting Bibles
• Chapel & Meal Services to the growing number of people in distress in the hands of men and women going
• Children’s Programs
• Adult Education in our cities. The recent Metro Vancouver through our Alcohol & Drug Recovery
• Thrift Stores homeless count revealed a 22% increase Program, there are so many great ways to
• Counselling
• Bible Studies since 2005 in the number of people living help by purchasing a Gift that Gives Back.
• Home & Community Visitation without a home. Most disturbing was
• Women’s Outreach
the number of women who are homeless, I thank you for your compassion and wish
Union Gospel Mission which nearly doubled compared to the you and your family a blessed Christmas.
Board of Directors
previous homeless count. These figures
Robert Pasman – Chairman
Bill Schulz – Vice Chairman and Treasurer
coupled with the effects of rising food costs Gratefully,
Bruce Anthony make for challenging times for so many
Mark DuMerton
Roy Hildebrand
men, women and families who are living
Ernest Lang in poverty. William B. Mollard
David Leung
George Ratzlaff
Alastair Rees-Thomas
John Vanderwal

Senior Leadership Team

Bill Mollard – President
LIVES CHANGED...
Blanche Hames – Director of Human Resources
Genesa Wheaton – Director of Development August 2008
Dan Russell – Director of Operations The Alcohol & Drug Recovery Program
for men is an intensive, Christ-centred,
six month live-in program. Every year,
Editorial Team UGM sees many men successfully
complete the program and begin clean
J. Stewart – Editor-in-Chief
and sober lifestyles.
Anika Cornish – Editor
Lydia Home’s Alcohol & Drug
Recovery Program for women Alpha/A & D Lydia Home
integrates Biblical teaching with John and Ross Tanagra
12-step recovery and relapse
prevention with an emphasis on
Union Gospel Mission specific women’s issues. The women
are taught the skills that will assist
September 2008
616 East Cordova Street them in maintaining an alcohol- and
drug-free life.
Vancouver, BC, V6A 1L9
Tel: 604.253.3323 The Hope Learning Centre educates
adults and encourages them to earn
Fax: 604.253.3496 their GED (Grade 12 Equivalency), and
acquire valuable employment skills.
Alpha/A & D Financial Management
Chester Mark, Jesus, Douglas,
Daniel, Chester
Check our job ads at www.ugm.ca
Union Gospel HISTORY MINUTE
Mobile Mission Receives
National Attention
Gary Mason, columnist for the Globe and Mail, recently
spent an evening aboard UGM’s newest outreach innovation,
the Mobile Mission. In a gripping article published in
mid-August, Mason helped shed light on the complex
issue of homelessness and stark poverty in Vancouver.

What Mason encountered on Vancouver’s streets was the jarring

reality of lives gone astray and human beings seemingly lost
in a downward spiral of addiction, mental illness and poverty.
Along for the ride with Mobile Mission operator Arnie, Senior
Chaplain Bruce Curtiss and UGM President Bill Mollard, the
Globe reporter and a photographer documented the evening
as the team reached out to men and women with a blanket,
food, a cup of hot chocolate and a hand of compassion.
Read Gary Mason’s Globe and
Mail article and watch a video
of their evening on Vancouver’s
streets at www.ugm.ca/globe
Over the past 68 years,
Union Gospel Mission has used its vehicles to deliver
food and help to those who need it most. The Mobile
Mission, which hit the streets in late 2007, now allows
us to deliver the essential services of the Mission – food,
warm clothing and resource information – directly to
men and women living on the streets.
3
 Feed the Hungry
Thanksgiving Radiothon
a Success
This year, Union Gospel Mission once again partnered with
JRfm 93.7 for the 5th annual Feed the Hungry Thanksgiving
Radiothon. JRfm listeners heard testimonies of men and women
whose lives have been changed through UGM’s wide range
of programs and services, and they responded with generous
donations that will make a real difference for so many.

For many people in need, our Thanksgiving meal marked

that important first step to making positive changes in their
lives through such services as our Alcohol & Drug Recovery
Program. Thanks to the volunteers, generous listeners and to
everyone at JRfm for making this event such a success!

Thanks to you, over XXXX

meals were served at our 21st
annual Thanksgiving Dinner!
On October 13th, you made it possible for Union Gospel
Mission to welcome thousands of men, women, youth and
children for an amazing Thanksgiving celebration. Over XXXX
delicious turkey dinners were served at our Vancouver, New
Westminster and city of Mission facilities.

Attendees enjoyed special musical guests, chatted with outreach

workers and sat down to a Thanksgiving meal with all the
trimmings. The holidays can be a lonely and difficult time for
many, but thanks to an outpouring of love by our volunteers,
donors and staff, guests left with the reminder that they are
indeed cared for.

Thank you to everyone for making this a joyful Thanksgiving

for so many in our communities!

4
You’ll Make this Christmas
a Season of Hope
The holiday season can be an especially difficult time for those
living in poverty or who are living on the streets and separated
from loved ones. Many families in our communities are also
struggling to make ends meet and cannot afford to provide
their children with what we take for granted at Christmastime:
toys, treats, a pantry full of food and warm winter clothing.

But because you care, Christmas will be brighter for so

many hurting people. Union Gospel Mission is planning for
another busy and blessed holiday season. At our 68th annual
Christmas Dinner, we expect to serve over 3,000 delicious
meals to hungry men, women, youth and children. For many,
this could be the start of a new life through our Alcohol &
Drug Recovery Program, our Hope Learning Centre or one
of our other life-changing programs. UGM is also preparing
to bless over 300 families with Christmas Hampers. Each
family in need will receive boxes filled with food staples,
as well as a few treats, to last them for 2 weeks. Each child
in the family will also receive an age-appropriate gift!

Give a gift that gives back! Buy gifts that matter from the UGM Christmas Catalogue
or go to www.ugm.ca/christmas to purchase items online.

$3.29 – The New Cost to

Provide a Hot, Nutritious Meal
In order to adjust to the sharp increase in food prices, coupled
with a drop in food donations, Union Gospel Mission has
raised the cost to provide a complete meal to $3.29. While
increases in food costs have generally been minimal year to year,
by the end of the fiscal year, UGM food costs are expected to
have risen 10%.

Our commitment is to continue to provide high quality meals

in the most cost-effective manner we can. Your support makes
it possible to continue to provide the meals that give men,
women, youth and children the nutrition they need to make
positive changes in their lives. Thank you!

Contact Volunteer Services to find out how you can take part in the exciting things
happening this Christmas at UGM. Go to www.ugm.ca/volunteer or call 604.215.5442
to learn more about volunteer opportunities.
5
Testimonial
“I got to reflect on my past and my mistakes.
It made me think that there’s a better way.”
New Life for the New Year
Hard work of recovery reaps rewards
Terry describes his life before he came to Union Gospel
Mission as a “nightmare.” Addicted to alcohol and drugs,
Terry was managing to hold down a job in security while
living in an extremely stressful situation with another addict
in Surrey. When he lost his job, he decided to see if he
could find a healthier living situation in Vancouver.
“I lost my job and became homeless in one month,” he recalls.
“I came to Vancouver because I figured that would be a good
place to find somewhere to live.” But Terry couldn’t find
anything except a run-down Downtown Eastside hotel operating
as an SRO (single room occupancy building) that was the
filthy home to many people battling addictions. “I’m glad I
didn’t move in there,” he realizes now, “because it would have
just enabled my addiction.” Instead Terry ended up staying
in different shelters and frequenting soup lines for his meals.
Having heard from another homeless person that UGM
served the best free food in town, Terry started making
use of UGM’s chapel and meal services. He also started
going to the Vancouver Drop-in in the mornings for coffee
and a pastry. There, he met Mike, a long-time UGM
66
outreach worker. “God bless Mike” Terry says, “because
he helped get me in to the [Alcohol & Drug] Program.”
During his time in recovery, Terry enjoyed the supportive
environment of UGM. The other residents were kind; he was
cared for, received clothing and enjoyed great meals. He says
the program worked for him because of the Christian element
to working through the 12 steps: “I got to reflect on my past
and my mistakes. It made me think that there’s a better way.”
Terry graduated from the Alcohol & Drug Recovery Program
in April of 2008 and though he initially went back to working
in security, he soon decided that wasn’t the job for him. “That’s
when another miracle happened,” he recalls. The day he quit
that job, a position became available in the Maintenance
Department at UGM. Terry is now enjoying his daily work at
the Mission and has hope for the future. “I’d like to save my
money, buy my own home and have a family of my own.”
And he is very grateful for the donors who made his new
life possible. “There are so many needy people on the
Downtown Eastside – it’s sort of like a desert, and Union
Gospel Mission is Shangri-La. You have to persevere and work
hard. Staying sober and staying clean is a hard job, but if you
persevere, you’ll see the rewards. I’m seeing the rewards.”
THANK YOU

Meet Janet MacPhee,

UGM’s Associate Chaplain
Reaching women and children
on the Downtown Eastside
Janet MacPhee is Union Gospel Mission’s Associate
Chaplain and works closely with UGM’s Programs for
Women and Children, such as the Women’s Drop-in
Centre. She loves her work, but Janet also knows how
vitally important it is to serve the women, children and
families who live on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
“This community receives much attention in the press as a
place of drug abuse and crime,” she explains. “But the reality
is that in this same environment are people whose only crime A Poem for the UGM
is that they are poor – the mentally ill, the elderly, women
and children. Many small family units are often headed Women’s Drop-in:
by single mothers in public housing in increasingly unsafe
neighbourhoods. We reach out to these women and children
in tangible ways through ministries geared to their needs: Donors like you make it possible to minister to women and
drop-in centres, family meals, clothing, parenting support, children through the Women’s Drop-in Centre. Here’s a
afterschool children’s programs and summer camp sponsorships. poem written by Michelle, a guest at the Drop-in, to explain
UGM’s ministries are offered with support and care and we what this women’s ministry means to her:
endeavour to be respectful of the dignity of the whole person.”
It’s so nice to have a meeting place
Where everyone knows your name and face,
Sometimes the burden can be so heavy
But there are friends who encourage
And we in turn share with many.

Jesus taught us how to treat one another

Just as a child would be treated by her mother.

Jesus would love us to

Put ourselves in someone else’s shoes and
In the humbleness of finding we are really blessed
We know life could be harder so rise to the test.

All in all the greatest command was

To love God and all the rest will follow.

Come be part of the good things happening at the

Associate Chaplain Janet MacPhee visits with a guest after our
Women’s Drop-in. To volunteer, visit www.ugm.ca/
Thanksgiving Dinner volunteer or call 604.215.5442

7
Lately we’ve noticed one
person’s junk … is still junk.
There is a situation developing at the Union Gospel Mission
Thrift Store. The donation bins are overflowing, the only
problem is that most of it is stuff we can’t use.
Many people view thrift stores as a guilt-free way to discard old
clothing and clutter. The setback with these donations, even
though they are well intentioned, is they end up costing the store
money. The UGM Thrift Store is asking you to stop thinking of
it as a donation, start thinking of it as a gift.
Your donations will help change lives and provide hope for the
hungry, hurting and homeless. Put some thought into it and give
from the heart. Our visitors have the same needs as you, working
appliances, even up-to-date and unstained clothing. Right now,
there is a person who truly needs your donation.
For more information on how you can get involved and a
complete list of items we can accept please contact the Thrift
Store at:
671 E Hastings Street, 604.254.8721
Vancouver BC, V6A 1R2 contact@ugm.ca

Think of helping someone get a job. Your gift of clothing could

give them the confidence they need for a job interview or simply
a clean new outfit for the day.
Think of a young couple just starting out. A home needs
everyday items that work: small appliances, books and all the
essential supplies.
PS – Get involved today, we need people to help sort, make
phone calls and write letters like this one. Volunteers keep
coming back to the Thrift Store because they love to see
how their donations have helped change lives. Plus, you’d
be surprised that such a tiny effort can have such an
enormous effect.

Your old pots &

pans can still warm
a young tummy.

To make a donation,
please contact our Thrift Stores:
Vancouver Store Surrey Store
671 East Hastings St. 10776 King George Hwy.
604.254.8721 604.583.0069
9:00 am to 4:30 pm Please call for
Tuesday - Saturday current hours

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