United Methodist Church Union

United Methodist Church Union (aka "Church Union") aims to build on its impressive history of 127 years (!!!) helping those in need in the Pittsburgh, PA metropolitan area and surrounding counties. In addition to our m ission of transforming, communities, lives, and hearts, our vision is to be a responsive and collaborative force bridging across cultural and economic challenges to empower change.

Our programs are designed to assist primarily low-income individuals, families, neighborhoods, and communities walk into the next day filled with hope for the future. This reflects itself in our core activities:
- Reader-Mentor offering literacy support during the school day to elementary schools in under-performing areas
- Kids Meal Network offering meals to children in low-income neighborhoods during the critical summer months when school is not in session (meaning meals at school are not available)
- Daily Bread meal services for the homeless
- MetHousing, MetTowers - housing program for low-income seniors

Reader-Mentor - Our primary program strategy offers a "win-win" formula. We pair adult volunteers, mostly retired senior citizens, with teacher-selected students needing literacy skill support. There's a special relationship that forms over the course of a year when a student can reliably depend on his/her reading mentor to show up, be interested in their progress, and dream together (while reading) about the future. Sometimes it's difficult to say who benefits more - the students improving in their literacy and fluency skills - or the volunteers who consider the time with "their" student the high point of their week.

Kids Meal Network - The strategy here is to make KMN a fun, "I-want-to-be-there" environment for young children, many of whom are left alone while their parents or caregivers are working. We combine nutritional food with fun, games, special guest visits (Charlie the Tuna!), along with plenty of neighborhood kids to make each year's KMN a summer to remember.

Senior housing - There's no other way to say it. Housing prices across the country have gone through the roof. And for low-income senior adults, this is frightening and scary. How can you afford a monthly rent on a 2-bedroom apartment of close to $1,500 per month (www.apartmentlist.com) if your monthly income is only $1200/month? This is the untenable situation in which many senior citizens find themselves. Pay rent or buy groceries? Pay the electric bill or a car payment to get to work? Church Union's strategy to meet this need is to offer low-cost, affordable senior housing for adults with verifiable financial need.