Union Gospel Mission Association of St. Paul

Our vision is to see all men, women, and children healthy, whole, and successful through Jesus Christ and the transforming power of the gospel. In essence, we work toward restoring the lives that God intended for us to live by offering help to those wishing to overcome the challenges of homelessness, poverty and addiction.

We provide a methodical process designed to restore dignity and wholeness to all who desire it. We first aim to meet the physical issues facing those who come to the Mission, including hunger, shelter, and medical assistance. Once physical needs are meet, we strive to build community with any who seek it. Building community and trust allows our intake specialists and case workers to hold meaningful discussions about the challenges being faced by our clients. For those seeking help, we can then direct them to any number of programs, depending on their circumstances, that will help restore lives. Programs include, but are not limited to, temporary/transitional housing, dental services, medical services, treatment for issues of mental health, tax or legal issues, addiction recovery services, life skills training, job skills and interviewing training, exercise, discipleship programs, occupational training programs, and more. As mentioned earlier, our goal is to restore lives that God intended all of us to lead.

We have a number of physical plant locations that address the widespread needs faced by our clients and students. Our Men's Campus in St. Paul houses our main dining room as well as our emergency and transitional housing. It also houses our chemical dependency program (phases 3 and 4) and our discipleship program. Lastly, it contains our Central Services warehouse which processes all of our food and clothing donations used at all of our locations. Also in St. Paul, we operate the Naomi Family Residence, which provides safe shelter for women and children without a permanent home, many of whom are escaping abuse. This provides transitional housing for families as moms benefit from our life skills and job search training, while the children are cared for in the safe environment provided by our nearby Child Development Center. Lastly, we have outreach through a number of programs that either provide additional services to our students or reach other constituents in need.

Briefly, we have met our revenue goals for the last two years and have some aggressive goals for the coming year. We are able to accomplish this thanks to the enduring loyalty from our generous donors, who continue to believe in our mission and in how we have not wavered from that mission since our founding in 1902. We do look forward to the future and are always looking at how we can employ best practices in a fundraising environment that is undergoing significant change, and we are committed to keeping pace with those changes, because our community will be counting on it. We are also beginning to research the possibility of improving our facilities, whether that is enhancing the existing facilities we have or whether a new facility would be a better option, as we try and anticipate the future needs of our community and how best we meet those needs.