Mission opens its new facility

UGM's LifeChange Center debuts in downtown Portland

By RICHARD KOE
     PORTLAND — Union Gospel Mission staff and residents of the LifeChange Center officially moved into their new five-story, 28,500-square-foot facility at the northwest corner of Third Avenue and W. Burnside in late December.
Exterior and interior scenes of the new building showing worship services and serving of meals were featured in The Oregonian’s In Portland section on Jan. 11 as part of Old Town’s ever-changing scene.
     To arrange a tour of the new LifeChange facility, phone Bill Russell, Union Gospel Mission executive director, at 503-274-4483. A public open house is scheduled after church on Sunday, March. 25, 2 to 5 p.m., when tours also will be available along with refreshments.
    Groundbreaking and construction of the new building began in summer 2005 with completion last fall. The new facility is the largest expansion in Union Gospel’s 80-year history and is integrated with the existing building at 15 N.W. Third, which has been occupied since the 1930s.
     Inside the LifeChange Center are resident facilities, classrooms, educational resources, administrative offices, and expanded dining quarters for meals served daily to the homeless and needy.
     In 2004, Union Gospel served a grand total of 104,986 meals. Russell said they’ve been feeding the hungry and restoring the addicted since 1927.
     To fund the new building, UGM received $1.8 million through the use of New Market Tax Credits (NMTC). Portland Development Commission had approved up to $7 million in NMTCs for the project, which generated approximately $1.81 million in equity toward design and construction of the building.
     Union Gospel Mission then raised an additional $130,000 to complete the total $6.4 million cost of the new facility.
     Russell said the new LifeChange Center will more than double the number of residents in Union Gospel’s addiction recovery program from 30 to 75 men and women.
     Women residents have already moved into the new building since December and new people are added each day.
     The mission offers long-term and innovative goal-oriented recovery to hard-core addicts, most of whom are methamphetamine users. Life-Change is a Christian addiction recovery community of men and women who live and work together from two to four years to complete the change and recovery.