In twenty-five years the Mission has gone from serving food out of the back of a pickup truck to having a kitchen and dining space capable of serving 140 people at a time, and preparing 150,000 meals a year. In a year’s time guests have received over 6,000 showers, done 7,500 loads of laundry and worn 35,613 items of donated clothing.

In 2000 the Mission and financial partners, along with five dentist volunteers, brought mobile dental services to Olympia. Twenty years later dental professionals continue to volunteer and 1,600 visits a year occur in Mission-operated state-of-the-art facilities at no fee to uninsured patients unable to pay. In 2008 vision health services were initiated at the Mission, and today 500 vision exams and glasses a year are provided at no fee to those unable to pay.

Since 2000, the Mission has engaged single men and women, women with children in residential addiction recovery in three Tumwater facilities. And we are working with you to add another duplex for men’s transitional living. With God in their lives, 80% of the graduates are remaining clean and sober out to five years after graduation. Six to eight men and women graduate each year and begin the transition back to society. Fifteen to twenty men, women and children are in the addiction recovery phase each year.

What is a virtual graduation like at the Mission?  This 30-minute video will give you a chance to see and hear from our first COVID-19 graduates from the Life Transformation Recovery Program. They each share their testimonies of how Jesus has helped them out of addiction and put them on firm footing as they journey into the future. Sit back, relax, and enjoy their message of hope.

Matt, a staff member at the Olympia Union Gospel Mission, shared his story with the guests just before dinner. Hear a moving story about a very changed man.

There is probably not one person reading this that hasn’t been affected by someone in addiction. While the Mission, by God’s grace and love, graduated six amazing Life Transformation graduates recently, many of you must hold out hope that someday your spouse, child, sibling, or friend will seek help. Download the article here.