Urban Ministries of Durham is one of our city's most influential and long-standing charities. It serves thousands of homeless people every year, meeting their basic needs first then helping them to break the cycles of homelessness. The recession has represented a double whammy for UMD and many other charities, increasing need while reducing people's ability to give. Executive Director Patrice Nelson answered some questions via e-mail to help you understand more about what UMD does. From now through May 31, the Stewards Fund has challenged UMD to raise $25,000 from new donors. For every dollar raised, UMD will receive another dollar from the Stewards Fund. For more information, go to the UMD Web site.

DM: Briefly describe the work and mission of Urban Ministries?

PN: Urban Ministries of Durham (UMD) was founded 27 years ago with leadership from local faith communities to provide food, clothing, shelter, and supportive services for Durham neighbors in need.  The mission rests on the core values of providing a welcoming, caring and compassionate environment that affirms the dignity of guests, volunteers and staff along with the recognition that regardless of our walks in life, we share a common journey and have much to offer one another.  While UMD was founded by faith leaders, and offers spiritual support services for those who request them, the agency is not tied to any particular faith tradition nor is participation in religious activities a prerequisite for service. UMD welcomes guests regardless of ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or disability.

Each year, UMD welcomes approximately 7,600 people who come seeking food, clothing, shelter and supportive services. UMD also welcomes 4,100 volunteers, more than 60 communities of faith, groups from every local college and university and many K-12 schools, civic groups and businesses, large and small.

UMD’s programs include:

A Community Shelter that houses an average of 145 men, women and families per night. The Community Café, where 3 meals a day are served, seven days a week, 365 days a year to shelter guests and anyone else in need of a hot meal. The Food Pantry and Clothing Closet that distributes groceries and clothing to 400 households per month who are homeless or those at risk of becoming homeless. The Hope-Believe Recovery Program, which assists homeless adults with substance abuse rehabilitation.

DM: Please discuss the trends in homelessness you're seeing in Durham. Is the homeless population growing? What are their needs?

PN: The recession of 2009-2010 hit the homeless community hard. The UMD Café is serving more than 600 meals a day, the food and clothing closet has seen demand double over the past year and the shelter has operated at overflow levels for some populations since May of 2009. Unfortunately, UMD regularly turns away single adult men and families because the demands for spaces for those populations exceeded the available bed and floor mat space.

There has been an increase in people new to homelessness as a result of the recession. Laborers, construction workers, restaurant workers, truckers, retail salespersons and many other newly laid off or evicted neighbors have all been surprised to find their way to UMD’s doors, putting a new face on homelessness this year.

DM: Homelessness strikes people from all walks of life. Can you share a few stories of people you've helped to illustrate that point?

PN: Mary came to UMD as a single 50 year old woman from a small town outside of Durham. Drinking had been a way of life for her since she was a teenager. When she came to UMD, she had been sober for 11 months, but wasn’t in recovery, having never really worked on healing the wounds that caused her addiction. Prior to arriving at UMD, she had been staying from place to place but didn’t have a stable home of her own. At UMD, she confronted many of the unhealthy patterns of her past and made new choices for her future. In November 2009, Mary graduated from the Believe Recovery Program. She now has a job in the area and is living on her own in an apartment in the southwest portion of Durham.

Andrew is a truck driver. He can’t believe he’s in a homeless shelter. Jobs have been hard to come by of late and his resources have run low. He was evicted from his home and as a result his credit is poor. Without solid credit, he was not able to rent an apartment and stayed in hotels for a while. When his money and savings finally ran out, he came to UMD.  He has a lead on a job in the coming month and hopes his stay at UMD will be very short.

Salina, a young adult with a long history of trauma and abuse, has been sleeping outside and in abandoned homes for years. Recently, the outreach team from Housing for New Hope, a partner agency that works closely with UMD, finally convinced her to come to the shelter for help. Working with a mental health provider from the Durham Center, there is hope that a coordinated effort will help her to develop a viable plan for her future. It will not be easy and she will need a lot of support.

Not only does UMD touch the lives of those who come for food, clothing and shelter, but it also touches the lives of those who come to volunteer and support. Here is one of the many stories of helpers who have received more than they ever expected.

During a transitional time in her career, Samantha began volunteering in the UMD Community Shelter on a daily basis. From her post in the shelter office, she watched as UMD’s guests learned to cope with their addictions, stepped out of wheelchairs and began walking, sought and found work and moved from the shelter into homes of their own. Although she is no longer at UMD every day, UMD is still with her. Each day she recalls the transformations she observed and says those memories help her to know that she can overcome the challenges she faces. Countless times, UMD’s residents and staff thanked her for giving her time to UMD. But she says that, really, she’s the one who should be thanking them.

How can people lend their time and talents to Urban Ministries?

Each year, over 4,100 people volunteer their time and talents at UMD and the program could not operate without them. There are opportunities to cook and serve in the Café and to provide front desk support and direct service at the shelter. Volunteers can collect, sort and distribute food, toiletries and clothing while providing comfort and support at the food and clothing pantry. UMD needs data entry persons to keep up with the many reports we must file each month and donated skills from professionals such as artists, lawyers, counselors, computer experts and more to help us with program enhancements. There are service opportunities for groups who want to do one or two projects a year and for teams who want to come weekly. There are a host of ways to have fun while raising funds for UMD in your own community. Those wanting to assist with special events can join the team preparing for UMD’s annual Empty Bowl fundraiser on March 5 at 5:30pm at the Durham Armory. For more information on these and many other ideas, go to the Web site. 

Know of a charity you think should be highlighed in our weekly Doing Good segment? Contact Editor Matt Dees at mattdees@durhammag.com



Hey there, dear readers:

Wanted to give y'all a heads up about a new format we're bringing to the blog. In an effort to ensure we have new content every day, we're going to launch daily standing features that will appear each week.

As you may have noticed, Lisa Rossi has started putting together Music Mondays (yes, I'm a sucker for alliteration) where she highlights an artist from our local music scene.

I'm going to start profiling the good work of a local nonprofit every Tuesday. (Urban Ministries of Durham is coming tomorrow!)

Arturo will continue sharing his best finds every week in Wine Wednesdays.

Iesha Brown will continue bringing you the hottest weekend events every Thursday.

And Lisa and Iesha will team up to bring you Fashion Fridays each week. The first installment will feature the new fair trade college apparel business School House Ethical Fashion.

To be clear, this will not be the be all and end all of our blog content. We'll continue to bring you news and notes from around our city as they happen. This is mostly an effort to widen the reach of our blog and ensure we have something for our faithful readers every single day. We'll do our best to post each of these daily features first thing every morning. Hope you'll check it out.

Most importantly, we'd like to hear from you. Got a suggestion for any of these features or anything else? Please let us know. I can be reached at mattdees@durhammag.com

Thanks so much for reading.

Mayor Bill Bell will be asking "what'll it be" for a good cause on Jan. 5 from 6pm-8pm at Revolution, part of the popular downtown restaurants Guest Bartender series.

Bell will be mixing, shaking and stirring cocktails from Revolution's extensive, inventive cocktail list. Twenty percent of the proceeds will be donated to the John Avery Boys and Girls Club.

The series will continue each of the next two Tuesdays. McKinney partners Jeff Jones and Jonathan Cude will mix it up on Jan. 12 for Urban Ministries. Scott Harmon of Center Studio Architecture will tend bar for Builders of Hope.

Revolution co-owner Teresa Anile notes "Scott’s repertoire will feature his famous ‘Five Points Martini with Pomegranate Juice’ – both unleaded and leaded versions!"

"As Revolution celebrates its first year of business in January 2010, its new ‘Guest Bartender’ evenings are an opportunity for it to mark this special milestone whilst also thanking the local community through donation to such valuable charity organizations," she continued.

If all goes well, the series could be extended indefinitely. And, of course, the more folks who show up, the more money goes to charity. So belly up and help our city!

Revolution is located at 107 West Main Street. For further information, contact Teresa Anile,  teresa.anile@revolutionrestaurant.com or 965-9999.