Churches United In Ministry

Distributive services:started in 1981, chum's distributive services includes two food shelves (providing over 9,700 food packages to 2,810 unique households in 2024, with additional emergency shelter and unsheltered packages to 1296 duplicated individuals); mobile food drops to 8 duluth area food deserts (1,920 food boxes in 2024); a food delivery program - chum2go, delivering food packages to homebound seniors, families, and those with disabilities (840 food packages in 2024).

Housing services:two locations are devoted to longer-term housing for individuals and families transitioning from homelessness. The steve o'neil apartments provides 44 units of permanent supportive housing for families with children who have experienced long-term or recurrent homelessness. Opened in late december 2014, this program offers intense professional staff services which includes youth development, and 4-star parent aware early childhood programming designed to support families rebuilding their lives. Programming is based on circle of security, participatory engagement, and follow housing first, harm reduction and trauma-informed philosophies and practices. The st. Francis apartments opened in 2021 and offers 39 permanent supportive housing units for elders with underlying health conditions to live and obtain supportive services. Support staff connect residents to services for food, transportation, assistance with household chores, public benefits, and mental health and recovery services. Chum's goal is to help residents successfully transition from shelter to housing, and then maintain their housing, stabilize their health and wellbeing, and not return to homelessness.

Congregational outreach:includes faith-based organizing and advocacy at the state and local level; expanding horizons, an immersion experience to expose participants to the issues of poverty and the opportunities for service and social justice work; and volunteer outreach and coordination for all of chum's programs (about 900 people volunteer each year, 600 regularly and 300 for special events).