Free Easter Brunch At Union Gospel Mission Sunday

PORTLAND, OR — The Union Gospel Mission is prepared to serve 500 meals to folks in-need this Sunday for its 91st annual Easter brunch charity.

Held at the Union Gospel Mission's downtown location, 15 N.W. Third Ave., from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 1, the free brunch will include traditional Easter ham, scrambled eggs with cheese, biscuits with sausage gravy, ambrosia fruit salad, juice and coffee, UGM officials announced Thursday.

"We feel very strongly about providing meals to our guests on holidays like Easter," UGM spokeswoman Stacy Kean told Patch in an email. "As a Christian organization, we want to show love and compassion to people in need and share the hope of Jesus."

Along with the meals, UGM volunteers will also hand out Easter gift bags with blankets, hygiene supplies, and cold weather gear to whomever needs.

"Many of our guests are experiencing homelessness, and some of our guests are in low income housing and food insecurity is real for them," Kean said. "Many of our homeless guests feel very isolated, ignored, and sadly in some cases abused. They are welcomed here and we want to do our best for them, so that is why we try to make the meal and the event special."

To provide an example of just how special they try to make their Easter brunch event, UGM officials on Thursday shared this video on the Portland UGM YouTube channel:

Officials said more than 150 people have volunteered to help prepare and serve food at the Easter Sunday event.

The Union Gospel Mission provides holiday meals for families and individuals throughout the year from its downtown Portland location; it also provides clothing at its thrift store location in Tigard, 11611 S.W. Pacific Hwy.

For more information on how to receive UGM assistance, or to learn how you can donate to its cause, visit ugmportland.org, or call 503-274-4483.

Images via Union Gospel Mission