Meet Alvin Taylor: The Mission’s new Community Relations Coordinator

On May 1st, Union Gospel Mission welcomed Alvin Taylor as a staff member. Alvin’s role at the Mission is to reach out to our homeless guests, our neighborhood, help manage some of our homeless services, and help secure in-kind gifts to support this outreach.

Alvin’s vision for his role is, “I want to tap into the homeless community, because there is a lot of hurt and pain. I want them to know it doesn’t have to be this way.”

Alvin’s heart for the homeless comes from experience. He was once homeless and addicted and says of his experience, “I would come downtown and people would treat me badly, seeing a homeless person and wanting me to just go away. I want to have a positive interaction, let them know they have value. When you are homeless you have so much stacked against you. I want to help them have hope and formulate a plan.”

Prior to being homeless, Alvin was very successful in the computer industry, and he says “I was all about image, the nice house, clothes and things. All the while I was drinking, hung over and miserable. The things and the image didn’t help, I was still miserable.”

Things started to turn around for Alvin when he was homeless and got a meal at Union Gospel Mission. He found it to be a friendly place. Alvin joined the LifeChange recovery community and found a way out of the addiction and misery.

While in LifeChange Alvin says, “I finally found peace without drugs or alcohol and realized my past is my past. All the while I prayed to share Jesus with people, I just wanted to be working with people, now here I am.”

If you would like to get in touch with Alvin, his e-mail is alvint@ugmportland.org or call 503-274-4483.