NEWS - Non-Profit Organizations

SBJ Staff Report

June 14, 2010 - Union Mission’s president and CEO, the Rev. Micheal Elliott, has officially resigned from his position, announced last Friday by Jerry Rainey, chairman of the board of directors for Union Mission, Inc., and retired president of SunTrust Bank in Savannah.

Frances Carter, who was recently hired to become Union Mission's Chief Operating Officer, will take over Elliott’s duties as Interim President and CEO of Union Mission, Inc. as of July 1, 2010. 

Carter currently serves as the Associate Director, Academic Program Development at the Mercer University School of Medicine in Macon.

“I am very proud of my 23 years at Union Mission and the things that have been accomplished,” said Elliott in a prepared statement to the local media. “I have had the good fortune to travel much of the country and see what other cities are doing in response to the human need that it has. I have learned there really is no other non-profit organization as diverse and as rich as Union Mission. This was accomplished because of a history of dedicated staff, tremendous support of the Board of Directors, and an outpouring of community support. The lives that have been made better have been the most important result of our efforts. I am humbled and proud to have been part of such a unique and incredible organization.”

Union Mission, created in 1936 as part of Savannah’s response to the Great Depression,  is devoted to ending and preventing homelessness in the greater Savannah region, he said.

UMI operates a number of entities including the J.C. Lewis Outpatient Services division which served 6053 people in 2009, alone. And, the organization operates the Starfish Café, a restaurant and training facility to prepare people to return to the workplace, as well as managing the Dutchtown Campus Apartments, 48 housing units for homeless individuals and families on Middleground Rd.

It is a nationally-recognized non-profit organization, and serves nearly 1,000 men, women and children each day with housing, healthcare and a wide range of support services.

In addition to charitable contributions from the community at large, in 2009 the Union Mission received a number of grants including a $715,000 HRSA Expansion Award; a $215,000 HRSA Stimulus Award; a $225,000 HRSA Capital Improvement grant; $50,000 from the Kaiser Foundation; and $20,000 from the Caear Foundation.

UMI’s work was also supported by $26,416 from United Way for behavioral work readiness; $65,000 from the Barbara Bush Family Literacy fund; a $25,000 Community Development Block Grant; $12, 000 from the Center for Working Families; $20, 000 from the Dollar General Foundation; $5,000 from the Bank of America Foundation; $2,500 from Dermody Properties; and $5,000 from Wachovia Bank.