Help that brings hope

Our Purpose: To contribute to human dignity.

Our Work: Provide clothing, bedding and small household items at no charge and connect people to resources in the community.

Our Values:
Honor and respect the people we serve.
Collaborate and partner with stakeholders.
Respect diversity within our community.
Be an exemplary organization.
Use resources responsibly.
Learn more and get involved.

Giving thanks is an outwardly focused activity. It is a personal opportunity to express gratitude towards those in our lives who mean so much to who we have become over the last year. With this intent in mind, I would like to give thanks to you for everything you provide the Charitable Union.

There is no doubt spirit gets you down your path, but at the same time concrete reality keeps you on it! Your gifts to Charitable Union are the solid background of our mission – the reality to our strivings. Because of you we:

clothe children all year long; including our special efforts to clothe school children for the first day of school and for our bitter Michigan winters
support new mothers and their newborns with baby layettes, formula and diapers
provide the homeless with weather-appropriate gear such as sleeping bags, tents, and thermal underwear
assist school girls with free prom dresses and feminine hygiene materials
help disaster victims with immediate and longer-term assistance, such as with clothing and household items as they move away from the disaster to rebuilding their lives
aid low-income seniors with incontinence materials, and,
facilitate the full involvement of adults in the work-world with steel-toed work shoes, business suits and attire, scrubs, and hospitality uniforms

While we recognize all of the gifts you have given us in the past, we earnestly ask you to continue to support our efforts to bring help that brings hope in Calhoun County! Please consider giving a year-end contribution to our on-going operation.

On behalf of the board of directors and myself, I wish you the very best for 2022 and the continued well-being of your family. Happy holidays!

Sincerely,

Teresa Allen
Executive Director

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Our Impact This Year

People Helped in 2020

20,321
Households Served in 2020

7,764
Volunteer Hours in 2020

16,011
Backdoor Donations in 2020

36,249 bags/boxes

THE GIFT SHOP @ CHARITABLE UNION IS OPEN SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY 9:00 UNTIL 1:00

Accepting Donations on Monday though Thursday 11 to 5

News & Notes

Charitable Union

Our Hours of Operation for all areas. Please check the area of service below that you would like information on:

Donation Hours:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Due to COVID donations must be held 72-hours before processing.

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Free Store Shopping:
Mon, Tues and Wed
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
2nd Saturday of month
9:00 a.m. to Noon
Closed Thurs and Fri

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The Gift Shop :
Beginning July 27 Re-Opening with limited customers. Gift Shop Hours:

Monday - Thursday 8:00a.m. to 5:00p.m.
Friday and Saturday 9:00a.m. to 1:00p.m.

85 Calhoun Street

Battle Creek, MI 49017

Phone (269) 964-7234

Fax (269) 966-2535

info@charitableunion.org

Programs

-Celeste Clark

Ralph Waldo Emerson is quoted as saying, "It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself... Serve and thou shall be served."

Charitable Union is a gem in our community that lives up to this mantra. It is a place that serves---in its support of families with their clothing needs, securing jobs, and advocating for other services. Have you ever heard of a student at the start of the school year in need of school clothing, or during winter without a coat and boots?

These are just two examples of the many programs that Charitable Union undertakes to assist our children in this community. Equally, if not more important is "how" Charitable Union goes about its work. They take great care to show dignity and respect, and to create a feeling of "family." Whether you are receiving the services offered, dropping off a donation, or shopping in the gift shop, there is a feeling you are among friends. Those who work and volunteer at Charitable Union embody the spirit of their mission and purpose: "To contribute to human dignity by providing resources at no charge to help lead people out of poverty."

Charitable Union is only able to accomplish this mission through your generosity! The need is so great and the time is now to invest in our children so that they can be positioned for a successful future. I hope you will join me and many others in supporting the wonderful work of the Charitable Union by continuing your commitment…. If you have not given in the past, please consider becoming a 'giving' friend and touch the lives of others!

Privacy Policy

What Information Do We Collect? When you visit our website you may provide us with two types of information: personal information you knowingly choose to disclose that is collected on an individual basis and website use information collected on an aggregate basis as you and others browse our website.
Personal Information You Choose to Provide We may request that you voluntarily supply us with personal information, including your email address, postal address, home or work telephone number and other personal information for such purposes as correspondence, placing an order, requesting an estimate, or participating in online surveys. If you choose to correspond with us through email, we may retain the content of your email messages together with your email address and our responses. We provide the same protections for these electronic communications that we employ in the maintenance of information received by mail and telephone.
Website Use Information Similar to other websites, our site may utilize a standard technology called "cookies" (see explanation below, "What Are Cookies?") and web server logs to collect information about how our website is used. Information gathered through cookies and server logs may include the date and time of visits, the pages viewed, time spent at our website, and the sites visited just before and just after ours. This information is collected on an aggregate basis. None of this information is associated with you as an individual.
How Do We Use the Information That You Provide to Us? Broadly speaking, we use personal information for purposes of administering our business activities, providing service and support and making available other products and services to our customers and prospective customers. Occasionally, we may also use the information we collect to notify you about important changes to our website, new services and special offers we think you will find valuable. The lists used to send you product and service offers are developed and managed under our traditional standards designed to safeguard the security and privacy of all personal information provided by our users. You may at any time to notify us of your desire not to receive these offers.
What Are Cookies? Cookies are a feature of web browser software that allows web servers to recognize the computer used to access a website. Cookies are small pieces of data that are stored by a user's web browser on the user's hard drive. Cookies can remember what information a user accesses on one web page to simplify subsequent interactions with that website by the same user or to use the information to streamline the user's transactions on related web pages. This makes it easier for a user to move from web page to web page and to complete commercial transactions over the Internet. Cookies should make your online experience easier and more personalized.
How Do We Use Information Collected From Cookies? We use website browser software tools such as cookies and web server logs to gather information about our website users' browsing activities, in order to constantly improve our website and better serve our users. This information assists us to design and arrange our web pages in the most user-friendly manner and to continually improve our website to better meet the needs of our users and prospective users. Cookies help us collect important business and technical statistics. The information in the cookies lets us trace the paths followed by users to our website as they move from one page to another. Web server logs allow us to count how many people visit our website and evaluate our website's visitor capacity. We do not use these technologies to capture your individual email address or any personally identifying information about you.
Notice of New Services and Changes Occasionally, we may use the information we collect to notify you about important changes to our website, new services and special offers we think you will find valuable. As a user of our website, you will be given the opportunity to notify us of your desire not to receive these offers by clicking on a response box when you receive such an offer or by sending us an email request.
How Do We Secure Information Transmissions? When you send confidential personal information to us on our website, a secure server software which we have licensed encrypts all information you input before it is sent to us. The information is scrambled en route and decoded once it reaches our website. Other email that you may send to us may not be secure unless we advise you that security measures will be in place prior to your transmitting the information. For that reason, we ask that you do not send confidential information such as Social Security, credit card, or account numbers to us through an unsecured email.
How Do We Protect Your Information? Information Security -- We utilize encryption/security software to safeguard the confidentiality of personal information we collect from unauthorized access or disclosure and accidental loss, alteration or destruction. Evaluation of Information Protection Practices -- Periodically, our operations and business practices are reviewed for compliance with organization policies and procedures governing the security, confidentiality and quality of our information. Employee Access, Training and Expectations -- Our organization values, ethical standards, policies and practices are committed to the protection of user information. In general, our business practices limit employee access to confidential information, and limit the use and disclosure of such information to authorized persons, processes and transactions.
How Can You Access and Correct Your Information? You may request access to all your personally identifiable information that we collect online and maintain in our database by emailing us using the contact form provided to you within the site structure of our website.
Do We Disclose Information to Outside Parties? We may provide aggregate information about our customers, sales, website traffic patterns and related website information to our affiliates or reputable third parties, but this information will not include personally identifying data, except as otherwise provided in this privacy policy.
What About Legally Compelled Disclosure of Information? We may disclose information when legally compelled to do so, in other words, when we, in good faith, believe that the law requires it or for the protection of our legal rights.
Permission to Use of Materials The right to download and store or output the materials in our website is granted for the user's personal use only, and materials may not be reproduced in any edited form. Any other reproduction, transmission, performance, display or editing of these materials by any means mechanical or electronic without our express written permission is strictly prohibited. Users wishing to obtain permission to reprint or reproduce any materials appearing on this site may contact us directly.