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The Beauty of Nature Comes in Different Ways

  • Where can you combine a charitable donation with food, friends, fun and shopping? At Charitable Union's eighth annual Decorated Table Event at Schuler's Restaurant and Bar in Marshall.

    Here's how it works... Each table seats eight. So, invite 8 of your friends to join us from 5:00 - 8:00 on Monday, April 15th. Cost is $45.00 per person. Come in anytime after 3:00 to decorate your table in a theme of your choosing. Sit down and enjoy the evening with your friends over a great dinner and drinks (cash bar is available).



    The evening includes:


    • 3:00 Decorating Tables begins
    • 5:00 Registration and Cocktails
    • 50/50 Raffle
    • Silent Auction
    • Plated Dinner
    • A variety of Games of Chance
    • Loads of fun and laughter

Our Impact This Year

  • 38,350

  • Households Served in 2019

    15,094

  • Volunteer Hours in 2019

    30,917

  • Backdoor Donors in 2019

    7,234

News & Notes

Changes in Services due to Covid 19

Free Store – services will be available via CURB SIDE. This means, those with a phone will need to call upon arrival (269-964-7234) complete an intake over the phone and the item(s) you need will be pulled by staff and delivered outside. Those without a phone can ring the Gift Shop doorbell and complete paperwork through the door.
 
Programs available include; baby formula, baby layette, steel toed boots, workforce attire, period packs, emergency services (please call), and fire victim. Steel toed boots, workforce attire, and fire victims required the proper referral.
 
We plan to be staffed Monday – Thursday 8:00-5:00 and Friday 9:00-1:00.
 
Donor Door – please hold all donations at home at this time. The CDC has suggested that Coronavirus can live on plastic and cardboard surfaces which is how donations normally come to us.
 
We are so fortunate that is great community has supported Charitable Union for over 133 years through clothing donations. We will need your donations when the virus is under control. We ask you to wait till then.
 
Gift Shop @ Charitable Union – is closed at this time. We will communicate when the shop is open again.
 

Decorated Table a Great Evening

  • 2020 Decorated Table Date Set
    2020 Decorated Table Date Set

Hope to see you at this year's Decorated Table Event which is slotted to occur on Monday, April 20th at Win Schuler's Restaurant and Pub in Marshall. Cost is $45.00 per person for a plated dinner, and lots of fun with your friends.  

Host a table and decorate it in the theme of your choice. It's a great evening of fun sharing, good eats and helping a dedicated non-profit in its mission to help those in need in Calhoun county.

For more information contact Tyler at Charitable Union (269) 964-7234 ext. 106.  Online registration will be coming soon.

A Note from Teresa Allen


Did you ever read “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” as a kid?  Remember as a kid how the worst things in the world included gum in your hair and the dreaded center backseat of the car?  If only life's potholes were that simple!

Some potholes in life cannot be avoided; the closing of a business so you lose your job, or a house fire and you lose all of your worldly possessions. These types of potholes are life altering, but if given the proper supports you will bounce back.

I had the honor of serving a young woman and her boyfriend after their house fire. It was a rental unit, they lost everything but the clothing on their backs and they did not have renter's insurance. When she came to Charitable Union, she was unfamiliar with our Free Store and our mission to contribute to Human Dignity.

She and her boyfriend are both hard workers, but they couldn't work. They didn't have proper work clothing. So, step one was to give them a weeks’ worth of work clothes. But
they would need more. “Do you normally lounge in sweats or gym shorts”, I asked? Let's grab some of them too.

While she shopped for herself. I shopped for the boyfriend. She got the call they had a place to stay, and he was off to pick-up their new bed. I asked about the size of the bed and went to our Fire Aisle to see what we might have for bedding. I found a king-sized bed-in-a-bag (thank you to the donors who ensure we have these types of items, for occasions like this). As I gave her the new bedding, she broke down in tears. She could not believe strangers would support her like this and give her new items to replace the things she had lost.

Imagine how devastating it is to realize you have lost everything. You must start over, you don't know where to turn, and life itself seems like an obstacle. This is where Charitable Union fits in, providing one person's old as another person's new!

We are blessed to be embarking upon our 133rd year of service in this community. Help that brings Hope!

Stained Glass Art Depicts CU Mural

Charitable Union received a wonderful gift recently from Chapel Hill United Methodist Church. The above stained glass art piece now hangs in the window in front of the building on 85 Calhoun street. It depicts the charitable works that our agency has been a part of for the past 132 years here in the Battle Creek and surrounding Calhoun County area. On behalf of the board, staff and clients at Charitable Union, thank you Chapel Hill Methodist Church!

  • –Adam and Deb Dingwall
    –Adam and Deb Dingwall

    “Help that brings hope,” that is a tag line that Charitable Union uses to describe itself. And for more than 17 years we have seen, first hand, the hope that this organization has brought to our community. From serving on the Board of Directors to volunteering, and by being both backdoor and financial donors ourselves, we know that our time and our financial support has helped Charitable Union bring hope to many in our community. How?

    • Since 1887, Charitable Union has helped create change in Calhoun County. By mobilizing volunteers to invest time and talent to help our community bring hope to those in need…

    • Hope that comes from a child receiving a new outfit to begin a school year or a winter coat to keep them warm during the long Michigan winters… last year more than 4,612 children were helped…

    • The new-found hope that comes from having appropriate clothing for a job interview or steel toed shoes that will enable someone to get a job at a factory that requires them…..or scrubs because they are needed to secure a job… 551 scrubs and 346 steel toed shoes were distributed in 2017…

    While these are just a few examples of how the work of Charitable Union impacts lives, a child cannot attend school with only one outfit a year…. the need continues all year. And so must our commitment. Charitable Union continues to invest its time and resources in our children….our future….our hope and so must OUR commitment continue.

    Several years ago at a community meeting on at-risk youth, a young teen addressed us all and said: “We are all ‘at risk’ until we feel connected.” This very wise teen who came, not from poverty, but certainly knew its sting, stopped us in our tracks and made us realize the importance of working together for change. We invite you to connect with Charitable Union to help bring the hope so needed in our world today.

    There have been many challenges, as there are for all non-profits today. But Charitable Union continues to seek out ways to tighten its belt to ensure that they will be around and able to serve for years to come. It is that kind of fiscal responsibility that speaks volumes to us and pushes us to want to support this non-profit however we are able.

    We are proud of our involvement with this community gem and we hope you will join us and many others in supporting their important work in our community during 2016 and beyond. It is only through our community support that Charitable Union can be the “Help that brings Hope.” Please join us.

  • -Celeste Clark
    -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!

© 2020 Charitable Union
Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
Terms & Conditions

Terms & Conditions

Donation Refund Policy

We are grateful for your donation and support of our organization. If you have made an error in making your donation or change your mind about contributing to our organization please contact us. Refunds are returned using the original method of payment. If you made your donation by credit card, your refund will be credited to that same credit card.

Automated Recurring Donation Cancellation

Ongoing support is important to enabling projects to continue their work, so we encourage donors to continue to contribute to projects over time. But if you must cancel your recurring donation, please notify us.

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