A Good Person gets Rewarded

Congratulations to Jim Soderberg! He is the Executive Director of CHUM (Churches United in Ministry). He has just received a McKnight Award in human service. He is one of 10 Minnesotans to receive the award today in Minneapolis. The awards honor people who give their time to improve the lives of people in their communities.

Soderberg insists the award isn’t about his work or about CHUM. He stated that the award should go to the community of caring people who make up CHUM, including the staff, board, advisory committees, volunteers and guests who use the services. Jim Soderberg has worked at CHUM for almost 10 years. His staff says that he inspires them all to do good, and that he has a vision for what CHUM can do to empower people to improve their lives. Rev. Michelle Hargrave, president of CHUM’s board stated that he has changed the shape of CHUM from delivering services of compassion to people in need to looking at ways to reduce the need. The award brings with it a check for $7,500, which Soderberg has already turned over to CHUM, asking that the money be used for staff development to reward the staff for what they do. Several people said that sharing credit is just what they’d expect from this humble man

CHUM in Duluth stands for Churches United in Ministry. In 1973 a group of churches started an organization called CHUM (Central Hillside United Ministry) for the purpose of addressing needs of poor and homeless in Duluth. The Central Hillside was an area that especially needed attention, thus “Central Hillside”. I remember the founding members coming to our church in the Woodland neighborhood and explaining what the mission of this group would be and asking our congregation to be involved. I also remember Jim Soderberg coming to our board and talking about CHUM’s mission. Hope UMC (after our merger) has been a strong supporter of CHUM since it’s beginnings in 1973, in fact, our Pastor, Rev. Michelle Hargrave, is presently the President of CHUM. Also, the name was changed many years ago to CHURCHES UNITED IN MINISTRY, to indicate that this ministry is to all of Duluth, not just the Central Hillside.

Congratulations Jim Soderberg. Duluth is lucky to have you. Read more about Jim, about the McKnight awards and about CHUM, by clicking onto my Duluth News Tribune link on the left of this column. There is also a link to CHUM’s web site, for more information on the organization.