CHUM
21 West 1st Street, Duluth, MN 55802
About CHUM
CHUM is the ecumenical organisation that carries a large share of Duluth's emergency food and shelter work. It was founded in 1973, when ten churches in the Central Hillside pooled their resources to meet the needs of the neighbourhood's low-income residents more effectively, and it now reports serving more than 8,000 people a year (CHUM, accessed 2026-08-14).
It operates from more than one address, which is worth knowing if you are trying to find it: the main office is at 21 West 1st Street, the food shelf is a few blocks away at 120 North 1st Avenue West, and post goes to 102 West 2nd Street.
For anyone reading this guide as a prospective resident rather than a donor, CHUM is useful context for the Hillside and downtown pages. The concentration of social services in this part of the city is one of the things people notice first and understand least. It is there because the Hillside is where the need has historically been and where the churches that organised to meet it were, not because of anything about the housing stock, and the organisation predates most of the current buildings around it.
Get involved: Food shelf donations and volunteering, shelter and meal programme volunteering, and the member-congregation network.
Neighborhoods it serves
Duluth's civic core: three miles of skywalk, and a housing market made almost entirely of converted upper floors.
East End / EndionDuluth's boom-era hillside, where the mansions and the streetcar city meet.
Lincoln ParkThe West End that became the Craft District, and still costs half the city median.
Where these facts come from
- CHUM, organisation site accessed 2026-08-14
Last reviewed 2026-08-14 by Guide editorial.