Ministry of mercy in a place of need Posted on July 21, 2026
A storage pod at Covenant Community United Methodist Church in Baldwin, Michigan, holds donated supplies for its Helping Hands Ministry, which distributes them as needed to detainees upon their release from the nearby North Lake Processing Center. This is the largest center in the Midwest, housing immigrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement while awaiting judicial decisions on their immigration status. ~ photo courtesy Helping Hands Ministry
Michigan United Methodists have launched a new ministry, Helping Hands, to reach out to those detained by ICE at the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin with the love of Christ.
GLENN M. WAGNER
Michigan Conference Communications
Micah 6:8 outlines God’s desire for human behavior: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (NIV).
God is at work in Baldwin, Michigan.
Baldwin, a town of 920 permanent residents in Lake County, is located about halfway between Traverse City and Grand Rapids. Many tourists know Baldwin for its proximity to the outdoor beauty of the Manistee National Forest and the nearby Pere Marquette River. Jones Homemade Ice Cream is a popular refreshment stop for many tourists and locals.
More recently, Baldwin has attracted attention for a different kind of business.
A privately run state prison in Baldwin closed in September 2022 but reopened in 2025 under a new contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as the North Lake Processing Center, operated by the GEO Group. The GEO Group operates 51 secure facilities in the United States, including about two dozen under contract with ICE.
The entrance to the North Lake Correctional Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan. (Editor’s note: The photo was taken while the facility was still operating as a private prison. The sign has since changed.) ~ photo by Taylor Wizner / IPR News
The North Lake Processing Center, which holds between 1,400 and 1,500 immigrant detainees, employs several hundred people and is the largest facility of its kind in the Midwest. Outsiders estimate that about 200 current detainees are women and 1,200 are men. Many immigrants seized by ICE from across the United States are transported to Baldwin and detained there pending judicial review of their cases and a decision on deportation or release.
Locals are aware that some federal immigration judges who tended to rule leniently on minor offenses were replaced by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, then led by Kristi Noem, with judges more willing to deport immigrants. It is known that some of the detainees have already been in detention at the facility for more than a year.
As the North Lake Processing Center opened, Webber Township secured a $750,000 federal grant, championed in part by Congressman John Moolenaar, to build a lift station to manage the increased wastewater flow from the center.
Locals have mixed feelings about the processing center. They welcome the jobs and increased economic activity it has brought to the area, but they also acknowledge that many of those detained and deported had previously followed the law and contributed to society before their recent detention. One detainee had lived in the United States for 22 years, and his daughter is serving in the U.S. Air Force on a recent deployment to the Middle East amid the U.S. conflict with Iran. Protests outside the facility, led by opponents from as far away as Detroit and Traverse City, have kept Baldwin and the North Lake Processing Center in the news.
According to visitor reports, detainees arrested for serious criminal offenses are issued red uniforms and housed in a separate section of the facility. It is estimated that the majority of those awaiting judicial decisions on their immigration status are issued blue uniforms, indicating minor infractions. Detainees are allowed one visit per day on up to three designated visiting days per week.
All visitors to the facility must come prepared with the name and identifying information for any detainee they wish to visit during the designated visiting days and hours. Electronic devices, including cell phones and recorders, are not allowed.
Pastor Cherlyn McKanders has served the two-point charge of Baldwin: Covenant Community UMC and Chase: Barton UMC for the past four years. She praises her congregations for their hard work and enthusiastic faithfulness.
McKanders married the late Rev. Julius McKanders, who served in the Detroit Conference of The United Methodist Church. During their honeymoon mission trip to Recife, Brazil, she felt her own call to ministry. Cherlyn attended seminary at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, and at Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit. Covenant Community UMC is just a five-minute drive from the North Lake Processing Center.
Members of Covenant Community UMC support their Helping Hands Ministry by writing cards of encouragement to detainees at the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin. ~ photo courtesy Helping Hands Ministry
McKanders and the members of her congregations have committed to practicing radical hospitality toward all who attend their church and in outreach with their ministry of supportive presence at the processing center. She and several from her Baldwin congregation make 16 visits each month. They provide detainees with prayer, encouragement, and funds for calls home on the processing center’s pay phones.
These United Methodists have named their ministry Helping Hands and work in partnership with another ministry based in Grand Rapids, Hope for Neighbors. Helping Hands is also grateful for the generous support from other Michigan United Methodist congregations.
Julie Cordier is one of the Baldwin volunteers who regularly visits the processing center. Julie marvels at the help this ministry receives from all over. United Women in Faith donated “blessing bags” filled with supplies for detainees. Members of the church who are unable to visit are writing cards and letters of encouragement, which are sent to known detainees. A supportive grant from the former Western Waters District is providing financial assistance.
The Baldwin church maintains a storage pod on its property for donated and purchased supplies so that detainees being released and/or deported can receive a fresh set of clothes and a backpack with essential toiletries and a cell phone charging cord. Those detained in warmer climates need winter wear if they are released in colder weather. One church member has provided transportation for released detainees who need help traveling back to their families. Helping Hands has also arranged for several translators to accompany them when the person they are visiting is not fluent in English.
Pastor Cherlyn has received requests from other pastors to visit the North Lake Processing Center.
On Good Friday this year, the church welcomed several newly released detainees to join congregants in worship, followed by a fellowship meal. One of the church members freely gave what little money they had to help the newly released detainee, who had no money at all for travel expenses back home to another state. Pastor Cherlyn noted, “We felt Christ’s presence among us in that moment.”
Individuals and congregations wishing to support continuing ministry at the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin through Covenant Community UMC are welcome to send financial support to Covenant Community UMC, 5330 S M-37, Baldwin, MI 49304, with checks marked “Helping Hands Ministry.”
The publication of this article was made possible thanks to generous financial gifts from local United Methodist churches in Michigan through Ministry Shares. Thank you! Learn about the impact of Ministry Shares on mission and ministry in Michigan and around the world.
Last Updated on July 21, 2026