Life happens. we can help.
“I’d be dead without The Open Door,” says Abby*, age 40. “I’m not kidding.”
Abby and her boyfriend were struck by a drunk driver three years ago. Sitting in the passenger seat, her injuries included a severe cut to the face. Unable to drive or work, she started receiving meal deliveries while she recovered.
“The Open Door is the best thing that ever happened to me, especially during a time of pain.”
~ Abby*
A chef by trade, the meals served as a lifeline and a source of joy. Abby enjoys the quality and variety of the meals.
“Everything I’ve ever received from The Open Door has been great, like restaurant quality food coming to your door in time of need,” She says.
For Zoe*, 46, The Open Door kept her family afloat after she was suddenly laid off due to financial ramifications of the pandemic.
“It’s humbling to really sit back and be like, wow, I was so lucky for so long and didn’t even realize it.”~ Zoe*
She has two children living at home, in addition to herself and her husband, age 41. Her husband is unable to work due to a stroke he had in 2016. Zoe is the
family breadwinner.
“It’s everyday people that go to the food pantry. I lost my job. The Open Door was there to help.” ~ Zoe*
Today, Zoe’s in school full time, pursuing a degree to change her family’s future.
When life happens, The Open Door is the safety net for our neighbors, including Abby and Zoe.
Food for Future Generations
A new building project at The Open Door solidifies the nonprofit’s ability to continue to meet the local need for food resources—this year there has been a 28% increase in visits to its food pantries alone. The Food and Nutrition Center, finished just this fall, also allows The Open Door to take on new community partnerships to serve more local people and utilize more food rescue.
“When life happens, a healthy meal and a refrigerator stocked with nutritious food goes a long way,” says Julie LaFontaine, President and CEO. “With the right infrastructure in place thanks to the completion of the Food and Nutrition Center, we’ve hit the ground running—every department is working at full tilt to connect people to good food.”
Today the new commercial kitchen at The Open Door is producing more than 3,000 meals a week to serve its programs and partners—triple what the kitchen produced pre-pandemic. Over the summer, The Open Door kitchen also prepared approximately 16,000 additional meals in-house for its Summer Meals for Kids program.
The Open Door launched a new partnership with Pathways for Children to be the new meal partner for their Gloucester and Beverly sites.
On the horizon, The Open Door expects to relaunch its Senior Soup and Salad program to five days a week at the Rose Baker Senior Center in Gloucester as well.
“The Food and Nutrition Center has shown us what we’re capable of, with the right resources,” Director of Operations Jen Perry says. “We connect a lot of people, to a lot of good food—nearly 2 million pounds each year.”
Interested in partnering with The Open Door? From Food Pantries, to meals, to Mobile Markets, to nutrition workshops, to cooking demonstrations, and more, The Open Door has many programs to help local people.
Call us at 978-283-6776 or visit FOODPANTRY.org to learn more.
*Client names have been changed.