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In "About Us"...
Overview
History
Staff
Fact Sheets
Pantry Makeover
Good Food Farm
Empty Bowl
Yankee Magazine Showhouse
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History
In the aftermath of the Blizzard of '78, members of the Outreach Committee of the First Congregational Church of Rockport became aware of the lack of emergency resources available locally. The Red Cross was the true mainstay during the blizzard crisis, but emergencies happen for individuals and families throughout the year. The committee wanted to establish what they then called a "food bank', which people could draw on in any time of need.
As chairperson of the Outreach Committee, Joan Borton went to Action with the idea. They were immediately responsive, and helped find space to store food in the basement of the Senior Center. An ecumenical church and synagogue effort was mounted, and the first Thanksgiving Food Drive was organized.
The Rev. Forrest Clark's home became the telephone base for the food bank with the help of Marguerite Schoolcraft, a member of the Congregational Outreach Committee who volunteered to stock the shelves and fill bags. Forrest personally delivered food when transportation was not possible. During the last quarter of 1978, the Cape Ann Food Bank, as it was then known, began serving its first clients. A total of 21 family units were served that year, consisting of 28 adults and 41 children.
The Senior Center soon made a small closet area available to the Food Bank on the first floor of the building, and the number of people served continued to grow. Mary Brooks volunteered to oversee much of the day-to-day operation of the Food Pantry, with the help of Helen Muise, until the Senior Center moved out in 1992.
In the early 1980's, the Food Bank's steering committee began talking about the need for a place of hospitality that would offer hot meals to community members. The idea for The Open Door was born.
Organizational meetings for The Open Door began at Wellspring House in May, 1983. It was agreed that The Open Door be a "hospitality center" instead of a "soup kitchen," because the organizers wanted it to provide more than just food. Formal procedures were carried out, and "The Open Door: A Place of Hospitality" was incorporated in Massachusetts. The first meal was served on November 2, 1983, in the basement of St. Ann's Church, to 16 guests. Attendance quickly grew to 40 by April, when The Open Door moved to the Gloucester Senior Center. In December 1984, The Open Door moved to the Wesley Methodist Church.
In October 1984, The Open Door and Cape Ann Food Pantry agreed to collaborate to address the issue of hunger in the Cape Ann communities. As the need to expand the food programs of the combined Food Pantry and Open Door became evident, the board decided to take a leap and to hire a coordinator, who would be paid a salary. Nancy Schwoyer was hired as interim coordinator to do some fundraising, to get both services on a solid footing, and to train a replacement. In July 1985, Linda Spong was hired as the permanent coordinator. Both of these women moved us into a new dimension of service to the community.
When Linda Spong began coordinating The Open Door and the Cape Ann Food Pantry in July of 1985, the majority of Gloucester and Rockport churches were serving meals at The Open Door on a quarterly basis. Soon, churches from Essex, Manchester, and Hamilton joined in, as well as groups like the League of Women Voters, and the Kiwanis and Lion's Clubs. The Food Pantry joined the Boston Food Bank, and began shopping there on a quarterly basis, and became eligible to distribute USDA commodities.
In 1986, the Food Pantry began to accept perishable donations after purchasing a freezer with an equipment grant from Project Bread. Gorton's began supplying the pantry with their frozen fish products.
Also, 1986 saw our first involvement with the Boston Walk for Hunger, which has continued to be a major source of funds. It was also the year that The Open Door and Cape Ann Food Pantry formally merged, calling the merged corporation "The Open Door/Cape Ann Food Pantry, Inc."
In 1988, the Open Door/Cape Ann Food Pantry had another growth spurt. The Open Door began serving three meals a week in April 1988, thanks to grants from the Quaker Hill Foundation and Chris Church of Hamilton/Wenham, and increased commitments from some catering groups. Soon, more than 70 guests were attending Open Door dinners three times a week. Additionally, demand at the Food Pantry had doubled in two years, and it became necessary to hire an additional staff person to manage the Pantry. At that point, we were still distributing out of a small space behind the Senior Center; Wellspring was doing intake calls, and volunteers were distributing twice a day. Most of the food was stored in the basement and the Pantry needed daily restocking. The job of managing all of the volunteers and food became too much for a volunteer, so Wendy Ragle, and later Julia Brown, were hired as Pantry Manager.
Thus, the feeding of the hungry and welcoming of the lonely continued while we worked on raising funds, dealing with problems of trash disposal, transporting food, kitchen floods, a broken down elevator, needing board members, snow removal, the cost of paper goods, etc., until November of 1991. At that point, it became necessary for us to begin to look for new space for the Food Pantry, since the Senior Center was moving. In September of 1992, the Food Pantry moved to 27 Commercial Street, but its time there was short due to the sale of the building a year later. At that point, Peter Cahill offered us space in his building at 28 Emerson Avenue, which he sold to Ed Anderson shortly afterward. Peter and Ed wanted this building to be available for community use, because it had previously been a teen center, and the community had put a lot of work into it. As a result, Wellspring House was offered the opportunity to lease the building, and Ed agreed to take care of renovations. Wellspring invited the Open Door and the Food Pantry to stay in the building. The Food Pantry moved to 28 Emerson Avenue with a new manager, Bill Stevens, in the fall of 1993.
Renovations were completed, and the Open Door installed a new Kitchen in the summer of 1995. For the first time, on-site offices were established, and the Open Door/Cape Ann Food Pantry moved into its permanent home at 28 Emerson Avenue. Previously, the office had been at Linda Spong's home; pantry intakes were done over the phone, and the pantry was closed except for the two times a day that a volunteer would go in to distribute food. At the new location, the Food Pantry began doing its own intake, and began to be staffed for regular hours during the day, serving about 100 households per week. The Open Door started serving meals at Emerson Avenue in September 1995.
Having a central site for both of our programs has dramatic advantages. The building is staffed and open during the day, so both clients and donors have better access. The Open Door and the Cape Ann Food Pantry now can easily share their resources. Food left over from the dinners could be distributed at the Pantry the next day; food brought into the Pantry could be used by the Open Door, if necessary; Pantry surpluses could be distributed at the dinners; and new programs would have a site to operate from. Two self-help programs, Buck-a-Bag and SERVE, were begun to offer quality food at very low prices not just to people in crisis, but to anyone who needs a source of lower-cost food.
In 1996, Business Equipment Depot and Toshiba Corporation donated a handicapped-accessible van to transport guests to Open Door meals, since it was no longer centrally located. The van was also used for food and mil pick-up until Ellen's Homemade Cookies donated funds to buy a cargo truck in 1997.
A number of other significant things happened in 1996, much of which was made possible by our new home on Emerson Avenue. The Open Door/Cape Ann Food Pantry became a member of the North Shore United Way; a small thrift shop was opened; Ellen's Homemade Cookies set up an office in the building and began baking in our kitchen, hiring and training several low-income people to bake and market the cookies with sales profits going to The Open Door; the Gloucester and Rockport Postal Unions began a Spring Food Drive, which brings in 6 to 8 tons of food, complementing our annual Thanksgiving Food Drive; and a long-awaited dream -- a large walk-in cooler -- was installed, making it possible for us to store dairy foods and accept more perishable food donations. Early in 1997, a Quaker Hill Foundation grant made it possible to install a walk-in freezer as well. After the 20 years, the Food Pantry is fully equipped, serving 2,760 individuals in 1997.
The Food Pantry is bustling these days. Volunteers come in shifts to serve clients coming in for food, clients are waiting in the hallway for their turn, the phone rings steadily, the Food Pantry manager works alongside community service workers from the courts, the welfare office, and the schools, and the executive director keeps up with the projects of the day.
This expression of Cape Ann's community outreach is a wonderful example of churches and the synagogue, agencies and caring community members working together. The Open Door and the Cape Ann Food Pantry are grateful to the whole community for its support. None of our accomplishments or our ability to server the hungry of Cape Ann would be possible without you. Though we regret the circumstances that have made our services vital to many people, we need to celebrate the Cape Ann community spirit of involvement and generosity that made it possible for us to meet the needs of hungry neighbors for more than 20 years.
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