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Thanks for being a Partner with the Open Door Mission…

We have been communicating with you over the last several months about our Pathway Home Campaign and the need to get Phase 1 done so we can house Code Blue there this winter. This phase was budgeted at $600,000 and we have raised all but $30,000 of that to date!

Thank you!! Without your support, we would not be looking forward to hosting Code Blue in our own space in the very near future!  And, you won’t believe how excited our guests are to know it’s coming soon!

I’ve been working on this year-end letter to you for some time, anticipating that we could together share the joy that “we’re almost to the finish line.” Unfortunately, we’ve had a setback that I need to share with you. As you’re probably aware, we had planned to open in mid-November but because of water and sewer issues, we are still not open. In the meantime, we are still caring for the homeless on these frigid nights. People are able to come to a warming shelter at our kitchen on Lawrence St. – they just can’t sleep there.

What was expected to be a simple water and sewer hookup has become an extremely complex project.  226 Warren Street is going through a huge transformation by the City of Glens Falls and will have a much heavier load on the W&S infrastructure than in its prior life. For example, as one of the early pioneers in this phase of renovation and redevelopment on Warren Street, we have to go from a 3/4″ water line to a 6″ to supply the sprinklers. To do so, it must cross multiple utilities in Warren Street. Our team: AJA Architecture, Hilltop Construction, and Cedarwood Engineering, have been working for months with city engineers to agree on a plan. We finally got approval for that plan just before Christmas. Hilltop sought 3 quotes which came back alarmingly high. We had budgeted $25,000 for water. The real price is $100,000! 

I can’t express my frustration and sadness as I write this. We need to get Code Blue open so we have a warm, safe place WITH BEDS for the homeless in our community. Everyone has worked hard to get here. Volunteers have put hours into demo and painting. Contractors have bent over backward to help make this project a reality. Donors have given generously. And I am writing to tell you that, instead of being $50,000 from our goal, we are $105,000 from the goal.  While I had hoped to bring you a different “year-end” message, this is the reality we must embrace.  I’m sure glad I have a faith that strengthens me to know that there are special people here in Glens Falls that will help us finish the finish line!

We’re grateful to so many who have stepped forward with funding to create a new pathway to a new home.  We’re confident that others will also follow the lead of these other donors and help us finish the funding of Phase I.

Let’s go back to the reason we are doing this…

Our community has people who are homeless. That is not OK! Open Door Mission has proposed a solution that will transform how we help those in poverty in this region.

With your help, we will be able to:

• Give homeless men and women a warm bed and a hot meal throughout the winter.
• Open our Day Room for people to come in out of the cold during the day instead of hanging out downtown or in the library.
• Give other local organizations access to our Day Room so we can all offer services to our guests including health care, addiction services, mental health, life and job support, along with other services. 
• Open a Resource Navigator office so those in need can get help in finding resources in our area.
• Offer classes for those in poverty that will give them tools for moving toward self-sustainability.

We’ll be providing all of this while continuing to serve over 1600 hot meals per month, supporting over 75 families in our food pantry, and feeding 342 schoolchildren each weekend. We are also caring for the homeless on these frigid nights.

This is a big mountain to climb and a lot to ask of you, our partners, but we cannot step back from this tremendous need in our back yard.  Can you share this with someone you know who might care as you do?

Let’s continue together to be the Mission that steps up to the need even when it seems impossible.

Your co-worker,
Kim Cook