910 Ponce de Leon Avenue, NE , • Atlanta • 404-874-9652
The Open Door Community at 910 Ponce de Leon opened its doors to homeless adults in 1981. An outgrowth of four peoples’ hope and effort—Ed and Murphy Loring, both ordained ministers, and Rob and Carolyn Johnson—the Open Door Community served dinner to its first guests on Christmas Day. These same four people in 1979 led the Clifton Presbyterian Church to inaugurate the Clifton Presbyterian Church Night Hospitality Shelter. Like its predecessor, The Open Door Community is a faith-based Christian ministry about which founder Ed Loring, stresses , “.... the call to serve God is a call to serve the poor.”
Originally the home for the Women’s Atlanta Union Mission, the building was bought, renovated, and converted to full fill its ministry requirements. A second and more major renovation was completed in the late 1990s.
Open Door serves the homeless with regular meals, showers, clean clothes, and a free health clinic. It also ministers to prisoners and their families. When the nights are extremely cold, the shelter provides the homeless a place to sleep. There is a weekly Thursday evening medical clinic staffed by licensed doctors and medical students. Transportation to Grady is provided for those needing care beyond the clinic’s resources.
The prison ministry involves transporting family members, usually 40-70 people, one Saturday a month to Hartwick Prison. Staff members also visit death row prisoners at the Jackson Prison.
Open Door has a $460,000 budget, and 60 percent of this comes from individual donors. Churches contribute 20 percent, and foundations together with a few corporations donate the rest. This ministry receives no government money. To accept it would require that this ministry not acknowledge its Christian beliefs. DPC budgeted $850 for 2001.
To be near the homeless poor, to convey compassion, to better understand the affect of poverty on them, and to better minister to them, the leaders committed themselves and a few volunteers to live at 910 Ponce de Leon Ave. Volunteers live at Open Door typically about six months.
Additional volunteers from community churches and other places meet many of the day-to-day needs. Breakfast is served to approximately 170 people on each Monday and Tuesday. The “soup” kitchen serves nourishing soup, sandwiches, fruit, cookies, and vitamins to approximately 130 people on each Wednesday and Thursday.
Showers are available on Wednesday and Thursday following which clean clothes are provided. Approximately 60 people a day use this service. The medical clinic has a 15-person average attendance. Worship services are led daily, and communion is offered weekly. The building is open from 9:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. A phone is provided a portion of four days, and shelter beneficiaries voluntarily provide house maintenance and needed service, as they are able.
The DPC Sandwich Brigade meets once a month on Thursday morning and provides 300 to 400 sandwiches/month for Open Door. There are also opportunities for members to contribute time at the shelter proper. A group goes the first Wednesday of the month, and when others join the group, they feel rewarded by the experience. Volunteers are needed from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The Open Door calls Decatur Presbyterian volunteers ‘faithful, dependable servants.’
Martin Ripley wrote, “Hal Johnson introduced me to The Open Door Community in the fall of 1996. He asked me to go with him to feed our hungry and homeless friends down on Ponce de Leon Avenue . I didn’t know what to expect, but I felt very comfortable waiting on tables and have been volunteering on a monthly basis since then. “One of our members, Mayme Stiyer has volunteered here for many years. She has been my most faithful companion since I became involved in this ministry.
“Every month brings a new experience. We see many familiar faces month after month. We hear life stories from other volunteers (usually five-ten people) and draw strength from their experiences. “This is a very special opportunity to offer hospitality to God’s children who endure impossible conditions on the street. The Open Door Community is more than an opportunity to feed the hungry. Volunteers also receive food for their spirits.”
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