NFLD Doug Young is back in PEI presenting two concerts for Open Door Ministries Sunday May 27 6:30pm at Calvary Church at the Peter Pan Corner. Admission is free but an offering will be taken. The second concert is Sunday June 3 at the Winsloe Lions Hall. Tickets are $8. For all you Southern Gospel Bluegrass fans,this is the place for you. Welcome back Doug!
Two Concerts with NFLD Doug Young and Friends for ODM
NFLD Doug Young is back in PEI presenting two concerts for Open Door Ministries Sunday May 27 6:30pm at Calvary Church at the Peter Pan Corner. Admission is free but an offering will be taken. The second concert is Sunday June 3 at the Winsloe Lions Hall. Tickets are $8. For all you Southern Gospel Bluegrass fans,this is the place for you. Welcome back Doug!
We Will Take Your Pennies
L to R back: (PCC staff) L to R front: Cheryl Millman( ODM), Colleen Myer, (ODM) Wendy Hawbolt (ODM)
Word of Appreciation from the CorrectionalCentre:
"... a huge thank you to you for all the acts of kindness shown to us over the holiday season. To the singers - a special thank you for coming to sing for us on Christmas Eve. We realize that you are sparing time with your own families and loved ones to bring some holiday cheer to us. That truly is the meaning of Christmas. A special thanks for the treats you brought and for the wonderful gift bags you gave us. All the items are being used and put to good use. Thanks again for bringing some Christmas cheer to us ...."
Sponsor a Golfer - It's Easy
Do you have a friend, family member or colleague who is golfing in our 7th Annual ODM Golf Day on June 4th? You can quickly and easily donate to your golfer by simply clicking on the link below. You will be directed to a safe donation site called Canada Helps where you can select Open Door Ministries as your charity, the amount you wish to give and the golfer you are sponsoring. You can only use a credit card on this site. Call us today if you would like to donate another way. 902-628-6826
Easter Backpack Campaign Kick Off
Open Door Ministries (ODM) 2012 Easter Campaign starts today. A “Backpack” filled with personal hygiene products is one of the ways in which Open Door helps people in need make a fresh start and perhaps a new beginning. We have calculated that $39.00 will provide one Backpack filled with personal hygiene products and help one person start again. Open Door is asking the community to help out. Personal hygiene supplies are things many of us take for granted but these items will go a long way to help Open Door assist someone in our community begin to feel like a person. It is the small things that make a difference and lets a woman or man recently released from jail, a teen living on the streets or a person struggling to make a new life know that someone cares. Since our 2011 Campaign we have given out 53 Backpacks. We know there is a need. Helping and empowering PEI’s marginalized women to move forward by providing basic needs, life skills, mentoring and support groups has been the mission of ODM for the past 10 years. If you would like to contribute to the $39.00 Backpack Easter Campaign, please call our offices at 628-6826 and ask for Wendy or visit our website to donate on line. www.opendoorministries.ca
A Pledge/Prayer for 2012 for Marginalized Women
We pray and/or accept responsibility for women:- who sell their bodies for their next fix or for a roof over their heads
- who have never known real love
- who give all they have to their dealer,
- who carry worn out pictures of their children in their pockets
- who were raped as children
- who never seem to get a second chance
- who miss home cooked meals,
- who weren’t spoiled by anyone
- who remain exposed to rape, robbery and violence
- who go to bed hungry
- who live and move but have no being
- whose pictures aren’t on anybody’s dresser
- who as children brought us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions, who hugged us in a hurry, who didn’t dream of growing up and going to jail and who grew up not to feel
- who society often chooses to ignore
- who will not see tomorrow.
- who will leave behind children, who can’t find the way out, whose monsters are real.
Dear God, give us ears to hear, eyes to see and hearts to care for the least of these in our communities. Help us to be a light in that darkness. This is our pledge/prayer in 2012.
Amen
When I grow up...I want to be poor!
Have you ever asked a child, ”What do you want to be when you grow up?” only to have little Johnny or Susie reply, “I want to be poor “ or “I want to be an addict and go to jail” or “I want to be a single mom and live on welfare ”. As absurd as that may sound, it appears that many Canadian's may believe something similar of the poor in Canada.
The Guardian (Charlottetown) reported on May 14, 2011 the results of an Angus Reid Public Opinion poll published in partnership with the Salvation Army.
Here are some of the results:
Nearly 50% of Canadians feel that a family of 4 could get by on $10-$30,000 per year or less
About a quarter of Canadians believe that people are poor because they are lazy and have lower moral values than the average person.
96% of Canadians believe that everyone deserves a sense of dignity but only 65% believe that being poor can rob you of your dignity.
An assumption of laziness remains attached to poverty. Assumptions are not based on fact. Recent studies prove that more than half of all homeless people in Canada are mentally ill and nearly half do not get the help they need because they are suffering from depression, bipolar disorder, or other disorders caused by trauma.
(1). The P.E.I. Advisory Committee on Homelessness reveals that in 2010 more than 3,000 Islanders turned to food banks in the province for help, a 14 per cent increase over 2009.(2) The working poor are struggling to make enough to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.
Do some poor people use the system? Probably! Do some rich people use the system? No doubt. Are some poor people lazy? Could be! Are some rich people lazy? I think so! To assume that laziness and poverty go together is not based on any more fact than the assumption that ambition and wealth are linked.
I would like to think that Canadians are more compassionate than what that poll revealed. Yet I must admit there was a time in my life when I didn’t give much attention to other people, what personal trials they may be facing and how those trials impacted their personal and family life. I assumed a lot of things too.
I have learned that turning a blind eye to my neighbour makes for a pretty cold world. A safer and healthier society is not achieved by adding more police and prisons. It is achieved by giving dignity, hope and enough resources to those who are marginalized in our communities. Though the solutions are complex those solutions must come from a community that cares. Because realistically...what child dreams of being poor when they grow up?
2. P.E.I. Advisory Committee on Homelessness 2010 issued May 2011
The Guardian (Charlottetown) reported on May 14, 2011 the results of an Angus Reid Public Opinion poll published in partnership with the Salvation Army.
Here are some of the results:
Nearly 50% of Canadians feel that a family of 4 could get by on $10-$30,000 per year or less
About a quarter of Canadians believe that people are poor because they are lazy and have lower moral values than the average person.
96% of Canadians believe that everyone deserves a sense of dignity but only 65% believe that being poor can rob you of your dignity.
An assumption of laziness remains attached to poverty. Assumptions are not based on fact. Recent studies prove that more than half of all homeless people in Canada are mentally ill and nearly half do not get the help they need because they are suffering from depression, bipolar disorder, or other disorders caused by trauma.
(1). The P.E.I. Advisory Committee on Homelessness reveals that in 2010 more than 3,000 Islanders turned to food banks in the province for help, a 14 per cent increase over 2009.(2) The working poor are struggling to make enough to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.
Do some poor people use the system? Probably! Do some rich people use the system? No doubt. Are some poor people lazy? Could be! Are some rich people lazy? I think so! To assume that laziness and poverty go together is not based on any more fact than the assumption that ambition and wealth are linked.
I would like to think that Canadians are more compassionate than what that poll revealed. Yet I must admit there was a time in my life when I didn’t give much attention to other people, what personal trials they may be facing and how those trials impacted their personal and family life. I assumed a lot of things too.
I have learned that turning a blind eye to my neighbour makes for a pretty cold world. A safer and healthier society is not achieved by adding more police and prisons. It is achieved by giving dignity, hope and enough resources to those who are marginalized in our communities. Though the solutions are complex those solutions must come from a community that cares. Because realistically...what child dreams of being poor when they grow up?
2. P.E.I. Advisory Committee on Homelessness 2010 issued May 2011
In Memoriam - Wanda Livingston 1955-2010
She wanted to reach women in addiction because she had been there so she started the Safe Haven program. Her heart was to “go to them” and as a result of a vision God gave her, she opened the Thrift Store in February 2007 and managed it until February 2010. It was to be a retail experience but the bottom line was - it was to be a means by which we could reach people with the Good News. Sometimes the Good News was just a hand to help or a shoulder to cry on or and an ear to listen. That was Wanda. She was a mother to so many people; the Good News with skin on
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The void she leaves here at ODM is one that no one can fill but her legacy lives on and the things she taught us as staff, friends and clients will last a lifetime.
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The void she leaves here at ODM is one that no one can fill but her legacy lives on and the things she taught us as staff, friends and clients will last a lifetime.
Our Coffee Roots
Open Door Ministries has its roots in coffee! In 1992 the Sherwood Church of the Nazarene began a downtown Friday night outreach known as "The CoffeeHouse". The first meeting place was the 'CNR Pensioners’ building on King Street. As the event grew more space was needed and The CoffeeHouse was moved to the meeting room of the Notre Dame Convent. In 1998 Open Door Ministries was formed to meet the diverse and growing needs of those associated with the CoffeeHouse. Cheryl Millman directed this work. It emerged into its present form to help and empower PEI's marginalized. The CoffeeHouse was successful for many years and eventually closed on its 10th anniversary, October 2002.Wanda Livingston was hired in November 2002 to create a program for women to get free and stay free from life controlling addictions. Wanda also began an outreach into the Provincial Correctional Centre in order to create healthy relationships which could be continued when the women were released.
In January 2005, ODM received registered charity status from the federal government. and was officially launched as its own entity, distinct from the local Church of the Nazarene. Wendy Hawbolt was hired to manage the office. In 2006 Cindy MacLeod joined the ODM staff to continue the work in addictions and jail ministry with Wanda. Ann Visser joined the staff in 2007 as a Women's Mentor.
Originally offices were located on Walthen Drive in downtown Charlottetown but in February 2007 the need was so great and diverse ODM moved once again to a 4000 sq ft location at the corner of Allen St and University Ave. A Thrift Store was opened as well as a large Ministry Centre.
The Thrift Store had seen year-over-year increased revenue and customer patronage, yet as a retail business, it could not generate the finances to offset rent and utilities as was hoped. As a result the Store was closed and on May 17, 2010, three years later, ODM moved into a spacious 1500 sq. ft. Centre at 374 University Avenue with a room to distribute clothing and personal hygiene Back Packs, a lovely reception area, several offices and a meeting room.
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