United Methodist Open Door is a community-wide public social service agency in Wichita, Kansas with a mission to provide the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter.
Food. The Open Door Community Food Ministry is the largest community-wide food box program in Wichita, supplying nutritionally balanced emergency food assistance once a month for individuals and families in need. The box includes items such as canned fruits and vegetables, meat, eggs, macaroni and cheese, soup, and bread. Families qualify at 130% of the Federal poverty level, which for a family of four is $2,297 a month. Open Door also has the Commodity Supplemental Food program that offers a monthly box of food to seniors, pregnant women and children under 6 who do not receive WIC.
Clothing. Open Door’s Klothes Kloset program provides free clothing for infants, children and adults. Families may be served once each month. Nearly 18,000 families were served in 2008.
Shelter. The Transitional Housing program provides housing to homeless families and individuals referred by a local shelter. These participants receive intensive case management and may stay up to two years. The Drop-In Center, the only comprehensive day assistance center for homeless in Wichita, provides case management, a daily meal, access to showers, laundry facilities, small storage, a telephone with message board and mail service. Safety Net and Vision Quest are two other Open Door transitional and preventative housing programs serving the disadvantaged, from single persons who are chronically homeless with a mental illness to families with children.
Open Door is in the midst of a capital campaign to raise funds for a Resource and Referral Center. The move will permit expansion and more effective delivery of clothing and housing services from one central location. Currently, Open Door serves more than 14,500 individuals per month from four separate building that are worn-out from use.
