Open Door Shelter history

In 1986, Open Door Mission moved again.

Robert O. Timberlake came on as executive director in spring 1987 and began to change that.

The Open Door was started in 1988 by a member of St Stephen’s Anglican Church in response to the increasing numbers of people, both homeless and “working poor”, who came to the church in search of help.

The Open Door served its first 13 hot meals from an RV in Peter Shabat’s parking lot off of South Street in Glens Falls on September 5, 1991.

Also in 2000, Open Door Mission began seeking partner organizations to provide therapeutic and educational services for Omaha’s homeless.

On October 1, 2001, Open Door Mission opened the Emergency Temporary Housing wing.

In 2005, Open Door Mission started the Men’s Day Facilities program, which provides a place where homeless men can freely access the Internet, rest, do laundry, eat nutritious meals and seek case management every day of the year.

Thanks to the great work of a task force made up of local clergy, members of faith communities, as well as social services and housing authority representatives, the non-profit organization known as HARTS (Harrisonburg And Rockingham Thermal Shelter) was officially created on November 27, 2007.

A ground breaking ceremony was held on October 16, 2008 to celebrate the first phase of Open Door Mission’s Rebuilding Lives Campaign.

Until 2009, The Open Door has been a mission of St Stephen’s Anglican Church.

In 2010, Emmaus Anglican Church accepted sole responsibility for The Open Door.

Currently, the program is operating at full capacity but the new Rebuilding Lives Center will provide 32 Veteran units in 2012.

Thanks to the help of Gravity Group, our new name - Open Doors, was chosen and implemented in the Fall of 2013.

The projected completion date for this project is 2015.

The Open Door was incorporated in July 2018 under a new name – The Open Door Montréal / La Porte ouverte Montréal.