Gordon College recently received 462 financial gifts from the Giving Tuesday campaign. As an incentive for giving, Gordon matched these gifts with 462 hours of service to the local community. Nate and Amber have been serving at the Open Door in Gloucester for the past few years so they were excited to get the rest of the La Vida office involved to contribute toward the service hours.
The Open Door offers a variety of services to the communities of Gloucester, Rockport, Ipswich, Manchester, and Essex. The Food Pantry is a mini grocery store that provides free, three-five day supplies of emergency groceries each week for qualified residents. They also serve community meals five times a week that are sponsored by church, civic, and school groups around Cape Ann. Additionally, they have the Second Glance Thrift Store which provides reduced-cost items. All proceeds from the thrift store sales support the Open Door’s hunger-relief programs.
The La Vida crew worked together to prepare a delicious quiche (Rich’s favorite), sauteed spinach, garlic toast and chocolate cookies and ice cream. The industrial size kitchen was no stranger to those of us who have worked at the Base Camp. The Open Door serves anywhere from 20-60 people at the community meals and we served about 40 that evening.
If you are interested in volunteering for the Open Door, you can visit them online here.