OUR HISTORY
1990...Our Beginning
The Open Doors Pantry was founded in 1990 as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization by Christian residents of Westfield, Indiana. Their desire was to serve local families in need of spiritual support, and access to free food and clothing. These goals were accomplished through volunteer support of local churches and individuals in the community.
In 1990, the Westfield Town Council allowed Open Doors to utilize the basement area of the current City Hall at 130 Penn Street in Westfield to begin our not-for-profit food pantry. Dampness and very cramped quarters were two challenges we faced, but we were grateful for the opportunity to implement the Open Doors mission.
1997...Our First Move
In 1997, the town constructed the new police and fire facility on SR 32, so the old fire station on South Union Street became available. And once again, through the generosity of the Town Council, Open Doors was allowed to use the lower level of that building for our growing food pantry. During these years, we had several very difficult flooding disasters that destroyed most of the food and some of our equipment. This location, however, served us well for over 20 years.
2017...Our Second Move
As the city's master planning process was proceeding for the downtown area of Westfield, the Open Doors' Board of Directors realized the old fire station location would become an integral part of what has become Grand Junction. The Open Doors' Board of Directors began a building campaign that would allow us to build our own facility, and through the very generous donations from our community along with our ability to secure land from the
school corporation, we proceeded with plans to build our facility at 19360 Tomlinson Road in Westfield. This plan coming together was nothing short of a "God Thing" for our Christian organizations and we were able to complete the 5000 square foot facility with numerous contractor donations of time and material and the amazing financial contributions from the Westfield residents.
2018...Milestone
Open Doors surpassed 1,000,000 pounds of food distributed.
2022...Expansion of Building
During the pandemic years of 2019 and 2020, the demands on our services grew and in addition we began further discussions on how we could consolidate our special project activities at our new location. Three of our "special projects" (Back-To-School, Thanksgiving, and Christmas) required us to use other locations in the City to distribute items associated with these projects. This led us to plan for the 3000 square foot expansion of our existing facility. In July 2022, we moved our special project activity into the expanded building and now have a facility that provides for efficiencies while delivering our current special projects and our weekly food and clothing operations.
2026...Second Expansion of Building
Look for exciting changes coming.