Print edition: 
Congratulations to United Methodist Open Door for its spacious new place dedicated to meeting a range of needs for the homeless, and thanks to the donors and volunteers who made the $5.4 million campaign a success.
Because it coincided with the worst economy in 75 years, the capital campaign took uncommon tenacity and patience. But the hard times also exacerbated the need for the 36,000-square-foot facility at 402 E. Second St. and heightened the urgency to get it funded and renovated.
Once the center opens late this month, homeless individuals will be able to find a range of help at one site as they escape from the cold, heat and streets.
It will be a place to find or wash clothes, eat a noon meal, take a shower, access medical care including treatment for mental illnesses, get legal and career assistance, and seek housing, from providers including the Salvation Army, Kansas Legal Services, Comcare’s Center City program, the city’s Career Development Office, and a combined GraceMed and Hunter Health Clinic facility.
Only Open Door’s food pantry will remain a distance away, 1611 N. Mosley, and that is subject to change as the nonprofit organization looks to the future.
The milestone in Open Door’s history also meets a major goal of the Task Force to End Chronic Homelessness, the collaboration of the city of Wichita and Sedgwick County that issued its recommendations in 2008. The community has stepped up further with the Warming Souls Winter Overflow Shelter, operated at downtown churches during the winter months and coordinated for the past four years by Advocates to End Chronic Homelessness; and with the city- and county-funded Housing First program, which helps with subsidized apartments and support services and will be on site at Open Door’s center.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Diocese of Wichita opened a satellite Lord’s Diner last May in southeast Wichita. The grassroots ICT SOS organization is working with the Wichita Children’s Home Street Outreach Services to ready a Midtown resource center called OZ (Opportunity Zone) to help homeless and displaced teens be safe and avoid exploitation. And the Salvation Army has a new program to help homeless veterans in Kansas.
That’s a lot of progress made on a lot of fronts, with the help of thousands of volunteers and millions of dollars. Open Door’s campaign alone involved more than 600 people, businesses and foundations.
An urban community such as Wichita may never be able to stamp out homelessness. But with the help of Open Door’s new resource center and other similarly focused efforts, homelessness can and will be a thing of the past in the lives of many individuals.
For the editorial board, Rhonda Holman
