The Open Door Centre Ltd

General information

Open Door is a Christian social action charity. We are founded on Jesus’ commandment to ‘love one another as I have loved you,’ and His call to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the sick and afflicted, and to comfort the victims of injustice (Matthew 25: 35-40).

We aim to create opportunities for local churches to serve their community. We do this by identifying the needs within our community and creating projects to meet them. Each project is run by a team of volunteers, many of whom are from a wide cross section of local churches, working together for the benefit of the people we serve. It is a wonderful example of the church and community working together.

At present, Open Door consists of five projects: the community café, nightshift, ICE, the child contact centre and men's shed. Each of these, we believe, responds to a need in our community.

- The community café is open every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 09:30 til 3pm. Anyone and everyone is welcome to come along to enjoy good quality food and drink at very competitive prices. Relax with a book, complete a puzzle over coffee, or make some new friends. We also have trained volunteers who are available should you need advice, support or a listening ear for issues such as homelessness, benefits and sanctions, drug and alcohol addiction, domestic violence etc.

- Nightshift operates every Saturday night (or Sundays on bank holidays) when teams patrol the streets to help make sure everyone is safe at night. Look out for the volunteers in navy nightshift jackets – they are there to help!

- ICE is working in Exmouth Community College to provide social, moral, spiritual and cultural support to the 2,600 students. This is through a program of mentoring, assemblies, RE lessons and detached youth work during lunch breaks.

- The Child Contact Centre runs on alternate Saturdays from 2pm to 4pm, providing children from separated families with the chance to spend time with their absent parent, knowing that it is a safe, friendly and supportive place with volunteers on hand to help if needed.

- Men's Shed runs from Clayton House in Littleham, on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10am-4pm. It is a place for men to relax and socialise, learning skills from woodwork to metalwork, cooking to using a computer. Whatever your interests, bring them to the shed and share them with others.

Our motivation, then, comes from our Christian faith, but we are very clear that our role is not to force that faith on our customers or clients. We will respect, work with, and support everyone who comes to us whatever their faith (or none) and whatever their lifestyle. Our aim is simply to make a positive difference in our community.