Bruce D. Hersey,
Executive
Director
Bruce is the Executive Director of The Open Door Mission.
In addition to overseeing the day-to-day operations of The Open Door, he also is a NYS DOC chaplain. Bruce has been
involved in various ministerial work for over 30 years, including pastoring several churches, working in prison aftercare
ministries, hospital chaplain work, and drug-rehabilitation work. Bruce was instrumental in the start and initial
running of The Open Door, and has most recently been the executive director since 2004.
Deborah Hersey, Assistant Director
Debbie currently is functioning as the unpaid Assistant Director.
Her responsibilities and tasks include; overseeing programming, overseeing volunteers, grant writing, public relations
and media contact, operations when Executive Director is not present, overseeing meals when the head chef is not present,
participating in fund raising events, and representing The Open Door Mission at churches, volunteer fairs, service organization
meetings, etc.
Linda Combs, Head Chef
Linda has been on-staff at The Open Door as the Head
Chef since 2008. Her experience in cooking for large groups, catering, and extensive background in working with
people in various ministries has made her an excellent asset to The Open Door. In addition to her cooking, Linda is
also a key person in The Open Door's fundraising efforts. We are very blessed to have such a talented, giving,
hardworking person on-staff here :-)
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Meal Schedule
Our History
The Open Door Mission started out of Ernie Blanchette’s
concern for having a shelter in Glens Falls. After a feasibility study, it was determined that a soup kitchen was of
more immediate need. 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, NY, on September 5, 1991.
When it became too cold to serve outdoors, Peter Mastrangelo (representing Glens Falls National Bank) offered us the bank’s
“community room,” and later, a store front on South Street. In October of 1993, we were offered an incredible
opportunity to move to 24 South Street, and from there to our current location at 47 Lawrence St. .
The Open Door is a Christian ministry dedicated
to reaching out and serving needs of the poor and homeless of our community. One major way we accomplish this is through
the daily provision of hot, nutritious meals served in a friendly, welcoming environment. We offer this care to all
people, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, creed, or religion. The Open Door program
began by serving a meal once a week. From there, theprogram has expanded to a six day operation, recently serving more than
5000 meals each month-including on-site meals, distributed bagged lunches, and distributed ready-to-eat meals, as well asdistribution
500,000 lbs. of gleaned and other food items to over 30 groups/agencies in Warren, Washington,
Saratoga, Essex, and Hamilton
Counties. Currently, The Open Door employs only the
Director and a head chef. All other staffing is accomplished by means of volunteers (500+) representing the local five-county
area. In addition to hot meals and emergency food
support, the program provides guests with encouragement for daily living, including sponsorship of our own 12-Step program,
haircuts, an informal mentoring program, informal monitoring of elder, spouse and child abuse and neglect, and provision of
support to continue in community-based substance abuse, mental health, and probation programs. Information, referral,
and advocacy are regularly provided. All services and programs are provided free of charge.
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| Joan and Ernie Blanchette |
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