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When Nathan was 2 years old, Open Doors had helped his family when they first moved to Michigan in 1989. His family was homeless until his father could find a means to support them. “Open Doors had really helped my family through that difficult time,” Nathan said.

Fast forward to present day, Nathan and his two sons and wife have found solace in Open Doors again. With little education and working long hours at a retail store to make ends meet, Nathan knew it was time to make a change.

Eager to provide financial support for his young family, Nathan decided to work towards earning a degree in Information Technology at Kalamazoo Valley Community College. Computers have always been a hobby of Nathan’s so the choice came naturally to him, turning his passion into a career prospect.

Through the support of Open Doors and multiple scholarships from the Open Doors scholarship fund along with a strong will to provide for his family, Nathan is now a college graduate. He completed his degree with high honors, 3 certificates of achievement, and 5 industry certifications in computing.

“Open Doors has been a real blessing in my life, I don’t think I could be where I am today if it weren’t for them. They have helped myself and my family through a difficult time,” Nathan explained.

Nathan was just recently hired by Duncan Aviation as an Information Technology Support Specialist and also works part-time for Open Doors assisting with any technology issues that arise. “It is an honor working for an organization that helps so many people and I can only imagine the countless lives that Open Doors has changed over the years.”

Our summer newsletter is published!  Featured are Nathan’s success story, completing his college degree in Information Technology, and how volunteers from Third Christian Reformed Church have impacted the Open Doors program.

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Our staff is reading and discussing Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, a book about the lives of people who work as restaurant servers and dishwashers, cleaners, nursing home aides, hotel housekeepers, retail clerks, and so forth. These are the kinds of jobs Open Doors’ residents have. Ehrenreich presents a picture of very hard work, very low pay, inadequate food, and tremendous challenges getting housing.

These things are very important, but perhaps the most stinging element in Ehrenreich’s portrayal is the disrespect people experience as low-paid workers.

As a child I was taught that all people are equal and that all work has an inherent dignity, whether it is the work of a school principal or a school janitor, a farmer or a president of a bank.

The heart of our mission at Open Doors is affirming and bearing witness to the human value and dignity of the men, women, and children we serve. They may be poor, they may be working in jobs that don’t pay well, but they have a profound claim to our respect.

Without this respect, our impact on our residents would have a demeaning quality that would be corrosive to their well-being. What kind of help would that be?

We are deeply committed to affirming the human value and dignity of the men, women, and children we serve.

To all our donors and volunteers we say thank you for being our partners in this profoundly important effort.