The Open Door/Cape Ann Food Pantry was founded after the terrible blizzard of '78, when it was discovered that there were no emergency resources available in the communities of Essex, Ipswich, Gloucester, Rockport, and Manchester. The Cape Ann Food Pantry was therefore founded to provide free emergency food in times of hardship. Open Door was created in the early '80s to serve the homeless.

Since then, the Open Door/Cape Ann Food Pantry has grown exponentially. It now offers advocacy and job training, a hot meal program, free groceries to local residents in need, a summer lunch program for kids, an after-school snack program, and Food Stamps application assistance. It also runs the Second Glance Resale Shop, which offers low-cost clothing and household items to the community and also serves as a job-training site. Each year the organization receives in-kind donations of food, goods and services valued at more than $900,000. There is no "fluff" here, so you can be sure that your donations will be well and carefully spent.