Spotlight: A Doorway to Hope

About A Doorway To Hope
A Doorway to Hope is a Christian organization serving working, low income families who are at a crisis point and need a helping hand. They provides necessary resources and links to local services to give temporary, emergency help. Their goal is to assist families in achieving economic and personal self-sufficiency.

A Doorway to Hope's Mission
A Doorway to Hope is a gateway for working, low income families who are in crisis and need a helping hand. They provide necessary resources and links to local services to give temporary, emergency help.

How A Doorway to Hope Helps
A Doorway to Hope provides a specialized needs assessment for each family, which determines how we can serve them best and break the cycle of poverty. 

• Emergency assistance through our Crisis Ministry
• Summer Foods Program
• Household Essentials Baskets
• Angel Tree Christmas Project

A Doorway to Hope was started by a group of concerned individuals from St. Michael’s Church. Their Executive Board consists of three individuals: Maria Young, co-founder, President and Executive Director, Vice President Laura Grelck, who also serves as the co-director of the Crisis Team, and their Treasurer and co-founder, Martina Young, who also serves as the co-director of the Crisis Team. Their board consists of 13 dedicated members and they have many volunteers that serve in various capacities.

One of the most unique things about their organization is that they are a 100% volunteer run non-profit. That means that nearly every dollar donated goes directly to families-in-need in our community. A Doorway to Hope prides themselves with offering a hand up, not a hand out to families that have fallen into a temporary crisis due to an unforeseen circumstance. They have wonderful partnerships with agencies like Note in the Pocket, the Green Chair Project, Catholic Charities and Dorcas Ministries to collaborate to meet all the needs a family may have.

Maria Young, one of the co-founders of the organization and has been a practicing social worker in the area for over 20 years. She has worked as a private clinician, a school social worker and as an advocate for families in the Cary area since 1998 when she graduated with her MSW from UNC-Chapel Hill. Seeing the significant need for families to access resources, she collaborated with other concerned community members and helped to begin the work A Doorway to Hope is doing today.

Currently they are searching for volunteers to assist us with our annual Auction and Gala, A Night of Raising Hope which will be held at MacGregor Downs Country Club on September 17th 2021. They are in need of volunteers for a wide range of aspects for this event including: social media and marketing, acquisition team for auction items, sponsorship chair and committee, video/media chair, logistics chair and team members.

Additional volunteer needs occur in the summer months for our Summer Foods Program, and in November and December when A Doorway to Hope coordinates their Angel Tree Program. Both of those opportunities for volunteering will be on their website in the coming months.