Mission Statement: The St. Andrews and Area Open Door Program is contributing to the community well being by helping alleviate food insecurity. We believe in engaging the community and those we serve, with compassion and kindness, to eliminate hunger. When one neighbour assists another, our whole community is strengthened.

The St Andrews and Area Open Door Program (Open Door Food Program),  located in St Andrews New Brunswick, was created in the spring of 2016 to help families in difficult situations. Gift Cards for groceries are distributed every month. This is a rather innovative way of running a food bank that was based on the Woodstock (Ontario) model. Using gift cards was deemed efficient because there is very little operation costs so most of the money raised is available to help the clients. The gift cards are generic PC gift cards left unmarked, protecting clients’ privacy which is an important issue in such a small community.

In addition to the money we receive as donation we receive precious help from members of the community. The St Andrews Open Door distributes gift cards monthly on set days in the basement of Wesley United Church, facilities that were graciously made available for distribution days and meetings. The local grocery store, Craswell’s Independent, and the Volunteer Centre of Charlotte County (VCCC) were instrumental in facilitating our operations in several ways. Numerous volunteers provided their time and various materials to carry out the various activities (coordination, accounting, distribution day administration, fundraising, client meeting, etc.). In addition, several individuals and groups in the community provide time and ideas to raise funds on the behalf of the Open Door Food Program.

Gift cards distributed limit the purchase to food and home health items, excluding items like tobacco, alcohol, toys, etc. The monitoring of the use of the gift cards showed that the vast majority of clients used the gift cards as intended and with respect for the goodwill of the community.