Pictured: Kim Frola; Dave Baker, Open Door Rehabilitation Center Executive Director; David Schoeffler

Serving the community for over 45 years, Open Door Rehabilitation Center in Sandwich provides vocational, residential, and community support services to adults with development disabilities. Open Door’s mission is to increase or maintain its clients’ skills in the least restrictive environment and help disabled adults reach their maximum potential.

Since 1993, the DeKalb County Community Foundation has partnered with Open Door Rehabilitation Center through Donor Advised Fund Grants and Community Needs Grants. Community Needs grants are made possible by undesignated donor gifts to the Community Foundation. To assist with Open Door’s increase in clients served and program expansion, grants have been awarded for a variety of projects including hardware and software upgrades, a personal therapy center, walk-in cooler/freezer, concrete patio replacement, multiple remodels of residential facilities and existing group homes, and more. Since the Community Foundation’s inception in 1993, over $210,000 has been awarded to Open Door through Donor Advised Fund and Community Needs Grants.

“We are humbly honored to be a recipient of these generous grants,” said Dave Baker, Open Door Executive Director. “These grants make a tremendous difference, enabling agencies such as ours to better the lives of those we serve.”

In 1997, the Open Door Rehabilitation Center established an Agency Fund at the DeKalb County Community Foundation: The Open Door Founder’s Fund. Open Door’s Board of Directors sought to ensure the financial future of the center to carry on its mission. Because of the affordable professional management and shared commitment to DeKalb County, Open Door chose the Community Foundation to manage its Agency Fund.

Community Foundation Executive Director, Dan Templin, added, “Open Door is a great organization serving important people in our County.  They have been good stewards of the grant funds we’ve awarded over the years and their commitment to their future through their Agency Fund at the Foundation is further evidence of the wisdom of their governance.”

To make a gift to the Open Door Founder’s Fund or an undesignated gift to the Community Foundation, please contact Dan Templin, Executive Director, at 815-748-5383 or dan@dekalbccf.org.