Mark Shuttleworth interviewed Anna Valeria, the CEO of the Open Door Mission in Rochester.
-She talked about the history of the organization
-Anna said the priorities of the organization are providing people in the community with meals, providing emergency shelters, addiction recovery, and assisting the homeless
-They have seen a large increase in people coming to them for help this year, even in the summertime when they usually see less people.
-Anna said they are seeing more families facing homelessness.
-They continue to react to the needs of the community and that is why they are turning office space in some of their buildings into rooms for people to sleep in. Repurposing the space is quicker than finding a new building.
-She talked about what they are doing as we head into winter. They will try to relocate some people to create more availability, they will add more beds by repurposing space and they have partnered with local hotels for rooms when they have a huge increase in people coming to the Open Door Mission.
-Anna said the organization is almost all privately funded and this allows them to be more versatile and faster in their response to community needs.
-She explained the difference between a code red and a code blue. Code red is in the summer with extreme heat and code blue is in the winter with extreme cold.
-She encouraged people to volunteer with their organization and gave a few examples of what volunteers might do.
-Anna also encouraged people to donate to their mission.