Opening Doors, Inc.

PROJECT: Refugee Resettlement
NEED: Increased donations of furniture and household goods for local refugee families have filled to capacity Opening Doors’ small, donated storage unit in West Sacramento, requiring staff to decline many donations.

In the past few years, many Afghan refugees who helped our government overseas and now face significant threats to their lives have settled in Sacramento County – more than anywhere else in the country.

Opening Doors, Inc. has helped to settle hundreds of these refugee families in our region, often thanks to living essentials donated by our community. As the need for their services grew in 2016, they ran out of room in their storage unit in Yolo County, and the organization was forced to begin declining donations.

With a grant from the Foundation, Opening Doors rented a storage space closer to their office and their clients’ homes, upgraded their inventory management capabilities to better track donations, and supplemented donations from the community with additional support for the families they help. As a result, Opening Doors’ staff members are able to spend less time sorting through donations and more time directly serving the refugees they welcome to our community.