By Jonathan Phelps
For years, The Open Door, a Gloucester-based nonprofit agency dedicated to feeding the hungry, has rented its facility at 28 Emerson Ave. from Wellspring House.
But as of yesterday, Wellspring is now be renting its space in the same building from The Open Door.
That's because The Open Door organization purchased the property from Wellspring for $500,000 — the appraised value of the building — in a deal that closed shortly after 2:30 p.m. yesterday.
Although the ownership has changed, the building will continue to be occupied by both organizations.
The Open Door — which consolidated its name last year from The Open Door/Cape Ann Food Pantry — uses 80 percent of the building's space to serve meals and food packages, while 20 percent of the building is used by Wellspring's Cape Ann Families, a family education and support center.
"The sale is great for both organizations," said Kay O'Rourke, executive director of Wellspring. "We will both be able to maintain quality programs."
For the past 28 years, Wellspring House, Inc., of Gloucester, has been helping families move out of poverty and achieve more secure and fulfilling lives. Along with advocacy work, Wellspring House provides education, emergency shelter, affordable housing, job training, family support and mentoring programs.
Last year, Wellspring helped more than 2,000 people from the North Shore with adult education, job training, family support and shelter for homeless families.
O'Rourke said that officials within the organization including herself did some strategic planning before deciding to sell the building. They looked at future uses for the building and determined that because they are not the main occupant of the building and wouldn't need the space in the future, they decided to sell.
"It didn't make sense for us to own the building anymore," said O'Rourke adding that the organization also had to put a lot of resources into maintaining the building.
Wellspring will use the money from the sale to pay off the current mortgage and further invest in its core programs, O'Rourke said in a prepared statement.
Julie LaFontaine, executive director at The Open Door, said the purchase of the building enables the organization to "create the foundation needed to grow into the future."
The Open Door provides free meals and food, provides advocacy on behalf of the disadvantaged, job-skills training and placement through its programs. In 2009, The Open Door served 2,100 households and nearly 5,000 people, while the organization distributed more than 700,000 pounds of food.
"It has always been in Open Door's strategic plan to purchase our own building," LaFontaine said, adding that officials from the organization had looked at several other properties and determined the organization's current location would be best to serve its clients.
LaFontaine said that owning the building will give The Open Door an opportunity to invest in the building that it wouldn't have if it were still renting. The Open Door will also be able to add a private office to assist clients looking to sign up for food stamps, she said.
She said The Open Door had been leasing the space since 1995 or 1996, even before Wellspring owned the property. During that time, the organization had received a restricted donation to purchase a building, and over the years, the group has been adding to it.
LaFontaine said the amount per month to pay off the mortgage is less than the rent they were paying.
"We have grown from a small soup kitchen serving a small number of people to a major force working to alleviate hunger in the Cape Ann area and this purchase provides a solid base from which to serve our clients," LaFontaine said.
"Wellspring has been great," she said. "We are looking forward to continuing our relationship with them."
Jonathan Phelps can be reached at 978-283-7000, or via e-mail at gt_reporter@gloucestertimes.com.
