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Open Door Outreach links volunteers, groups
By Linda Haymes
This article was published today at 2:20 a.m.
PHOTO BY JOHN SYKES JR.
Freddy Hudson, manager at the Central Arkansas Library System’s Fletcher Library, devotes many of his nonworking hours to volunteering with Open Door Outreach, a social group that meets for friendship and volunteerism.
Open Door Outreach, headed by coordinator Freddy Hudson, partners with other community-focused organizations or agencies in need of volunteer workers.
Freddy Hudson brought his long-held love of volunteering with him when he moved to Little Rock in late 2009.
"I've always had a passion for volunteering and serving the less fortunate," says Hudson, who moved from Alabama after accepting the position of head librarian at Central Arkansas Library System's Fletcher Library.
Hudson, 35, wasn't sure where or how to focus his volunteering efforts. That all changed when he connected with Open Door Outreach.
The secular, nonpolitical social group meets for friendship and volunteerism, and is open to anyone interested in giving his or her time to various community organizations and making new friends.
Founded in 2012 by Dee Dee Boniecki Moore, Open Door Outreach gathers each Monday (except for holidays) at 5:30 p.m. at Sufficient Grounds in downtown Little Rock.
In 2015, Moore, who served as the group's coordinator, turned over the reins to Hudson, although Moore and her husband, Scott, remain involved members of the group.
Hudson first became involved with the group in 2013 and became Open Door Outreach's volunteer adviser in May that year. Hudson, who recently moved to Cabot, also volunteers with his church, Cabot United Methodist Church.
An Alabama native, Hudson attended school with the idea of helping others. He received his bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in education from Auburn University. After working for a year as a ninth-grade English teacher near Atlanta, he returned to school to earn a master's degree in library science from the University of Alabama.
"Freddy is one of the kindest people I know," Moore says. "He is so active in Open Door, is very organized and is just the perfect person to run the organization."
Open Door Outreach has a strong focus on serving the local community and partnering with other community-focused organizations or agencies in need of volunteer workers for their various fundraisers.
The group uses a Meetup page, Facebook and emails from Hudson to keep members informed of forthcoming volunteer opportunities and the group's social gatherings.
Working with at least 40 organizations in the past, the group has done everything from landscaping, mowing lawns and painting to volunteering at events such as KABZ-FM, 103.7, The Buzz's annual Christmas Celebrity Karaoke.
Through the years, Open Door Outreach has worked with Our House, the Arkansas Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the ALS In Wonderland Foundation, the Arkansas AIDS Foundation, Wildwood Park for the Arts and others.
"When they have a need such as volunteers to work at a fundraiser, they contact us," Hudson says.
During the recent Christmas season, some of the group's members served as volunteers at the Arkansas Arts Center during the Little Rock museum's Children's Theatre production of The Elves and the Shoemaker.
The second Saturday of each month, the group prepares a meal for the residents of Women & Children First's shelter. The group also participates in monthly cleanups of six blocks along Main Street south of Interstate 630 and at War Memorial Park.
"We provide a niche resource," Hudson says. "In my experience, some of the nonprofit groups may have that core group of volunteers but a lot of what we do is to help the needy and less fortunate."
Friendship is another component of the loosely based, informal organization.
"We welcome any and all with open arms," Hudson says. "We want to bring people together and our hope is that in addition to helping the community, the group will allow people to meet one another and also have a chance to hang out and socialize together.
"We don't have any membership fees or application forms and there is no screening process. We don't need references or applications; our motto is come one and come all."
The group's meeting in mid-December was also its holiday gathering with punch and refreshments served to nearly two dozen volunteers. Near the base of a trimmed Christmas tree were several bags filled with items for the needy which the group's members had collected to distribute during Sandy Wilson's 12th annual Christmas Caravan.
"I remember one year giving a toy to a little boy and seeing his face just light up when I did," Hudson says.
But those receiving help from Open Door Outreach aren't the only ones who benefit from the organization; Hudson says he's grateful to be a part of the group.
"I really enjoy being able to make a positive impact on the lives of other people and also to get to meet new people and make new friends; it's a chance to meet people who are from all walks of life."
For more information about Open Door Outreach, visit opendooroutreachnetwork.com, meetup.com/opendooroutreach/ or facebook.com/opendooroutreach.
High Profile on 01/08/2017
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