OpenDoors

05/23/2026

Saturday inside our kitchen: about 120 meals prepared a day, every day, for the shelters at in Providence and Woonsocket. 85,000+ meals across the 2024–2025 fiscal year. Feast & Fettle is our partner. The kitchen has to provide food every single day so that the rest of the work can keep going. Grateful to the team that makes it happen!

05/22/2026

The Women & Children's House is OpenDoors' transitional home for justice-involved mothers and the kids they're reuniting with. We've supported more than 120 women since opening in 2023 with the help of our great house manager Sharon Ashley Sharon Ladyruck Ashley! The mothers who land here are doing some of the hardest work there is: rebuilding family relationships, looking for work, navigating courts, all while finding their footing in recovery. Our current capital project is renovating the kitchen and additional bedrooms so we can house 34 more mothers and children. More on that next week.

05/21/2026

Debra Duquette came through our 1139 Main shelter in Pawtucket: 100 beds open every night, with case management, recovery support, and a path toward permanent housing. "They gave me back my dignity," Debra told us. Shelter is the starting point. What happens inside, with people who treat you like the person you still are, is where recovery starts. Debra's story is in our annual report and we're grateful she consented to share it. Photo: Kris Craig / The Providence Journal.

05/20/2026

Body-camera legislation, the Willie Washington Jr. Act, is moving through the Rhode Island General Assembly this week. Brandon Robinson, our Director of Justice Strategies, testified last week. The bill is named for a man whose death in custody didn't have to happen, and won't happen the same way again if we get the cameras and the protocols right. Accountability is essential. We're proud to be part of building it.

05/19/2026

Meet Julissa. Julissa is rebuilding her life at OpenDoors' Women & Children's House, a transitional home for mothers and the kids they're reuniting with. The house has supported more than 120 women since opening in 2023. "Everything happens for a reason," Julissa told us. Stories like hers are why the W&C House exists, and why we're working to finish the renovations that will give this building a permanent capacity of 34 more people.

05/19/2026

One year of OpenDoors, in numbers: 3,463 people supported. 85,000+ meals served. 1,533 nights of shelter. 226 vital documents recovered. 611 people through the employment program. 103 into permanent housing. Behind every number is a person: someone who walked through a door we opened.

05/11/2026

On the cover of yesterday's Providence Sunday Journal. Reporter Katie Mulvaney's feature on OpenDoors' GLP-1 addiction treatment pilot, the only social service program in the country providing access to GLP-1 treatment for addiction. Jessica Massarone and Regina Roberts have been successfully in recovery for years, and made Sunday's lead story. This is what it looks like to have a medical tool that quiets cravings for co***ne and alcohol. If you didn't catch it earlier in the week, here's a Sunday-cover second chance.

https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/drugs/2026/05/05/how-glp-1-medications-are-fighting-drug-alcohol-addiction-providence-rhode-island-pilot-program/89169011007/

05/06/2026

Take a look at yesterday's Providence Journal feature: the reason we're glad Katie Mulvaney told this story is that it puts a name and a face on a question Rhode Island is going to keep asking. What can we and must we do to help people struggling with addiction? For decades the options have been limited. Methadone and buprenorphine for opioids. For co***ne and alcohol, mostly willpower and luck. The twenty women in this pilot are some of the first people in the country to feel what a different answer looks like.

The medication, typically used for weight loss or diabetes treatment, is showing promise curbing cravings for alcohol and illicit drugs.

05/06/2026

Yesterday's Providence Journal had a feature on our GLP-1 addiction treatment pilot — reporter Katie Mulvaney spent time with the women in this first-of-its-kind program for women newly released from prison or experiencing homelessness. Started a year ago with a CASPR grant in partnership with Dr. Steven Klein at Caron Treatment Centers, the pilot uses weekly off-label GLP-1 injections to quiet cravings for co***ne, alcohol, and opioids. Twenty women have been part of it.

Jessica Massarone, 43, has been drug-free for two years and manages a Subway sandwich shop; her three kids sleep over on weekends. "I'm blown away," she said. "This addict is able to get through a drug craving without picking up." Regina Roberts now walks past the liquor store that used to call to her.

Grateful to Katie Mulvaney and the ProJo for telling these women's stories with care.

04/02/2026

🏠💛 THANK YOU, Rhode Island!

401Gives is a wrap — and WOW. We are so incredibly grateful for every single person who donated, shared, or cheered us on during these 36 hours.

You showed up for your neighbors. You showed up for OpenDoors. And because of you, we can keep doing this work every single day. 🙌

From all of us at OpenDoors — THANK YOU. 🙏