The Open Door Cafe, which co-owner Deb Ciresi described as a “ministry as well as a business,” opened in Bel Air in March with the goal of giving back to the community.
With a free, sit-down Thanksgiving feast this week, the owners will have a chance to realize this vision.
“We felt very strongly that this was something we wanted to do for our community,” Ciresi said. “It was a dream we felt called to.”
They expect to feed about 200 people on Thanksgiving Day, with patrons ranging from people from area homeless shelters to senior citizens on a fixed income, Ciresi said.
“It?s going to be a broad range of people we are serving,” she said, adding that they will be providing table service, rather than a buffet.
Ciresi, who runs the cafe with her husband, Augie, and Bob and Sandy Glock, said they wanted people to be able to sit down and enjoy their meal with their families and other diners.
There will also be a children?s corner, where a volunteer will read stories. Other volunteers will be buying small gifts for the children, such as candy bags or Hot Wheels cars, Ciresi said.
But Ciresi said they don?t want the holiday feasting to end on Thanksgiving. They plan to give out decorated lunch bags filled with granola and fruit, and on the outside of the bag an envelope will hold a gift card from area grocery stories, she said.
So far, they have raised nearly $3,500.
“People have been very generous,” she said.
With 70 people signed up to volunteer, Ciresi said she expects the cafe to be well-staffed, but they arestill taking donations for the gift cards.
Myla Mann, 49, of Bel Air, who has a business providing private care for senior citizens and also works as a waitress at the Open Door Café two days a week, has volunteered to cook on Thanksgiving.
“It?s something I?ve wanted to do for years and years and years,” she said. In 2004, 769 adults and 250 children visited homeless shelters in Harford, according to the state?s Interagency Council on Homelessness.
