The Tioga County Open Door Mission is proud to announce that we have received a $3,000 grant from the Tioga County Senior Citizens Foundation to help provide food assistance for two of our newest food pantries in both Lockwood and Waverly, NY. 

Our pantries provide nutritious food options as well as advocacy, referrals, and emergency financial assistance as funds are available.  Our newest senior food pantry in Waverly NY is limited to individuals 60 yrs of age or older and is open weekly 10am-4pm on Thursdays  behind our Red Door Thrift Store location on DePumpo Lane.  Our Lockwood food pantry opened in Fall of 2014 is located inside the Lockwood United Methodist Church, 95 Church St, Lockwood, NY and the pantry is open each Friday from 10am-2pm.

If you have any questions about our food pantries, outreach programs, or volunteer opportunities, please feel free to call or visit us at our Waverly location, The Red Door Thrift Store and Community Center, 359 Broad Street, Waverly, NY (607)249-6062, or the Tioga County Open Door Mission, 425 North Avenue, Owego, NY (607)687-1121. 

For more information about the Tioga County Senior Citizens Foundation, you can visit http://tcseniorfoundation.com/. 

For online donations to the Senior Food Pantry in Waverly, NY, please visit https://www.youcaring.com/waverlyseniorfoodpantry.

We are so grateful for all of the community support that we have received!  Together we can make a difference!

What a rousing success!  We recently distributed backpacks filled with school supplies to families in need with children grades K-6 enrolled in Waverly, NY at our satellite location, The Red Door, last Friday, August 21st.  The Open Door Mission also held its Annual Back-To-School Bash in Owego on Saturday, August 22nd offering haircuts, games and entertainment, and refreshments, as well as, backpacks filled with school supplies and snacks to children grades K-6 enrolled in Tioga County schools excluding Waverly.

Our Back-To-School events help to reduce the stress and anxiety that families feel due to financial struggle at the beginning of the school year by replacing it with some fun, excitement, and a feeling of looking forward to the year ahead. Providing a safe, comfortable, and fun atmosphere for families, we were able to meet some basic needs making “children with less” feel special and positive about their start for the school year; fostering self-esteem and setting the students up for success.

We are so grateful for community support from the Floyd Hooker Foundation as well as generous donations from Tioga Downs, the Police Benevolent Association, and private donors.

The Tioga County Open Door Mission, a local faith-based 501(c)3 non-profit organization, has been devoted to serving our community through our food pantries, homeless shelter, and outreach programs since 1968.  Your continued support allows us to extend our Outreach efforts and make a step towards creating meaningful change in our community and the lives of the children.

If you have any questions about our Outreach programs, please feel free to call or visit us at our Waverly location, The Red Door Thrift Store and Community Center, 359 Broad Street, Waverly, NY (607)249-6062, or the Tioga County Open Door Mission, 425 North Avenue, Owego, NY (607)687-1121.

We appreciate your support!

Unorganized, loud, messy and full of laughs, these are just some of the many ways I could describe my Mission family, and the overwhelming spirit of the Tioga County Open Door Mission. Since I was nine years old and my mom brought me to volunteer, the Mission has been my second home. The Mission is where I learned to run a cash register even when I could barely see over the counter, the savings of a bag sale, had my first job, and was exposed to the realities of the world around me.

Since returning to the Mission after finishing college once again I was thankful to always be welcomed home. In the past year, the Mission continued to help me learn and change, which something as an organization we are constantly doing. We may be a bunch of misfits, who have imperfections, but the Mission is a strong and loyal family to all. The Mission is a home for so many people, more than just the residents in our shelter. The Mission is a home to the all too many people who are looking to be understood and welcomed. We work together no matter our differences, we all have a common goal and that is what matters. It is because of this devotion, I have always believed in and valued the Mission.

Even now as leave my position at the Mission to pursue my masters degree, I know my position in the Mission family will always remain. I could not even begin to thank the Mission for all that it has taught me about compassion, hard work, acceptance and respect. So thank you, Tioga County Open Door Mission and all of the wonderful people that make up our Mission! I will always carry the life lessons you have taught me! 

The Tioga County Open Door Mission had a wonderful time attending this year's Strawberry Festival in Owego, NY! In preparation for the event we baked over 400 strawberry cookies to help raise money for our new senior food pantry opening this summer in Waverly, NY. Becky and Anna attended the event, and raised over $350 for the new pantry. We are so thankful to be a part of such a giving and active community! Thank you so much to everyone that came to the event in support of the Mission and our community!     

The Tioga County Open Door Mission would like to extend a huge thank you to the employees of Lockheed Martin Owego! On Friday June 5th a team of Lockheed Martin employees arrived bring 1913 pounds of food they had collected in just four days for the Tioga County Open Door Mission's food pantries. Cans of soup, peanut butter, jelly and cans of tuna fish were just some of the many different foods that made up the 1913 pounds. This donations could not have been better timed with the opening of our new senior food pantry in Waverly, NY.

 Not only did the Lockheed Martin employees come to the Mission bring food they also spent the afternoon volunteering doing a number of tasks throughout the Mission. From separating scrap metal to cleaning Barbie dolls, our Lockheed Martin volunteers were willing to help with anything they could. This is the second day of caring and food drive that Lockheed Martin employees have held for the Mission. We are always truly overwhelmed by their generosity and fun nature of our friends at Lockheed Martin every time they volunteer. Thank you Lockheed Martin Owego employees for your devotion to our community!

On Saturday May 31, 2015 the Tioga County Open Door Mission held its first annual Ghost Pepper Pizza Challenge. This creative eating contest was created to help raise money for our new senior citizen food pantry, and we are thrilled to report that we raised over $2600 through the event this year!

The event was held at the Rail House Taproom in Waverly and we are so thankful to  the Rail house for donating the space for the event and cooking the spicy pizzas. At the event 12 brave men and women came to take on the challenge of eating a 9 inch white garlic pizza covered in Ghost Peppers as fast as they could. Ghost Peppers are one of the hottest peppers in the world. Darin Welch was our winner, Welch ate the pizza in just under 5 minutes. Shawn Belles was also a winner, Belles raised the most money for the senior food pantry, raising over $500.

The Tioga County Open Door Mission is thrilled to be opening up the new pantry this summer. The pantry will be specially designed to meet the needs of seniors in the Waverly community, and will be located behind the Mission's Waverly location, The Red Door. The pantry space was donated to the Mission by Don Foote, not only did Don and his wife overwhelm the Mission with their donation of the food pantry space and other items for the Ghost Pepper event, Don Foote was one of the contestants in the challenge too!  

The Tioga County Open Door Mission is excited to make this challenge an annual event so don't worry if you missed out this year you will have plenty of chances to take on the heat in the years to come! If you have any questions about the senior food pantry or would like to donate please feel free to call us at (607)687-1121 or check out our donation button! 

The Lesson of the Widow’s Might, inspired by a very interesting piece of jewelry that was donated to the Owego Open Door Mission recently (pictured below, right), inspires us to think about what we are willing to sacrifice for those in need.

The Lesson of the Widow’s Might (also known as Widow’s mite) can be found in the Synoptic Gospels of Mark 12: 41-44 and Luke 21: 1-4.  Jesus shares a story at the Temple in Jerusalem about a widow who donates all that she can offer, which happens to be just two mites. A mite, also known as a lepton in Greek, was the smallest and least valuable circulation, worth about six minutes of a daily wage.  Jesus explains to his disciples that the small sacrifices of the poor mean more to God than the extravagant, but proportionately less, donations of the rich.  Jesus observed that the widow gave most likely everything that she had to give while the rich gave only a proportionately small portion of their wealth.  He explained how much these small sacrifices meant to God.

Stop by and shop in our thrift stores!

It is because of our wonderful customers that we are able to turn donations into funds that we use to support our food pantries, homeless shelter and outreach programs. At the Tioga County Open Door Mission we believe strongly in recycling and reusing items in creative new ways. Make sure to check out our Pinterest page for great ideas for fun DIY craft projects you can make with thrift store finds! We love to hear about the different ways people repurpose items they found at the Mission and The Red Door!

Clean Out Your Closets And Declutter!

We all know that we have old tee shirts from high school or those tables in the attic that we have been meaning to get rid of, think of donating those items to the Mission and The Red Door. Just like our shoppers we are so thankful to our community of donors that help support us through their donations. Did you know that the Tioga County Open Door Mission receives no government funding and 85% of funds used in our different outreach programs comes from our thrift stores? We honestly could not do the work we do without your help! Remember because the Mission is a 501 (c) (3) organization you can always write off your donations for taxes purposes.      

Hunger is a serious problem that effects people near and far, and the Tioga County Open Door Mission  feels passionately about addressing the concern of hunger in our community. Our food panty in Owego is the largest food pantry in Tioga County.  In our Owego food pantry alone we serve 3 to 4 thousand meals each month. In addition to these meals we serve many more through our homeless shelter and second food pantry in Lockwood.  

Many of the people that the Mission serve in our food pantries are the working poor, people that are trying their best to make ends meet with what they have but are struggling.  Children and the elderly are both populations that we often sever in our pantries. A common trend in our food pantries are hardworking grandparents doing all that they can to raise and meet the needs of their young grandchildren. 

Rural counties often struggle with meeting the needs of the hungry due to the fact that resources can be a struggle for people to get transportation to. Due these struggles the Mission feels that it is important to bring resources to rural communities whenever possible, this is why we have opened a second food pantry in Lockwood, NY. At the Mission we work with a number of other local organizations to help direct people to the closest pantry in their area to help all get access to the food they need. The Mission strongly believes that in order to fight hunger, organizations must work together to serve their community. We are proud to help support twelve local food pantries and soup kitchens with food.  In addition, the Mission provides a home deliveries to the home-bound.  

Everything that the Mission is able to do through our food pantries and our Outreach programs is due to the wonderful support that we receive from our community. If you are interested in donating to our food pantries or would like to hold a food drive please call us at (607)687-1121.Thank you everyone that has donated to our food pantries and thrift stores! If you or someone you know is need of our services please explore our Outreach tab above for more importation about the services that we offer.