The symbolism of a door is rich with meaning. It stands as a passage from one world to the next—the entrance to a new beginning. It symbolizes a decision to open up the future and close the past. Walking through a door creates a feeling of hope for the opportunities that await on the other side.
Red door as a symbol of hope
But a red door? Now that is different.
Our red door is a sign of hope and a beacon of help. It’s an entrance to a new and better world. You must choose to stand on one side or the other. You must decide to take the first step and cross over the threshold. Once you do, your world opens to possibility. It opens to hope. It opens to help.
The red door to Saint John’s opens the possibility of a new, and once unimaginable, future.
Founded on the steps of St. John’s Lutheran Church in 1985, Saint John’s once was an emergency shelter for women and children. A lot has changed in the last 30 years. Then, it was a place to sleep for the night. Today, it’s an 18-month continuum of care that provides women the stabilizing supportive services, education, and employment training needed for women to become independent providers for their family.
Throughout the years many things have changed, but the red door has remained constant–not only as a symbol for Saint John’s, but as a promise that stepping through this door creates the opportunity and hope for lasting change and a brighter future.
Jackie T. opened the door to a new life
With a history of addiction, and after losing custody of her young child, Jackie T. finally decided that ENOUGH was ENOUGH.
Homeless and pregnant, she knew the time to change was NOW. Jackie made the courageous decision to walk through the red door and leave behind a life that led her to homelessness, dependence, poverty and addiction. Jackie walked through the door nervous, in pain and ready to make the commitment to leave fear behind and make a new life.
Jackie has advanced through Saint John’s with a consistently positive attitude and determination to change her life for the better. She will graduate from our Plates Employment Training Program at our next Guest Chef Dinner on August 6th. Jackie has maintained her sobriety, has re-gained custody of her child and has moved into her very own apartment! In addition, during the last Guest Chef Dinner with Chef Rob Rossi of Pangaea Bier Café, Jackie impressed Chef Rob so much that she earned a job at his restaurant.
These are all incredible achievements on their own, but when you consider Jackie’s accomplished all of this while pregnant, it’s quite an impressive feat. As a testament to her work ethic, Saint John’s Career Center Manager, Lyndsey Moya, said “Jackie has worked incredibly hard, and done it all while pregnant. She has been really consistent and positive throughout her time, and is one of the hardest workers we’ve had.”
Red Door: #30YearsRealChange
Thanks to you, the thousands of volunteers and dozens of organizations in our community, for the past 30 years Saint John’s Program for Real Change has been able to help turn around the lives of nearly 30,000 homeless women and children just like Jackie and her family. With your support, our program has evolved from being a band aid to a cure.
With your continued support, we strive to do even more.
While Saint John’s currently has the capacity to serve up to 180 women and children at a time, we still turn away up to 350 women and children daily, proving that our community’s needs far outweigh the program’s capacity.
To help bring awareness and more helping hands to address the issue, we are launching our “Celebrating 30!” campaign. In honor of our 30th Anniversary, we’d like you to help us celebrate the 30,000 lives that have been turned into success stories just like Jackie’s.
During the 30 days of September, 30 organizations in Sacramento will show their support for Saint Johns by displaying their own “red door”.
Stay tuned in the upcoming weeks for more information on “Celebrating 30” and spotting the red door in your neighborhood!
Where would you like to see a red door in our community?
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