Open Door North East (ODNE) is an award winning charity working with refugees and asylum seekers in the Tees Valley area since 2003. Our ambition is to alleviate and eliminate the devastating and complex effects of destitution and homelessness experienced by asylum seekers, refugees and other migrants in the Tees Valley.
ODNE developed from one church's desire to welcome asylum seekers who were dispersed in Middlesbrough and Stockton and has flourished over the last 18 years into a separate charity, with 10 employees and 40 volunteers supporting over 900 people each year through a range of innovative and effective projects.
Our vision statement is ‘Hope, Justice, Mercy and Dignity for those seeking sanctuary’. The values we seek to exhibit are hospitality, compassion, working together, dignity, excellence and inclusivity as we focus on our mission, ‘supporting those seeking sanctuary to move out of poverty and destitution and be empowered to achieve their full potential’.
Ongoing we would be interested in acquiring more properties to add to our property portfolio in order to accommodate refugees claiming benefit and more spaces for those with no recourse to public funds.