Open Door’s VOICES club in Sandwich transforms charity into community service

Open Door Rehabilitation Center in Sandwich runs the VOICES club aimed at giving back to the community and involving consumers in local events.

The club is made up of about 20 consumers, either in Open Door’s Day Programs or living in one of their homes, and five to six staff members run the club’s monthly meetings during work hours, said Daniel Wehrli, Open Door’s residential manager and the coordinator of VOICES.

“We are a charity organization, and we receive a lot of charity, but we have a lot of people who have a lot of abilities to give back, so this VOICES club is an opportunity for people with great abilities to be able to give back to their community,” Wehrli said.

VOICES was originally established in October 2016 in partnership with the Kiwanis Club, which has since been disbanded. What is now VOICES was originally known as the Aktion Club, and since early 2023, the club has rebranded itself, said Gene Stephens, the associate director of Open Door and former coordinator of VOICES.

“Their membership, it started off really strong, and there’s always been a good base,” Stephens said. “They’ve always been really good to us, and, you know, we’ve always had a great working relationship, but as any club can attest to, membership starts to dwindle.”

VOICES name is an acronym for volunteer, opportunities, inclusion, community encouragement and self-advocacy, Stephens said.

“Inclusion means that we don’t turn anybody away; we include anybody and everybody that wants to be involved,” Stephens said. “We encourage others and self-advocate for ourselves and others as well, and we even developed our own little flag.”

To give back to the community, VOICES holds two main events: their annual bake sale and car wash. The bake sale took place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 26. $700 was raised. The car wash date has yet to be finalized, but it will be determined by June 13 when VOICES has its monthly meeting and that typically takes place in July or August, Wehrli said.

“Recently, we’ve made donations to the local schools to pay off any lunch debts,” Wehrli said. “I think, you know, some of the clients favorite place to donate is themselves, so sometimes, we will, you know, get t-shirts paid for to have some community outreach with branding and what not, so that’s [an] important piece of it too, and also a more fun part for the clients get new swag.”

Updates on event dates can be found at facebook.com/OpenDoorRehabilitationCenter/.

All donations at the event are free will, and VOICES appreciates any donations they receive, Wehrli said.

“Hey, you know, come swing by if we have any of our activities,” Wehrli said. “I think the general public oftentimes doesn’t have experience working with people with differing abilities, and they’re no different than anybody else. They want to help give back. We appreciate the help [from the community], but we want to try and have an opportunity to give back.”

VOICES will be in the Sandwich Fourth of July Parade beginning 10 a.m. Saturday, July 6. For route information, visit sandwichparkdistrict.org/freedom-days/.

For more information on VOICES, visit odrc.org/day-program/.