I did not start my career planning to run a homeless shelter. I spent my twenties and early thirties in city government, first as assistant city manager in King, then in leadership roles in Midway and Anson County. Around 2016, I was looking for something different. A friend who had retired as a city manager here in High Point told me about Open Door Ministries. He said they had a great reputation, but the man who had led them for more than 30 years was retiring, and they needed someone new. My friend knew I had two master’s degrees, in psychology and sociology, and a government background that taught me how to run an organization. He thought I would be a good fit. I started in June 2020, and have been here ever since.
I grew up in Rural Hall, not far from where my parents still live in King. High Point has become home, and the work here has become my calling.
What We Do
Open Door Ministries runs six programs: the Father’s Table soup kitchen, our food pantry, a Men’s Shelter, emergency financial assistance, the Arthur Cassell Transitional Housing program for veterans, and, launched last year, the Human Trafficking Resource Center.
The growth has been significant. In 2025, between our food pantry, Father’s Table, and our veterans facility, we served 334,000 meals. Every food pantry box holds enough for three meals a day for seven days, so a family of four can walk away with more than 80 meals from a single visit.
Our shelter stays full too. We keep 60 beds available for men, and while the program is built around a 30-day stay to help someone find a job and a place to live, we have let people stay for three months when that is what it takes. This past year, 85 percent of the men who stayed at least 30 days left with a job, housing, or both. The Men’s Shelter building is 36 years old, and it needs significant work. We must replace the pipes and plumbing and repair a hole in the ceiling. The men who stay with us are working to rebuild their lives, and they deserve a safe, sound place to do it.
Arthur Cassell Transitional Housing serves veterans experiencing homelessness through a VA partnership. We have 25 beds, 15 at the Arthur Cassell campus and 10 at Open Door, in a two-year program built around sobriety and stable long-term living. Some veterans face chronic mental health or substance use challenges, making the path longer, but we stay with them. There is a waiting list, and when someone graduates into their own home, another veteran is checking in that same afternoon.
The Human Trafficking Resource Center is our newest program, now rebuilding in close collaboration with the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office, High Point Police, Winston-Salem law enforcement, Family Service of the Piedmont Triad, and the Invictus task force. We connect survivors of sex trafficking and labor trafficking, a less-discussed but growing problem, with the safe houses and services they need. The long-term goal is more hands-on direct support, which is why funding partners like the Lenny Peters Foundation matter so much.
How Dr. Peters and the Foundation Show Up
Homelessness is not an easy cause to raise money for. Men experiencing homelessness can be a difficult emotional pull compared to other causes. I believe Dr. Peters understands that gap better than most, and he goes out of his way to close it. Our partnership helps us keep the doors open.
Dr. Peters and I met around 2021, and our relationship grew from there. COVID played a role – the pandemic shined a light on homelessness and the rising cost of living in a way that got his attention, and once he saw the need, he started showing up for us.
Dr. Lenny Peters makes remarks at Open Door Ministries 2026 Masquerade Gala, ODM executive director Ryan Ross pictured (right)
The Lenny Peters Foundation became the named sponsor of our Masquerade Gala, our biggest annual fundraiser, in 2023. Last year, the Foundation sponsored the Gala again and contributed even more. That kind of generosity has an immediate, tangible impact on what we can do for the people who walk through our doors.
That support kept growing this year. In early September, the Lenny Peters Foundation donated $100,000 to Open Door Ministries. Then, at our 2026 Masquerade Gala on September 18, Dr. Peters announced another $50,000 gift. Commitments like that do not just cover a line item in our budget. They tell every man, woman, and veteran walking through our doors that someone believes their future is worth investing in.
Funds raised at the Masquerade Gala will help pay for this important work at the Men’s Shelter, including the new pipes and plumbing and the ceiling repair. Dr. Peters’ generosity was critical to achieving our fundraising goal.
But these contributions are only part of it. Dr. Peters helped us get a new box truck when we needed one. He and the Foundation have sponsored our annual donor appreciation event for the last several years. Every time we have asked, he has said yes.
I have known Dr. Peters for five years now, and he has always been kind to me. His generosity to Open Door Ministries has never wavered.
We recently announced the next phase of our Community Day Center Initiative, which has grown from an Open Door project into a broader community effort. I expect Dr. Peters and the Foundation to stay engaged as that work continues to take shape, just as they have shown up for every part of our mission so far.
If you want to understand what the Lenny Peters Foundation means to an organization like ours, it is this: when we ask, he shows up. And for the men, families, and veterans we serve every day in High Point, that has made all the difference.
–Ryan Ross, Executive Director, Open Door Ministries of High Point