The Open Arms Foundation is a corporate charity started by the real estate investment trust, Mid-America Apartment Communities. The foundation was founded in 1994 with a mission to assist patients and their families in finding living arrangements while getting treatment. Since the charity began, 3,646 families have had their rent, basic utilities, and miscellaneous home necessities paid for by the MAA corporation, the Open Arms Foundation, and its supporters.
There are two MAA units with Open Arms facilities in North Carolina, one community being MAA Duke Forest in Durham. The foundation describes the units for local Duke University Hospital patients as a “home away from home at no cost.” Property Manager of MAA Duke Forest Cristal Kelsey describes the foundation as “a charity that provides housing for people who are in medical crisis. We have an open arms unit here on site so we constantly have people coming in and out.”
On Saturday, October 25, MAA Duke Forest hosted a Trunk or Treat to raise money for their Open Arms unit and bring the community together. Six families volunteered to have their trunks filled with interesting backdrops, games and candy. Many community members stopped by for candy or to let their kids play games and get their energy out.
There was a contest for best decorated trunk where community members voted for their favorite trunk with donations, which went directly to the Open Arms foundation. The fan favorite trunk was Pokémon-themed, which gave out full sized candy bars and Pokémon trading cards. While this particular event focused on raising money for the Open Arms Foundation, it also brought the community together. Resident and volunteer Laura Cane gave a CatTalk exclusive interview and said, “I’m a new resident, I just moved in this month and so I thought it’d be a good opportunity to get to meet some different people in the community, and I thought it would be fun to pass out some candy and be in the Halloween spirit!”
The Open Arms Foundation has a long history of helping others, but that doesn’t mean all residents are able to stay their allotted two years. Property Manager Cristal Kelsey explained the story of a young patient whose family received free housing at MAA Duke Forest until he passed away. She said, “one of our Open Arms residents unfortunately did not survive his treatment. So, we let them put in this monument and they come and periodically change it for his birthday, or for holidays and things like that.” The monument is a large rock surrounded by halloween themed decorations and childhood toys. The monument features a plaque reading “Planted in the memory of…” and finishing with the patient’s name and years of life.
The event meant a lot to residents and staff members, for they were able to help those in their community. Assistant Property Manager Justin Cordova described what the Open Arms unit means to him. “The Open Arms unit means we can allow people to come from all over the country to focus on getting better while they are going to the provider we have a relationship with, Duke University Hospital. They can focus on getting better while we use every cent to pay for rent, apartment, and utilities.” The event brought the community and staff members closer together while working to provide for their community members in need.
The Open Arms units funded by MAA are providing homes for those in a medical crisis and require close proximity to their treatment centers all over the United States. Community members are the heart and soul of the organization, bringing the MAA’s original mission to life.
