Two women. Two women with a passion for helping others.

Weeta Watts Mathews and Martha Brooks King, members of St. Luke United Methodist Church, were two driving forces behind the building of Open Door Community House, a social services ministry that serves all ages.

“They were the impetus behind it and getting everything started,” Open Door board chair Judy Thomas said. “They were the forerunners of thousands of volunteers.”

The Open Door Community House 75th Anniversary Celebration and Ministry Rededication is 6 p.m. Monday. It will honor these women and the many who have gone before and since.

A former “Open Door kid” will be giving a testimonial, and the children of Fox Elementary School will sing.

Thomas will present a brief history. (The 75th year was actually in 2010.)

A Bible teacher for 30 years, King served as the Open Door treasurer for 20 years. She died in 1980. Mathews helped organize a small group, including King, that opened a small cottage behind Hamp Stevens United Methodist Church in Bibb City. Mathews died in 1953.

The two women raised $35,000 in 1935 to operate a nursery -- the seeds of Open Door -- according to “Line of Splendor,” an as-yet unpublished history of St. Luke by local historian Billy Winn.

“Both Mrs. Mathews and Mrs. King were wives of prominent members of St. Luke’s Board of Stewards, and in time they became leaders in the City Board of Missions, through whose efforts in the work of the Day Nursery was greatly expanded and supported locally,” according to Winn’s book.

Pete Pease, the current Open Door treasurer, and Mimi Childs, an Open Door advocate, are both grandchildren of Mathews.

In its own advocacy for children, and later adults, Open Door has also lobbied for racial justice.

Sybil Dodson was the director in the 1980s. One day she learned that the police chief had denied a marching permit for the Ku Klux Klan. The main opposition against the march consisted of black Columbus residents. Dodson, who is white, personally delivered a letter to city council that said she and Open Door workers supported the police chief. It was risky because few white residents were speaking against the march.

“I rushed forward and had the letter in hand. I simply read the letter,” Dodson told the Ledger-Enquirer five years ago.

That led to a citywide unity campaign which, among other things, raised college scholarship money for one black student and one white student. Open Door helped sell buttons for $1. There was also a racially mixed unity march at the Government Center.

“One of my board members said, ‘Sybil, we have seen a revival,’ ” Dodson said of the integrated march. “That was a high point.”

In its 75 years, the center has mushroomed into a multi-faceted outreach center with 31 staff and an annual budget of about $1.2 million. It’s on Second Avenue just south of the Valley Rescue Mission. The Rev. Kim Jenkins, an ordained Baptist minister, has directed it since 2003 and before that she was the program director.

Among Open Door’s services: case management for all of the local community shelters, with help in job placement, housing, health care, child care, counseling and education; children and youth programs including after-school and summer activities; a transition home for women for up to two years’ stay; a clothing bank; a “Sharing Christmas” program, which provides new toys and clothing for children who otherwise would not have gifts; an annual Thanksgiving banquet; and Open Door’s “showering” program, available for the homeless, in which they can shower, wash clothes and get a free breakfast.

One of the ministry’s main annual fundraisers every year is the Open Door Walk Classic. Held every spring, the walk meanders through downtown streets and parts of the Riverwalk.

Dodson said the racial unrest around the KKK during her tenure at Open Door helped raise Open Door’s credibility in the community.

“It said to our neighborhood that we were an advocate for them,” she said. “It increased our status. … I never sought the confrontation. I would rather avoid conflict, but when confronted I go through it.

“So many good things happened and I believe we made a positive impact. It was the best 15 years of my life.”