OPEN M’s Dottie Achmoody began her career when the ministry dedicated to helping others was in need of help itself.
Twenty-six years later and after 12 years at the helm, she’s retiring. Before she goes, she’ll help out once again, this time with the transition.
Achmoody, CEO of OPEN M (Opportunity for People Everywhere in Need Ministry), will retire April 1. She’ll stay on part time in a development role for the rest of 2017. A search for her replacement has begun.
“Besides the Lord and my family, OPEN M has been the love of my life, it truly has been,” said Achmoody, 67, an Akron-area native who now lives in Stow. “You come to work every day here and it is a true blessing. It’s not been like going to work because I love it so much.”
OPEN M is an ecumenical Christian ministry established in Akron’s inner city in 1968 to help build bridges out of poverty by fostering health, wellness and nutrition, education and spiritual growth. It operates Summit County’s largest free medical clinic, a food pantry and Community Works Connection, an employment assistance program to help get participants into the workforce.
OPEN M serves more than 9,000 clients annually and has grown from four churches to more than 70.
Achmoody received her undergraduate degree in family and child development and her graduate degree in public information from the University of Akron and is a licensed social worker. She was in that job at Family Services of Summit County when her friend Jim Pullen, who worked at OPEN M, died unexpectedly.
“I knew some of Jim’s clients, so I went and asked the executive director if he needed help in the meantime just as a volunteer, until he could get someone else hired,” she said. “We both did the same kind of work. ... He said sure. He liked my work so well that he hired me on and he was able to give me full-time work.”
She worked at OPEN M from 1990 until 1997, providing counseling, case management and drug and alcohol counseling. She was program director when she left in 1997 to get more experience to advance in her career. She taught at UA and became chief executive of Stow-Glen Retirement Village.
“That’s where I feel God took me to help me get more experience,” she said. “My real desire was to become CEO of a nonprofit. Both gave me wonderful experiences.”
Another call to help brought her back to OPEN M in 2004, this time as a volunteer to help her predecessor, the Rev. Timothy Crouch, who had esophageal cancer, with fundraising. After he died, the ministry began a nationwide search for a new leader. “When I was here a while, I just knew I was meant to be here,” she said.
“I put in an application [to be CEO] when I came back. I felt the call of God in my life. I felt he brought me around full circle,” Achmoody said. “Sometimes if you don’t finish what his plan is, eventually he brings you back around to complete what he wants you to do.”
Impressive tenure
Under Achmoody’s tenure, OPEN M expanded its medical clinic and food pantry, including the hot lunch program and the Mountain of Food giveaway. It also established an education program to help neighborhood children prepare for kindergarten and added the Community Works Connection in 2014.
She was honored with the Marie Covington Outrageous Acts for Social Justice Award for outstanding leadership and service to the community in 2009.
“Dottie has done a remarkable job for OPEN M and the entire Summit County community as CEO for the past 12 years,” said Jesse Hurst, president of the OPEN M board of directors, in a news release. “The board has been working with Dottie for the past several months on the timing of her retirement, and we are pleased that she will not only be able to finally enjoy the fruits of her labor in retirement, but will also work with us throughout 2017 to ensure every program transitions to the new leadership smoothly.”
Achmoody’s retirement plans include traveling to spend more time with her family.
“I am just so grateful for different things God has provided,” she said. “If we could just give back a little of what he gives to us — it doesn’t have to be money. It can be a hand on a shoulder, a smile, an encouraging word. The world would be such a better place. I’ve seen it happen here so much every day.”
Monica L. Thomas can be reached at 330-996-3827 or mthomas@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @MLThomasABJ and https://www.facebook.com/MLThomasABJ.