Less than seven months after The Endowment awarded a $1,475,000 grant to Coastal Horizons for the purchase and upfitting of a new youth shelter, the community gathered today to celebrate a major milestone: the ribbon cutting and official opening of Open House Youth Shelter. The grant, made in August 2025, supported the acquisition and preparation of the facility to provide secure, homelike services for children and adolescents experiencing crisis.
At the ribbon cutting, community leaders and partners gathered to celebrate the opening, with remarks from Margaret Weller-Stargell, President and CEO of Coastal Horizons, Sophie Dagenais, President and CEO of The Endowment, and Shannon Winslow, Chair of The Endowment’s Board, who both spoke about The Endowment’s investment and its lasting impact on youth and residents in New Hanover County. Their remarks underscored what many in attendance felt: Open House is not just a new building, but a new source of safety and hope for families in New Hanover County.
Open House Youth Shelter serves children and adolescents ages 6–18 through emergency placements, offering a safe and stable environment when families and systems are under strain. The shelter accommodates an average of 12–14 youth at a time, with stays ranging from less than a month to several months, depending on each young person’s circumstances. Referrals primarily come from Child Protective Services, the Department of Juvenile Justice, and law enforcement, and the shelter is designed to support youth with complex needs that typical emergency foster care cannot accommodate. Capacity may fluctuate depending on the ages and needs of the youth being served, but Open House remains a cornerstone of stability and care in times of crisis.
Open House does more than just meet youths’ basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter. Personal growth is encouraged through counseling services, vocational and educational opportunities, life skill building, and recreational activities. All confidential services are provided at no cost to youth and their families, and continue for a period of three months after discharge to maximize the success of the family reunification plan. For many families, that ongoing support makes the difference between short-term crisis response and long-term stability.
The impact of this project reaches beyond one building. With the new youth shelter open, Coastal Horizons can dedicate additional space on its main campus to expanded adult services, strengthening the local safety net for residents of all ages. Coastal Horizons works in close partnership with community-based teams and coalitions, including the New Hanover County Community Child Protection Team, Child Abuse Prevention Coalition, Community Crisis Response Team, Tri-County Homeless Interagency Council, and the Continuum of Care Coordinated Entry System. The free programming is supported through a diverse mix of funding sources and partners, including the City of Wilmington, New Hanover County, United Way of the Cape Fear Area, Federal Emergency Management Assistance, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, the Administration of Children and Families-Family and Youth Services Bureau, foster care and Child/Adolescent Crisis Respite reimbursements from the Department of Social Services, local foundations and charitable donations.
This project aligns with The Endowment’s pillars of Social and Health Equity and Community Safety, and it represents what is possible when local partners come together around shared goals. By investing in Open House Youth Shelter, our neighborhoods become safer, families become stronger, futures become brighter for young people across New Hanover County.
Sophie’s Remarks:
Thank you, everyone, for being here. Good afternoon, it’s my pleasure to be here. I’m Sophie Dagenais, President and CEO of The Endowment. As you just heard, I am joined by my Board Chair, Shannon Winslow, and members of my team. You heard about Mary Vail; Tyler is here; Amber is here. I am grateful to my team, because a grant such as this, a grant to enable what is happening today, does not happen without my whole team.
I won’t say a lot; suffice it to say, what more can we celebrate than to provide a safe place for our youth? And for that, let me also celebrate what I may call a double bottom line. Because by being here today, by having this home for our youth, we are also creating additional space, an additional resource, for adults in our community who also require the services of Coastal Horizons.
Above all, before I turn it over to our Board Chair, Shannon Winslow, I will say this: I do wish our youth who stop here in their journey find here a warm, safe, nurturing, and inspiring stop in the journey that is life. It is our distinct honor to be a part of this project. Thank you to all of you who are making it possible.
Shannon’s Remarks:
My name is Shannon Winslow. I am Chair of the Board of the New Hanover Community Endowment, and first and foremost, I would like to thank Margaret Weller-Stargell and the entire board and staff of Coastal Horizons, and may I add, those that have helped fluff pillows and all the things. This is truly amazing. We are so blessed, so fortunate to have Coastal Horizons. I have often joked with Margaret that she looks 20 years old, but she has been doing this for 40 years, and through her leadership, we are so fortunate to have the community resources with Coastal Horizons.
I will say again, on behalf of the Board, thank you to Margaret and your team. Also, what is really near and dear to the heart, and very special, is the impact that this will have in the community. We do have four pillars at the Endowment, and this particular project hits two of our four pillars, social and health equity and community safety. So this is amazing, to have this type of project and the impact that we know it will have on the lives of youth in our community. We could not be more thrilled to support this type of project, particularly with the leadership we have. So again, thank you all, we are thrilled to be here.
