The Door of Hope was begun by Berea Baptist Church in the very heart of Johannesburg. In 1999 the pastor at the time, Cheryl Allen, and deacons learned with deep distress that a high number of newly born infants were being abandoned. At the time 40-50 babies were being dumped every month and left to die of starvation or exposure. Cheryl realized that many of those desperate women and girls may well have acted differently had there been an alternative.