Chicago Tribune (CT) - TUESDAY, September 3, 1996 Edition: NORTH SPORTS FINAL Section: METRO CHICAGO Page: 3 Word Count: 521 MEMO: COLUMN: City watch. People.
Terry Wilson, Tribune Staff Writer.

Eight years later, volunteers still deliver meals, but 75 percent of Open Hand's service now is rendered by three pantries on the North, West and South Sides that dispense free food to people who are healthy enough to get it themselves.

"The lifespans of people who are diagnosed with AIDS are being considered in terms of years, instead of months," said Debbie Hinde, deputy director for Open Hand Chicago. "Not only are people living longer, but the quality of life they're enjoying has improved."

Program coordinators said new drug therapies have done wonders to help people with AIDS live healthier, longer lives. The good news is tempered only by the economic hardship many face because they have to spend much of their money on medical care.

"Before, our clients were basically planning their funerals," said Lori Cannon, special projects coordinator who is stationed at the busy North Side Groceryland Store, at 3902 N. Sheridan Rd. "Now . . . they're planning their future. It's not unusual to serve a client for two, three or four years."

Clients are referred to Open Hand by their caseworkers, who ensure those diagnosed with HIV and AIDS are linked with social services they need, Cannon said.

Open Hand Chicago, which was modeled after a San Francisco program, started when Cannon and two others who had worked to bring the NAMES Project's AIDS Memorial Quilt to Chicago, wondered what they could do to make life easier for people with AIDS.

"Certain things were in place, like housing and clinics and HIV testing centers," Cannon said. "We felt the most basic need, the need for food, had to be addressed."

Cannon said they called case managers all over town and got a list of 35 needy clients. Open Hand secured a $20,000 grant from New York's Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS, or DIFFA.

Then, on Christmas Eve 1988, six volunteers cooked turkey dinners and prepared box lunches and 10 volunteers delivered them to the clients.

Now, the not-for-profit agency run by 17 staffers has 650 volunteers to keep it in business. The agency has a $2 million annual budget and raises all but $800,000 in fundraising events.

It buys some of the groceries and gets others from the Greater Chicago Food Depository and other food donors.

In 1993, Cannon said, she spoke with clients who said they felt well enough to go out but didn't want to miss their volunteer's visit. To give healthier clients more freedom, organizers began planning food banks in different parts of town.

"As we've opened each one, there's been a shift," Hinde said, referring to people who transfer off the home-delivery list and onto the pantry list. "People like a choice. They get to select from a menu of food products."

If a client becomes ill, he or she can return to home delivery service with a few hours' notice, Hinde said.

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