San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, December 9, 1992
Tom Sietsema, Chronicle Staff Writer

Peppers get roasted by hand. New York strip goes into the stir-fries. And the minimal freezer space attests to the philosophy of what's fresh is what's best.

"This is not a soup kitchen," says Chuck Johnson, the kitchen director for Open Hand, the San Francisco-based delivery service that promises a free hot meal every day of the year for AIDS- and HIV-infected men, women and children in the area.

Currently, that translates into 1,300 people. About 800 more are recipients of weekly bags of groceries, courtesy of Open Hand's food bank. "We don't judge in terms of economic well-being," says Johnson, a former instructor at the California Culinary Academy.

If someone with AIDS or HIV is hungry, or has a hard time cooking, he says, Open Hand delivers -- whether they live in Pacific Heights or Hunters Point.

AIDS- or HIV-disabled people aren't the only ones who have benefited from Open Hand's generosity. The week after the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, for instance, an estimated 50,000 meals were distributed. And last year, during the East Bay fire, the kitchen dispatched 650 breakfasts and lunches to firefighters and others.

VAST OPERATION

Open Hand began seven years ago with a $2,000 donation as a way for Ruth Brinker, a retired Meals-on-Wheels manager, to care for seven dying men. It has grown into a vast and often-imitated operation encompassing 2,000 volunteers, an impressive 10,000-square-foot facility at the bottom of Potrero Hill and a budget of $5.2 million -- 90 percent of which comes from private sources. Two years ago, Open Hand's mission was extended to the East Bay, where 300 meals are now delivered each day.

If the charity's rapid growth serves as a tragic and sometimes overwhelming reminder of the continuing impact of AIDS in the Bay Area, it also admirably demonstrates how a community can band together to tackle a problem -- in this case, one meal, one day at a time.

Show up at the 3 1/2-year-old food facility almost any day of the week and you can see the proof: an army of volunteers chopping celery, peeling sweet potatoes, stirring tomato sauce, sealing the lids on that day's culinary creations.

Among other things, the kitchen is outfitted with a 40-gallon hydraulic braiser and an open pantry, stocked with enough staples to fill a small neighborhood market. (Still on the wish list: a commercial-size gas grill.)

CORPORATE DONATIONS

Open Hand relies literally on a cast of thousands, ranging from Safeway, Cala Foods, Entenmann's Bakery and Kraft (who provide donations of food) to friends who make smaller contributions. Area photographic studios, for instance, drop off edibles that have been used in photo shoots but are otherwise untouched.

pcx Lee Weinstein, Open Hand's former press contact, said without volunteers, Operation Open Hand would cease to exist.

One former volunteer -- indeed, one of Brinker's original helping hands -- was recently named head chef of the organization. Jeffrey Chapman, who started washing dishes for Open Hand in the basement of Trinity Episcopal Church on Bush Street, now plans and orchestrates the menus with the support of about 17 assistants.

"I feel good knowing I'm helping somebody," he says, echoing the sentiments of many of his colleagues.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL

Forget assembly-line cuisine. Open Hand's food shows great attention to detail, from the fresh spinach that fattens one day's lasagne, abundant with fresh grated cheese, to the carrots -- artfully carved to resemble flowers -- arranged in another dish.

"The presentation is very important," says Johnson, the kitchen director. To pique the appetite of the sick, "we like to make it as fun and interesting as possible." Hence a garnish of baby mushrooms wrapped with a zucchini ribbon.

Tomatillos, coconut milk, olives, red currant jelly, Thai peanut sauce -- the makings for memorable meals -- are among the many donated ingredients the Open Hand cooks have at their disposal.

Donations range from the modest -- a few can openers and a couple of loaves of bread -- to the monstrous. Volunteers still talk about the arrival of two tons of rice crackers, which eventually landed in the food bank's grocery bags.

"We try not to turn down anything we receive," says Weinstein. If the facility can't use something, it's dispatched to an AIDS facility or a homeless shelter in the city.

Aside from their esthetic and flavor appeal, Open Hand's meals are also highly personalized statements. Birthday celebrants are treated to cakes baked by volunteers, and no holiday passes without acknowledgement by the Open Hand crew. For Thanksgiving this year, the traditional roast turkey and stuffing arrived with a squash medley, fresh baby greens tossed with roasted red peppers, and pumpkin pie topped with real whipped cream.

WHATEVER'S COMFORTING

Basic, familiar American fare -- macaroni and cheese, roast beef, fried chicken, lamb chops -- appears most often. But because not all the clients grew up on meat loaf and mashed potatoes -- maybe it's chicken enchiladas, or collard greens and corn bread, or pad Thai that they recognize as comfort food -- the kitchen offers meals catering to its Hispanic, African American and Asian clients as well. Indeed, the kitchen staff goes to Chinatown for noodles or the Mission for chiles when the recipes require them.

Moreover, a host of special tastes and dietary restrictions are taken into account by a trio of cooks. Each day, they design and prepare menus for upwards of 450 clients who can't abide, say, wheat products or spicy fare or any dairy products. The kitchen affectionately dubs a very small group of sensitive eaters "The Can't Eat Anythings." Even the delivered groceries include bags identifying the contents as "no cook," "diabetic," and "low sodium," among other designations.

Recently, two registered dietitians were hired to help Open Hand clients with special nutritional needs. "Nutrition for people who are HIV positive is really quite simple -- it's calories and protein," says one dietitian, Jill Jarvie, who consults with meal recipients, conducts home visits and is writing a nutrition manual.

Preparing the food is just half the job; the other half involves delivering the goods. For this, Open Hand counts on 1,000 drivers and helpers to distribute the meals, between 4 and 7 p.m. each day.

The ritual -- the daily contact between volunteers and clients, half of whom live alone -- is nearly as important as the food itself, say those on both sides.

"We're not saints -- I get a lot of bang for my buck," says driver Burr Snider, a San Francisco writer.

Along with partner Liz Pepin, a record-store owner, Snider spends three hours every Thursday driving through the Bayview/Hunters Point neighborhoods. It's faster (and safer) with two in the car, which quickly picks up the scent of tonight's dinner: beef stir-fry, containers of which are tucked into well-insulated plastic storage boxes.

INDUSTRIAL PARK

The area is no pretty snapshot -- in fact, the first stop takes the two volunteers into a lonely industrial park, under a freeway bridge, where the first of almost 30 recipients dwells in an orange metal shelter.

Although time doesn't allow for much conversation, the brief exchanges speak volumes. At one home, a little girl gives Snider a big hug. The woman who answers the volunteer's knock at another door invites him to dinner some time. Clearly, Snider enjoys his rounds.

"Doing good isn't enough," he says. "Doing good well," he says, is the goal.

Project Open Hand certainly does good, very well.

Project Open Hand's meal and grocery services are available to all persons with AIDS or a disabling HIV disease. In San Francisco, call (415) 558-0600 by 10 a.m. for same-day delivery; calls after 10 a.m. will be responded to the next day. In Berkeley and Oakland, call (510) 596-8200.

To volunteer in San Francisco or the East Bay, call (415) 255-2529.

CAPTION: PHOTO (2)

(1) Jeffrey Chapman plans and orchestrates Open Hand's menus/BY MICHAEL MALONEY/THE CHRONICLE, (2) Open Hand volunteers (from left) Zach Wilson, Lynn Greenfield and Bob Bills peel holiday sweet potatoes/BY MICHAEL MALONEY/THE CHRONICLE

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