Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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San Francisco Examiner - December 10, 2004
Marisa Lagos, mlagos@examiner.com
That's where Project Open Hand comes in. The 20-year-old organization provides groceries as well as hot or frozen meals to as many as 8,500 people a year. Through three programs -- one serves people living with symptomatic HIV or AIDS, another provides hot lunches to seniors and a third provides critically ill people with home-delivered meals -- the project churns out about 2,000 meals and 300 grocery stipends daily from its headquarters in a brick building in the Tenderloin.
Lee Morrisette, who has been living with HIV since 1992, said Project Open Hand truly lives up to its motto, "Meals With Love." The San Francisco resident receives weekly groceries from Project Open Hand as well as frozen meals -- both through the program for people with HIV or AIDS.
Morrisette, who also volunteers at the organization handing out groceries, said the services were particularly necessary when he came down with pneumonia three years ago and almost died.
"They delivered food when I couldn't get out of bed," said Morrisette, a 6-foot-2-inch man with a ponytail down his back. "It's a great help."
Part of what sets Project Open Hand apart is the group's insistence on providing balanced, nutritionally sound meals; they even have a nutritionist on staff. The organization also offers four versions of each meal: regular, low-fat and dairy free, vegetarian or bland. All of the meals are cooked on-site, and volunteers pride themselves on serving everyone who is qualified -- there is no waiting list.
"Our criteria is medically based, so we serve anyone regardless of income," said Manuel Sanchez, manager of client services. "On one hand, what we provide is very concrete, but part of our mission is to provide meals with love. I think it's very important to be respectful and supportive of all our clients."
When Project Open Hand began in 1985, at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, it was a single woman named Ruth Brinker preparing meals in a church basement for seven friends with AIDS. Since then, the project has grown to serve about 2,100 active clients at any given time.
"We haven't strayed from our mission, just expanded it," Sanchez said.
To donate time or money to Project Open Hand, call the group at (415) 447-2419, or visit the Web site, www.openhand.org. Holiday spirit
* Join the Institute on Aging this weekend for their annual "Cable Car Carolers" event, in which volunteers travel in motorized cable cars to visit seniors throughout San Francisco. Registration for the Sunday event begins at 2:30 p.m. at St. Mary's Cathedral, 1111 Gough St. Cable cars leave at 3 p.m. Tickets are $35-45, free for children; and the event includes a full buffet and raffle. For more information, call Rebekah Eppley at (415) 750-4180, ext. 142. * Host a collections drive for Dolores Street Community Services and help the homeless, people living with HIV/AIDS and others in need this holiday season. The organization has come up with a wish list with everything from canned food to laptop computers. For the complete wish list and descriptions of group activities, check out www.dscs.org or call Mason Jeffrys at (415) 282-6209, ext. 22.
To give suggestions for charities, nonprofits and events to be featured in "Kindness in The City," please contact Marisa Lagos at (415) 359-2741.
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