Project Open Hand

src: www.openhand.org

Project Open Hand is a nonprofit organization that provides nutritious food for the elderly and the critically ill.

Each day, the organization prepares 2,500 meals and provides 200 bags of groceries to help retain clients when they face serious illness, isolation, or elderly health challenges. Project Open Hand serves San Francisco and Alameda County, involving more than 125 volunteers daily to nourish the community.

Video Project Open Hand

History

The Open Hand project was created in 1985 by Ruth Brinker, a woman who recognizes a small number of social services for those infected with HIV/AIDS. He noticed the effects of malnutrition on people who were severely ill because watching a number of his friends struggled to get a decent meal during their illness. After realizing the growing problem, the idea of â€‹â€‹giving them warm food was born, and positive impacts soon followed. Ruth started by feeding 7 people living with AIDS, and from there, the word quickly spread.

In 1990, the Food Bank Program at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (which at that time distributed the basic foodstuffs to 600 low-income people with AIDS per week) was incorporated into the Open Hand Project. Mergers create one organization that is more efficient than having two separate programs, and that sends out warm food and groceries.

Project Open Hand receives two-thirds of its funding through private donations, with a third coming from government agencies. Food service operations, such as hot food preparation, bagging food, and food delivery for those in need, are all done by more than 125 daily volunteers combined with full-time and part-time staff of 110.