Project Open Hand
Encyclopedia
Project Open Hand is a volunteer agency maintained and operated non-profit organization
offering hot meals, grocery service, and nutrition education to those who qualify in both San Francisco
and Alameda
Counties. Beneficiaries of the project include men and women infected with HIV
/AIDS
, critically ill or homebound individuals, as well as people over the age of 60 years-old in need of meal service or nutritional education.
By 2011, Project Open Hand provided 2,600 meals a day to AIDS patients and the elderly. The agency is funded by $5.6 millions in government and private donations.
, a retired grandmother who recognized the relatively small number of social services for those infected with HIV/AIDS. She noticed the effects of malnutrition
on the terminally ill from watching a number of her friends struggle to get proper nourishment during their illness. After noticing a growing problem, the idea for delivering hot meals to them was born, and a positive impact was soon to follow. Ruth began by delivering meals to 7 of 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, was distributing bags of staple groceries to 600 low-income people with AIDS per week) was merged into Project Open Hand. The merger created a single organization that was more efficient than having two separate programs, and which delivered hot meals as well as groceries.
Project Open Hand serve 1,200 meals to individuals living with HIV/AIDS and other serious illnesses, 1,400 lunches in their Senior Lunch Program, and over 300 bags of groceries are distributed between their East Bay and San Francisco locations every day of the year.
Project Open Hand receives the two thirds of its funding through private donations, with one third coming from governmental agencies. There is also a direct donation from the United Way. Food service operations, such as the preparation of hot meals, bagging of groceries, and delivery of food to those in need are all conducted by the 100 daily volunteers in combination with the full and part-time staff of 120 people.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
offering hot meals, grocery service, and nutrition education to those who qualify in both San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
and Alameda
Alameda County, California
Alameda County is a county in the U.S. state of California. It occupies most of the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,510,271, making it the 7th most populous county in the state...
Counties. Beneficiaries of the project include men and women infected with HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
/AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
, critically ill or homebound individuals, as well as people over the age of 60 years-old in need of meal service or nutritional education.
By 2011, Project Open Hand provided 2,600 meals a day to AIDS patients and the elderly. The agency is funded by $5.6 millions in government and private donations.
History
Project Open Hand was created in 1985 by Ruth BrinkerRuth Brinker
Ruth Marie Brinker was an American AIDS activist and founder of the nonprofit, Project Open Hand. She began her activism in 1985 by providing food and meals to home-bound AIDS patients in San Francisco who were too ill cook or shop.Brinker was born Ruth Marie Appel on May 1, 1922, in Hartford,...
, a retired grandmother who recognized the relatively small number of social services for those infected with HIV/AIDS. She noticed the effects of malnutrition
Malnutrition
Malnutrition is the condition that results from taking an unbalanced diet in which certain nutrients are lacking, in excess , or in the wrong proportions....
on the terminally ill from watching a number of her friends struggle to get proper nourishment during their illness. After noticing a growing problem, the idea for delivering hot meals to them was born, and a positive impact was soon to follow. Ruth began by delivering meals to 7 of 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, was distributing bags of staple groceries to 600 low-income people with AIDS per week) was merged into Project Open Hand. The merger created a single organization that was more efficient than having two separate programs, and which delivered hot meals as well as groceries.
Project Open Hand serve 1,200 meals to individuals living with HIV/AIDS and other serious illnesses, 1,400 lunches in their Senior Lunch Program, and over 300 bags of groceries are distributed between their East Bay and San Francisco locations every day of the year.
Project Open Hand receives the two thirds of its funding through private donations, with one third coming from governmental agencies. There is also a direct donation from the United Way. Food service operations, such as the preparation of hot meals, bagging of groceries, and delivery of food to those in need are all conducted by the 100 daily volunteers in combination with the full and part-time staff of 120 people.