Project Open Hand is a

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

that provides medically tailored meals and groceries to elderly and homebound people in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and

Alameda County Alameda County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and 21st most populous nationally. The county seat is Oakland. A ...

. Founded in 1985 to deliver meals to people with

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

, it also took over

food bank A food bank or food pantry is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, usually through intermediaries like food pantries and soup kitchens. Some food banks distrib ...

s in the 1980s and 1990s and in the 21st century extended its services to include people with other acute and chronic conditions and to serve lunches to seniors. Its headquarters are at 730 Polk Street in the Tenderloin; its CEO is Paul Hepfer. __TOC__

History

Project Open Hand was created in 1985 by Ruth Brinker, who had worked in food service and as an executive director for Meals on Wheels and recognized the relatively small number of

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

for those infected with

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

and their particular need for nourishing food since there was at the time no treatment for AIDS. It began as meal service to seven people with AIDS, paid for by a $2,000 grant from the

San Francisco Zen Center San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC), is a network of affiliated Sōtō Zen practice and retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay area, comprising City Center or Beginner's Mind Temple, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. ...

and the Golden Gate Business Association. Meals were initially cooked in her kitchen and later at Trinity Episcopal Church; in 1987, a grant from the

Chevron Corporation Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation predominantly specializing in oil and gas. The second-largest direct descendant of Standard Oil, and originally known as the Standard Oil Company of California (shortened t ...

enabled a move to a professional kitchen, and Project Open Hand took over a food bank. In 1991, it also took over the AIDS Food Bank from the

San Francisco AIDS Foundation The San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing services for people with HIV/AIDS, with a mission to end the HIV/AIDS in the United States, AIDS epidemic in the United States. They were founded in 1982, ...

. It served 500 meals a day by 1988, and opened its

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

branch on October 17, 1989, the day of the

Loma Prieta earthquake On October 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m. PST, the Loma Prieta earthquake occurred at the Central Coast of California. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz County, approximately 10 mi (16 km) ...

; it opened a second professional kitchen in Oakland in 1996, and in 1997 moved to 730 Polk Street, which it had purchased as its headquarters. Tom Nolan, executive director from 1994 to 2011, began expanding the organization's mission to include senior citizens and people with serious illnesses other than AIDS and chronic conditions such as

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

. Nolan was succeeded by Kevin Winge, who expanded food pickup services from those with HIV or

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

to people with other conditions including

and

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina pectoris, angina, myocardial infarction, heart attack), heart failure, ...

, followed in 2016 by Mark Ryle. Paul Hepfer became executive director in March 2019. In 2014–16, Project Open Hand participated in a study by the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

of the role of nutritious food in supporting the sick; since its institution in June 2017, it has played a major role in Food is Medicine, a three-year state-funded pilot project to provide medically tailored meals to chronically ill people receiving assistance through

Medi-Cal The California Medical Assistance Program (Medi-Cal or MediCal) is the California implementation of the federal Medicaid program serving low-income individuals, including families, seniors, persons with disabilities, children in foster care, preg ...

, the California version of

Medicaid Medicaid is a government program in the United States that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited income and resources. The program is partially funded and primarily managed by U.S. state, state governments, which also h ...

. Much of the organization's work is done by volunteers, 125 a day in 2003. It is funded by a combination of donations, including from foundations such as the Isabel Allende Foundation, federal, and city assistance. it delivered 1,600 dinners a day and 1,500 bags of groceries a week, and provided as many as 300 bags of groceries to walk-in clients at its food bank. it was serving almost 2,000 clients a day, and in 2004 it had a total of 30,000 clients. it was receiving $5.6 million a year in donations and government funding and serving almost 2,600 meals a day, to seniors and people with cancer and other serious illnesses in addition to AIDS, as well as providing groceries. it had a $10 million budget and served approximately 8,000 clients, including 4,400 in the senior lunch program. it provided 2,500 meals and 200 bags of groceries a day. Until 2020, when the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

prevented it, it also hosted holiday gatherings at the end of the year. Responding to the AIDS emergency led many charities formed at the time, including Project Open Hand, to prioritize services over bookkeeping; after being taken to task by the ''

Bay Area Reporter The ''Bay Area Reporter'' is a free weekly LGBT newspaper serving the LGBT communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is one of the largest-circulation LGBT newspapers in the United States, and the country's oldest continuously published ne ...

'', the organization instituted a board of directors and reduced pay for the director. In the late 1980s and early 1990s its finances were investigated and no improprieties found. Singer-songwriter

Sylvester Sylvester or Silvester is a name derived from the Latin adjective ''silvestris'' meaning "wooded" or "wild", which derives from the noun ''silva'' meaning "woodland". Classical Latin spells this with ''i''. In Classical Latin, ''y'' represented a ...

dictated in his will that posthumous proceeds from his albums would be directed to Project Open Hand and the AIDS Emergency Fund. After the fulfillment of his past debts in the 1990s, the balance of his proceeds have been split between the two organizations since.

References

External links

Project Open Hand
{{AIDS Hunger relief organizations HIV/AIDS organizations in the United States Non-profit organizations based in San Francisco 1985 establishments in California Organizations established in 1985