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The Year That Was…

With a scant 12 hours to go we take a look back at 2007:

In our HIV and Homebound and Critically Ill (HCI) programs we served 3818 unique clients; 811 of those clients were new to Open Hand. We also must report that 96 of our clients died this year. Over the past 12 months we have served nearly 450,000 meals to HIV and HCI clients and over 70,000 grocery shops.

In our Senior Lunch Program we serve an average of 1600 clients each weekday and 450 clients each weekend. Over the last 12 month we have served nearly 330,000 Senior Lunches in San Francisco and Alameda County.

We have watched as our Breast Cancer program has evolved from pilot outreach to full-fledged program; we are currently providing meal and grocery services to over 175 people on both sides of the bay.

And, perhaps most importantly, client satisfaction remains high with over 80% of clients reporting services as “good” or “excellent.” All of this is accomplished through the hard work of over 120 dedicated staffers and a dynamic group of volunteers. Project Open Hand needs over 100 volunteers each day to provide services and they come from all walks of life, some for a day and some volunteers have been with us since the very beginning.

2008 will challenge us, no doubt. Food and fuel costs continue to rise and the demand for our services is at an all-time high but Project Open Hand will continue to provide Meals with Love to all of our clients.

Thank you and Happy New Year!

East Bay Client Holiday Luncheon with Tom Nolan

Earlier in the month, we hosted our annual Holiday Luncheon for clients in San Francisco and last week it was the East Bay’s turn. Over 30 clients showed up this year, our best turnout ever, and they were treated to a barbecue feast catered by our neighbor Chef Edwards. Chef Edwards whipped up quite a meal with ribs, chicken, mac and cheese and potato salad. There was dessert, of course, banana cream pie and peach cobbler to put a cap on a nice meal. That Chef Edwards is a pretty nice neighbor to have.

Although the Holiday Luncheon is always a bit extra-special it should be noted that clients on both sides of the bay are treated to Lunch with Tom every other month. Lunch with Tom is an opportunity for clients to meet with Tom Nolan and the senior staff at Open Hand to discuss how our services are working and ways in which we can improve.

Red Cabbage at the SF Grocery Center!

It’s really more purple than red, isn’t it? Well, we don’t name these things but we do give them out. We have plenty of fresh red cabbage along with carrots, onions, potatoes, oranges and granny smith apples. I’m sorry to report that the organic blackberries are gone but they were a nice treat. Back to the cabbage: Did you know that it is an excellent source of vitamin C? Sure, oranges get all the good press but a single serving of red cabbage contains 95% of your recommended vitamin c intake for the day. More nutritional information can be found here, http://www.elook.org/nutrition/vegetables/2186.html .

And here’s a simple recipe for red cabbage salad:

RED CABBAGE SALAD

1/2 red cabbage, thinly sliced
1 red onion, thinly sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
2-3 tbsp light red wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Slice red cabbage and onion into thin pieces and place in a large salad bowl. Add olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper to taste mixing all ingredients together. Serve right away and enjoy.

source: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1743,135182-253196,00.html

You can find more red cabbage recipes here: http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,red_cabbage,FF.html

Annual Client Holiday Luncheon with Tom Nolan

Today, we hosted our annual holiday luncheon for clients and once again our Executive Chef, Mike Baroman-Coggins put out a feast! Clients were treated to prime rib roast, roasted game hens, vegetable lasagna, roasted winter vegetables and golden potatoes. For dessert, there was pumpkin pie with fresh whipped cream, Joseph Schmidt chocolate truffles and an array of cookies and chocolate kisses. This year we saw our biggest turnout ever with more than 100 clients from the HIV, Senior and Breast Cancer programs turning out to share the holiday cheer. Executive Director, Tom Nolan presided over the event and doubled as a waiter and busboy!

The Holiday Luncheon is an outgrowth of our bi-monthly Lunch with Tom meetings which we host for clients. The Lunch with Tom is normally an opportunity for client to talk directly with Tom and senior management about how services are working and how we can make improvements. For the Holiday Luncheon, we dispense with the feedback and focus on eating but you can be sure we’ll get back down to business at the next Lunch with Tom. Today’s event was held in SF and we will be hosting a holiday get together for East Bay clients in Oakland next week.

The most famous roof in SF?

Okay, that may be overstating it a bit but our new solar system sure has been garnering some attention. Today, Open Hand was pleased to host San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom as he announced San Francisco’s new solar power initiative. Local media crowded onto the roof to hear the Mayor introduce The City’s new plan to make solar power more affordable for San Francisco homeowners. The proposed program is the result of 10 months of work by SF Solar Task Force co-chairmen, Phil Ting and David Hochschild and both men were on hand to introduce the program. Our own Tom Nolan mc’d the event and Mayor Newsom made numerous references to Project Open Hand as an example of solar power being put into every day use.

Project Open Hand installed twin solar electric and solar hot water generation systems in June and we are on course to save $15,000 on utility costs in the first full year of operation! The savings are all the more significant when you consider that $15,000 is the equivalent of 7,000 home-delivered meals for clients with HIV and other critical illnesses.

Open Hand was proud to host the event and we look forward to reaping the benefits of solar power for many, many years to come. You can read more about San Francisco’s proposed solar subsidy program, here.

What’s happening in the East Bay?

In POH East Bay Community News…

Petal Pushers, a full service florist in Berkeley, is donating .50 of every bouquet to POH when the agency is mentioned. Whole Foods is donating .05 per customer who saves a bag by bringing their own. Interestingly, Vital Life Services bought Our Muslim Bakery’s bankrupt property on San Pablo at 57^th street, so that we will again be neighbors with our friends and partners at the old East Bay AIDS Center (Now VLS).
Chef Edwards will be catering our special Lunch with Tom Nolan on December 19^th, serving up BBQ soul food for our Easy Bay clients. It was through the extreme generosity of the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Foundation that we are having this lunch, and numerous other holiday perks as well for our clients, including a set of tables and chairs at which to entertain them.

POH in The Advocate!

We are so thrilled to share with you that Project Open Hand was featured in the December 4th issue of The Advocate national magazine. The article, written by Adam H. Graham, titled “Food for Thought” begins on page 55 and talks about the quality of the food that we serve to our clients as well as our use of organic food products.

The article highlights Project Open Hand’s “big fat generous soul that’s defined by the fundamental tenet of our mission: meals made with love”. Plus find out how “We’ve never missed a day of service in 21 years.” Pick up your copy of the December 4th issue of The Advocate today.