site.openhandstore.org Blog

Giants Ace Matt Cain Visits the POH Kitchen!

Some of you may have heard the buzz that there was a Matt Cain sighting at Project Open Hand last week.  For those of you that are not sports fanatics, Matt is a starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants.  

As the spokesperson for our upcoming Plate to Plate 5K event in August, he came in to film a TV commercial for Plate to Plate.  He spent most of his time in the kitchen and on the mid-day line.  His first scene took place peeling carrots with Plate to Plate’s two new interns Kari Scheidt and Sarah Hedayati. After reciting some lines for the commercial, Matt, and soon-to-be wife Chelsea, took to the line to help package our hot meals for the afternoon.

It was great to host both Matt & Chelsea at POH. They were so friendly and interested in Project Open Hand’s mission. They weren’t afraid to get their hands dirty and see what it was like to volunteer here.

For those of you that got to meet and/or be filmed volunteering with Matt, congratulations on your 15 minutes of fame!  For those of you that missed it, keep an eye out for this exciting commercial to be aired on Comcast Sports Net.

Posted By: Sarah

You Are What You Eat

The American Medical Association (AMA) had issued a policy resolution highlighting the importance of diet in health. Music to our ears:

The new AMA policy states:

    • That the AMA support[s] practices and policies in medical schools, hospitals, and other health care facilities that support and model a healthy and ecologically sustainable food system, which provides food and beverages of naturally high nutritional quality.

    • That the AMA encourage[s] the development of a healthier food system through the U.S. Farm Bill and other federal legislation.

    • That the AMA consider[s] working with other health care and public health organizations to educate the health care community and the public about the importance of healthy and ecologically sustainable food systems.

We applaud this move by the AMA and we look forward to our more open dialogue about the food system and its effects on public health.

Posted By: Dan

Blackout!

  In this modern world, a sudden loss of electricity can really throw us for a loop. In a high-volume food service operation like Open Hand, a power outage has the potential to be catastrophic when you consider how much of our day-to-day operation relies on electricity. We were reminded of this the other day when a transformer vault – I don’t pretend to know what that is – suddenly exploded. Without warning, all power to the building went out on an otherwise quiet Friday morning and if you wandered out onto Polk Street and looked north, you would have seen flames and black smoke shooting up from a manhole (some awesome pics, here).

Meanwhile, back at POH, staff and volunteers were busy making plans to pack meals by hand. A hand-crimping meal-lidder was located so that meals could be packed in foil containers and volunteers gathered to work under the feeble glow of emergency lights. No one complained, they simply put their heads down and got the job done.

Down in the Distribution department, Tim C. and the gang were busy patching together route sheets – a job usually accomplished with computers and printers – cutting and pasting together the guides that volunteers would use to deliver meals to clients. And in a final bit of adventure, appropriate given the days events, drivers managed to outfox a particularly unhelpful meter maid who had blocked access to our street. Defying the meter maids “orders” drivers made an end run to the garage, returning all vehicles to storage before anyone could stop them!

It was a crazy day for all and a challenging day for many and yet, the meals went out, as they always do, with love. We salute our dedicated staff and volunteers who went above and beyond the call for the sake of our mission.

Posted by: Dan

Making Friends with Bacteria

I love yogurt, I always have and I always will. I confess, I buy my yogurt pre-made and then I try not to think about the plastic container that will soon up in the recycle bin. I bought a yogurt maker years ago, used it once and found the process a bit too time consuming and not really worth the hassle. Thinking about those plastic containers makes me feel a bit sheepish though, it sure would be nice to figure out a simple way to make yogurt at home, it doesn’t seem hard…

Harold McGee to the rescue! 

Posted by: Dan