8/14 ~ Project Open Hand

1995 USAIDS 5,000
(20TH Anniversary Pictorial Tour)
Post #58:
(More excerpts from AN IMPOSSIBLE DREAM STORY, edited to incorporate actual names): [Were there sacrifices along the way? Perhaps, but when we thought of how much we were blessed with gracious, unexpected generosities of personal comfort and joy, I realized we had gained far more than we gave. It was time to go to work for the cause and devote some real labor at Project Open Hand.] (I will be most gratified, if a few of you read the story, as it continues, with each photo. You may find the entire series at: http://animpossibledreamstory.blogspot.com/)

~~~

Picture #146

[One would expect me to be devoted; after all, Jim has AIDS. Not so with Ruth Brinker, who was one of the most inspiring senior citizens I will ever hope to meet. After working all her life and suffering the loss of her partner and husband, this kindly lady at a young sixty-nine years old might easily have justified retirement in 1985, a full decade earlier. No, she had heard of a neighbor suffering from this new thing called AIDS. Upon visiting him, partly to reduce her own loneliness, she found a young man who stole her heart. “He was so skinny, he looked wilted. What he needed was a good hot meal,” Ruth told me, regurgitating the incident. Accustomed to cooking for more than one, she began delivering him dinner almost daily. Soon, through this adopted son of sorts, she learned of another, then another.] (Story continues, next photo) (Picture from August 14, 1995)
— with Ruth Brinker

Danton Coulson Good people are like magnets, they are soon joined by other good people. This story is awsome!
Project Open Hand Jim, thanks for sharing! What lovely memories of our amazing founder, Ruth. We just shared to our Facebook page so our followers can see it too.

~~~

Picture #144

[It didn’t take long before Ruth required food from outside sources, accepting help from friends, neighbors, and businesses with whom she had lifetime credibility. By the time her project expanded to forty meals daily, it outgrew her kitchen, and an alternative location was in order. “A church, thank God,” said Ruth, “generously offered the use of their facilities to meet growing demand.” With seemingly no end to the honest need in sight, there were countless times when Ruth didn’t know from one day to the next where the food would come from, but it would come, she said, “like a miracle.”] (Story continues, next photo) (Pamphlet courtesy of Project Open Hand, August, 1995)

 ~~~

Picture #145 

[Inspired by her love, hope, and persistence, volunteers recruited volunteers and food outlets established regular contributions. “San Francisco was caring for its own,” said one worker, “thanks to Mom Ruth.”

When I toured, Project Open Hand was operating from an industrial food processing center which was headed by a small, highly professional (yet less than highly paid) staff and run by hundreds of volunteers. Still without government funding, they prepared and delivered over two thousand hot, delicious meals daily. At age seventy-nine, Ruth’s job was to oversee and inspire the crew, not because she retired, but because she took on yet another challenge—to not only feed, but to create employment opportunities for the homeless of San Francisco.] (Story continues, next photo) (Pictures from August 14, 1995)

~~~

Picture #147

[Meanwhile, twenty five other cities have been inspired to adopt similar feeding programs, though they fall under different names; Project Open Hand is recognized as a premier and national leader of the Meals-on-Wheels-type programs. As Ruth turned a bright eighty-years-old, she not only gave life a better plan, but also gave continued life to countless thousands of grateful citizens. Unlike most of those people, I had the honor of meeting this incredible American. It was a privilege to work the assembly line morning shift and to assist with delivery of meals to Tenderloin District residents.] (Story continues, next photo) (Picture from August 14, 1995)

~~~

Picture #148

[(I remain haunted by the sights of Tenderloin: tattered buildings with shattered windows inhabited by AIDS-beaten bodies with broken dreams. By 1990, San Francisco was known as the Gay Mecca of the world; by 1995, a quarter of its gay population had expired due to AIDS.) After each meal delivered, I prayed, “Lord, please give some extra miles to my brothers and sisters perishing—but for Grace, I could be one of them. Amen.”] (Letter courtesy of Project Open Hand; picture from August 14, 1995)
— with Ruth Brinker and Lebman Carl