Last month, two members of the Young Professional Council (YPC) and I had the pleasure of hand delivering meals to Project Open Hand clients.
The walking route consisted of ten stops in the Tenderloin neighborhood and was well planned out. Every client greeted us with a smile and showered us with compliments. It was very clear how grateful they were for the delivery. Whether it was the heartfelt gratitude from the clients or the fulfillment one gets from volunteering, maybe a mixture of both, all three of us had smiles on our faces throughout the entire route.
The only hitch we ran into was a tricky elevator that took us up and down seven floors three times in a row while we tried to figure out how to stop it on the right floor. Everyone in the building, including us was laughing about our elevator incident.
Thirty years ago, Ruth Brinker started Project Open Hand by hand delivering meals to homebound AIDS patients who were too ill to cook or shop. I could not help but think, “Am I walking one of the same routes Ruth walked?” The entire experience felt closely tied to the roots of Project Open Hand.
I’ll certainly volunteer for a walking route again and I’d highly recommend it as a volunteer experience.
Get involved and learn more about volunteering with Project Open Hand.