Compassion in Action Highlights Project Open Hand's 20 Years of Service
SAN FRANCISCO - Project Open Hand, the first organization in the U.S. to provide home-delivered meals to people with AIDS, marks its 20-year anniversary with an exhibit and photography display at the San Francisco Public Library starting December 1, World AIDS Day.
Titled Compassion in Action, the display features a selection of photos, memorabilia, media clippings and other items documenting Project Open Hand's history of providing nutrition to people with AIDS during the height of the epidemic in San Francisco. These items highlight San Francisco's early grassroots efforts to care for people with AIDS, which led to lasting changes in the way community services are provided.
As part of its 20-year anniversary commemorations, Project Open Hand also engaged in an oral history project, conducting over 60 interviews with clients, staff, volunteers and community supporters, to capture memories of San Francisco in the early days of AIDS. A selection of video clips from the oral history will be available for viewing at the Hormel Center exhibit.
"After 20 years serving meals to the homebound in San Francisco, we have a lot of memorabilia, including colorful fundraising posters, banners and t-shirts," says Judy Frankel of Project Open Hand. "But the exhibit also includes client obituaries and memorial fliers. Twenty years ago, San Francisco was a very different place because of AIDS, and we want to remind people of the tremendous changes brought about by a community that cared."
Founded by retired San Francisco grandmother Ruth Brinker in 1985 to provide meals for people homebound with AIDS, Project Open Hand has since served over 9 million meals to people living with HIV/AIDS, the homebound critically ill, and to seniors. The agency serves Alameda County as well as San Francisco, and is a model for over 100 nutritional organizations throughout the U.S. and the world.
The Compassion in Action exhibit will be on display at the James C. Hormel Center, on the 3rd floor of the public library's Main Branch at 1000 Larkin Street. The display will be shown from December 1, 2005 through February 2, 2006. More information about the exhibit is available at http://www.sfpl.org/news/exhibitions.htm.
