SAN FRANCISCO -- On August 30, Mayor Gavin Newsom joined other local officials at a large gathering at Project Open Hand's Grocery Center to celebrate
Executive Director Tom Nolan's 10-year anniversary with the agency. Proclamations by the California State Assembly and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
honoring Nolan's contributions were read at the gathering, which culminated in the mayor declaring September 1, 2004 to be Tom Nolan Day in San Francisco."Tom's someone who's truly defined by his ability to reach out and lift someone up," Newsom said to POH staff, clients, volunteers, board members, and other friends and supporters present at the celebration. The mayor cited a number of Nolan's achievements, and praised his foresight and consistent focus on providing quality services throughout the changing AIDS epidemic.
"I'm proud to be a San Franciscan because of people like Tom," Newsom said.
State Assemblyman Mark Leno and San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty were also present to honor Nolan's accomplishments. Leno paid tribute to Nolan's leadership in expanding the agency's reach beyond the HIV/AIDS community, and his success at building a stable service infrastructure, while Dufty highlighted Nolan's importance to the Bay Area's gay community. "The day Tom came out as an elected official was truly a seismic event," Dufty recalled.
In addition to government officials, others delivered memorable speeches praising Nolan's contributions to POH. "On his first day at POH, Tom told the staff he
personally knew over 150 people who had died of AIDS," said Jim Illig, POH Director of Government Relations, "but he also understood that the new medications
were changing the face of the epidemic." Illig noted that Nolan moved the agency toward helping people live with the disease, and toward consolidating operations
into one San Francisco location.Illig recalled how Nolan led the $7.5-million capital campaign to purchase the building at 730 Polk Street. "Thank goodness Tom doesn't shy away from asking for money!" Illig said. Prior to Nolan's arrival, POH had not engaged in any fundraising of that magnitude.
Also present were Project Open Hand first chef Fernando Castillo and founder Ruth Brinker, whom Nolan himself praised as he accepted his honors. Watching many people in the 1980s dying of wasting and malnutrition, "Ruth knew that all you needed was a big heart and a kitchen," Nolan said of Project Open Hand's beginning.
"There's nothing complicated about what we do," Nolan said, "except that we do it for almost 2,000 people every single day. It takes people of all kinds doing all kinds of stuff every day to make this happen."
"We are all working together, trying to fulfill that one, powerful, compelling vision of meals with love to a person in need."
