Out of the blue, my dad asked me in person if I was doing any cancer walks this Fall. I was startled, because we don’t often talk about my experience with breast cancer that began in 2013. Dad said that if there is a breast cancer walk that I liked, he would walk with me. I didn’t ask him how the idea came up, but figured it may be tied to the marketing associated with breast cancer awareness month.
Given that he loves watching sports on TV, he may have seen the football players with pink helmets, pink socks and pink ribbons during their games.
Dad is a natural storyteller, and told me that at a Sunday service for his church in the East Bay, the pastor had been talking about helping others. The overall message for the congregation: to try and be a person who gives to others. I told him that I am not doing any walks this year. He said, "Well, if there's a charity for cancer that I should give to, I will. Just let me know. I’ll send a check in."
Because I believe in the mission of Project Open Hand (which has offices in both San Francisco and Oakland) and have received help from its sister agency Shanti during my own breast cancer journey, I decided to let dad know about their work. For me, it’s important to feel that a place I am recommending for donations has a mission that I believe in and is fiscally responsible. In the past year, Project Hand served over 900,000 meals with love to neighbors battling critical illness as well as seniors and adults with disabilities facing hunger. In fact, Project Open recently served its 19 millionth meal -- and has never missed a day of serving meals with love since retired food services worker Ruth Brinker founded Project Open Hand in 1985.
This time of year is when many non-profits launch their end-of-year campaigns asking for donations. With the holidays around the corner, some folks are able to send a financial gift via check or online donations at https://www.openhand.org/donate.
This week is particuarly timely, as between now and December 31, all gifts made to Project Open Hand will be DOUBLED - matched dollar for dollar - up to $142,500.
Personally, I am sometimes able to donate up to $200 to places that hold a special place in my heart and brain. One non-profit that I do freelance work for has a lean staff of 9 employees. Each December, the relatives and friends of the office manager send in checks in her honor—something she asked them to do instead of buying her holiday gifts. By giving, they support her work and the work of the non-profit—allowing the non-profit to keep its doors open.
My family, including my husband Oscar, and son, Cipriano, feel lucky to be able to give back to Bay Area nonprofits when we can.
My dad does not use his laptop to send money or pay bills, so I knew that the best approach would be to share Project Open Hand’s mailing address with him (730 Polk Street, San Francisco, CA 94109).
It made me happy to know that he was going to write my name on the check. I can imagine that his donation potentially helps those who need it and allows Project Open Hand to keep doing good work.
Mary Ladd’s writing has appeared in Playboy, Time Magazine, KQED, & San Francisco Weekly. She is currently working on The Wig Report, a hilarious book project with an insiders take on catastrophic illness. Mary went through 22 rounds of chemo, 7 surgeries, 8 infections, 49 blood tests, and completely lost her hair, eyebrows, and 30 pounds… but gained 4 wigs and many fashion finds in the process.