Open Hands, Open Heart

Friday, December 28th, 2012
We were ready bright and early for our first day on the job at Project Open Hand, a non-profit that cooks, packages and delivers planned balanced meals for the elderly, non-mobile and or dietarily restricted people of Atlanta and the greater metro area.

I guzzled down some perfect mate as we passed by the city and I noticed some landmarks already, like Williams St., home of [adult swim] and Cartoon Network; The Varsity, a hoppin' world-famous hot dog and burger; Coca Cola and CNN. Not to mention the various Olympic remnants from when the city hosted the 1996 Olympics. I liked what I was seeing already.

We arrived to the warm, welcoming crew at Project Open Hand and got a rundown of the organization. But before our orientation started, we were greeted by Gregory, the ultimate riddle master. I can't quote verbatim his riddles, nor his mode of speech delivering them, but needless to say it puts everybody in a good mood when you are immediately acknowledged by a theatrical man with maybe the biggest grin I've ever seen.

I don't wanna brag, but I guessed 2 out of the 3 riddles...thanks, mate!

But back to our orientation...Started in 1988, POH was originally founded by a man who wanted to help feed his increasingly ill, malnourished and immobile friends afflicted by HIV/AIDS. The project stuck and kept growing. By 2012, it had served 20,000,000 meals, averaging 2 million per year once it hit its stride. It has a weekly grocery bill of $70,000 with meals averaging $6 per meal, providing 500-600 well balanced calories. To prepare those meals, they rely on a massive volunteer force every day of every week. With over 100 daily volunteers, POH delivers to thousands of people.

As I mentioned, POH provides meals for those who aren't able to provide food for themselves due to combinations of poverty, health issues and mobility problems. It is a concerted labor of love. In order to make it happen, it takes lots of volunteers and lots of organization with almost every aspect planned out perfectly. With that much going on, it has to be. Fewer organizations have impressed me with their coordination. I was already excited before we'd begun.

With our training portion complete, we were ready for the kitchen and we got right to it on meal packaging. This is a major assembly line production. POH has specific containers which are separated one by one and passed to the first course scoopers. POH has about 50 approved meals in a rotation, so your meal could be as something as simple as spaghetti or a little more complex like chicken with a special rub or marinade. This is then passed to the second set of scoopers who put in a filling side like rice which is topped off by a side of veggies or beans perhaps. It sounds boring, and at times the repetitive motion of the scooper makes you feel like you're going to get carpal tunnel syndrome, but chatting amongst ourselves and with other random volunteers makes time go by fast and next thing you know, you've scooped 6 tubs of rice. At the end of the line, the containers are quickly sealed with plastic and labeled, nutrition facts and all. From there, they are organized onto flats.

After this organization process they are organized into delivery units, with each unit packaged with 1-4 meals and cookies and or bread. And guess who puts those 1-4 meals and goodies into the delivery bags!? Once again, an assembly line makes this a quick and easy feat. At least 500 meals passed through our hands. And that's the minimum...

The day's activities were monotonous, but the day itself was much more dynamic because we got to meet the bubbly POH crew and get started on our service. I didn't really know what to expect, so I didn't expect much but even had I had high expectations they would have been exceeded.

For one of the first times ever, I walked into something completely new with people I didn't know very well in a different environment and embraced it completely with a positive attitude. Perhaps this is what it feels like to be a sunflower. Hello, new you.