November 28, 2003 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 17

Delivering a little bit of healing, one meal at a time

by Kaizaad Kotwal

In the pantry of Project Open Hand there is a colorful wall mural, painted by students of Upper Arlington High School, of a spoon gradually morphing into an AIDS ribbon. That image aptly describes this unique organization.

Project Open Hand serves the nutritional needs of patients living with HIV and AIDS KAIZAAD KOTWAL

Both Polakowski and Weltlin refer to Project Open Hand as a "very grass roots organization" that also tries to provide education, especially with the recent outbreak of syphilis in the Columbus community. Many volunteers come from Ohio State University and groups like the Columbus AIDS Task Force and the Ohio AIDS Coalition.

Polakowski believes that the biggest challenges facing the organization have to do with "the resurgence of

OAC executive director David Polakowski; service coordinator Sarah Goetz and nutritional coordinator Laurie Weltlin.

in Franklin County. It is the only organization of its type in Columbus, according to Executive Director David Polakowski and Laurie Weltlin, the nutritional coordinator for the organization.

Last year Project Open Hand served about 305 individuals, but this year they had already exceeded that number by October. Like many other non-profits serving the HIV and AIDS communities, Project Open Hand has also seen a cutback in funding.

Project Open Hand prepares all its meals in the basement of the Summit United Methodist Church on East 16th Ave.

"We are here," Polakowski said, "because the church is incredibly generous to us and it helps us to keep our overhead down."

Volunteers cook meals on Tuesday and Thursdays, which are then frozen, and these meals are then delivered on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays.

Project Open Hand usually serves people between the ages of 38 and 50, with about 80 percent being male. Forty-seven percent of those served by Project Open Hand are black and three percent are Hispanic.

In addition to delivering meals, Project Open Hand also provides nutritional and other counseling to its clients. Weltlin said that she deals with issues like, "food safety, kitchen hygiene as well as food interactions with certain meds that are common to HIV and AIDS patients."

Poverty always compounds poor nutrition and Weltlin said that these conditions mean that the people have to take even more pills than they are taking currently.

the virus, a lack of education on HIV and AIDS in the community, and the lack of funds."

In addition, both Polakowski and Weltlin believe that Project Open Hand is simply not well enough known in Columbus and they "are not serving everyone we could be catering to, especially the Hispanic and African-American

communities."

Weltlin said she also deals with people who have been isolated. "For example," she said, "I have had clients come to me and say that they weren't allowed to hold their grandchild or that

some relative said, 'You're not gonna ride in my car'."

Project Open Hand also sees many people for whom AIDS is secondary to mental health and addiction issues. Here Weltlin has a network of counselors she can refer people to and she also helps out with things like dental care, overall health and putting these clients in the hands of good medical teams.

In Columbus, one of the most recent issues to confront Project Open Hand is the emerging population of immigrants-some illegal-who are also battling HIV. Here not only are nutritional concerns different, but the idea of people unwilling to seek help because they may be caught by officials is a huge burden as well.

Project Open Hand hopes to expand its services in the coming years and Polakowski and Weltlin are both excited about upcoming projects and fund-raising opportunities that will enable them to reach out to more clients, especially important for them because people are living longer with the disease and resources are getting harder to come by.

Project Open Hand has been around for nine years and many of their volunteers, especially the drivers, have been there for seven years. Polakowski and Weltlin know full well that without their “amazing volunteers" and without the support of the community, Project Open Hand would not exist.

To volunteer, donate money, drop off supplies (canned goods, paper products) or for more information on Project Open Hand, call 614-298-8334 or email at pohc@aol.com. Their web site is www.projectopenhandcolumbus.org.

remember.

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