I would like to start this post off by saying that I am fairly confident that I have the best LVC placement this year! Open Arms really feels like the perfect fit for me. Just to give you a better idea of my job I will explain what Open Arms is all about and what I do as the Client Services Assistant.
Open Arms was founded in 1986 by a man who believed that his friends living with HIV/AIDS should not go hungry. He cooked lots of meals in his own kitchen to deliver each week to ensure that they had adequate nutrition to help fight their disease. Since that time, his kitchen expanded into a meal delivery service that delivers 400,000 meals a year to people living in the Twin Cities area with serious illnesses including HIV/AIDS, cancer, MS and Lou Gehrig's Disease. Open Arms is highly respected in the health world, as many health care professionals and case managers have noticed the difference that these nutritious meals have on their patients battling lifelong illnesses. What I appreciate so much, is that this place operates on a model of abundance rather than scarcity. Simply put, there is always enough to go around-we just have to distribute the food in the right way. Meals are tailored to meet the needs of each client, so it is really impressive to watch the kitchen staff prepare thousands of meals and organize them for the correct clients.
Some fun statistics I have learned about Open Arms this week:
- We cook, package and deliver about 8500 meals each week
- On any given day about 1870 meals are delivered to 170 people all over the Twin Cities area
- Our kitchen is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to get all the food ready!
- Around 350 volunteers come through our doors each week to make this process possible-- we are completely dependent on their work here!
- Open Farms is our new organic farm that we began this year--bringing in almost 2000 pounds of fresh produce each week during the summer and fall-- I spent last Thursday afternoon at the farm helping harvest and bring back 1000 pounds of cucumbers and squash for the week.
My job at Open Arms is in the Client Services department, where we are the interface between the work the volunteers do and making sure those meals get to the right people. I spend my afternoons on the phone chatting with different clients and visit some while on delivery routes a few days a week.
Here is a typical work day for me:
7:30am Bike from my house down to Open Arms
8-10:30am
- Print the days food labels and delivery route sheets, highlighting meal plans (i.e. Pink diet is for breast cancer patients and has organic and more mild meals. Anyone with this meal is highlighted pink)
- Pack birthday cards and cakes to clients with birthdays that week
- Distribute Ensure beverages and Nausea care packages for people undergoing treatment
- assist in the pack out process to get each clients frozen entrees, grocery bag and milk into the correct bag while paying careful attention to dietary needs
10:30-1 Take out a Delivery Route to deliver meals to 5-8 clients
1pm (or often later) Eat staff lunch prepared by our fantastic chefs!
2-5pm Take client phone calls, work on fun projects (organizing birthday cards, and doing lots of things relating to spreadsheets, help with meal prep in the kitchen as needed...
In these first couple of weeks, I have spent a lot of my time just shadowing various parts of the organization to better understand how this place operates as a whole. I have loved helping out as needed in the kitchen and getting to know some of the regular volunteers. For example, on Friday mornings, there is a group of men who come in to help pack out the food, who have been volunteering for 13 years! I keep thinking, Open Arms must be doing something right for so many people to come back and volunteer every week for years.
If any of you get the chance to visit me this year, I will take you to work with me and you can volunteer with me!
