The FruitGuys

Project Open Hand provides food and nourishment to improve the quality of life for the men, women and children it serves. Project Open Hand programs include: meal, grocery and nutrition counseling for people with symptomatic HIV and AIDS; congregate lunch and nutrition education for people over 60 years of age; and meal service for home bound and critically ill people under the age of 60.

YEAH! (Youth Engagement, Advocacy and Housing) is a professionally-directed and volunteer-powered program that provides seasonal shelter for homeless youth in Berkeley. YEAH! provides basic necessities to young adults (18-25) such as food and shelter, and also offers case management and counseling, linkages to education, employment and housing, and opportunities for meaningful community involvement.

Founded in 1981, Family House is a non-profit organization providing temporary housing to families of seriously ill children receiving treatment at the University of California San Francisco Benioff Children's Hospital. Qualifying families live more than 50 miles from UCSF, and many live at or below the low-income status as determined by UCSF. Their two locations sustain nearly a 100% occupancy rate and can accommodate 107 people per night. Over the course of a year they serve more than 2,000 families.

George Mark Children’s House is a nonprofit organization that provides the gift of time to children with life-limiting illnesses and their families – time for kids to be just kids and parents to be “mom” and “dad”, instead of round-the-clock caregivers. As the first— and, currently, only—freestanding residential pediatric palliative care facility in the United States, they offer a unique alternative to hospice, hospital, or home care. The George Mark Children’s House is setting a new standard for pediatric palliative care, providing high-quality medical care to children with life-limiting illnesses and much-needed support services to their parents and siblings in a home-like setting.

The year 2011 marks The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank's 38th year of service to the residents of Los Angeles County. Over the years, the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank has grown in size, service and scope. Today the Food Bank provides food for nearly 900 member agency sites including abused and abandoned children homes, battered women shelters, senior centers, local food pantries, soup kitchens, AIDS hospices and more. In 2010, volunteers, financial supporters, product donors, and agency networks made it possible to distribute 62 million pounds of food for the hungry in Los Angeles county.

Philabundance was created in 1984 with the simple belief that no man, woman or child should go hungry. Their growth and eventual integration with the Philadelphia Food Bank in 2005 has made Philabundance the region’s largest hunger relief organization. They are now able to address hunger through direct service programs and a network of 500 member agencies, as well as contribute to a broad spectrum of social services through food cupboards, emergency kitchens, shelters, daycare and senior centers and beyond.

Since its founding, as a part-time domestic violence hotline in a neighborhood women's center, Women Against Abuse, Inc. (WAA) has been the only comprehensive program in Philadelphia whose sole purpose is to assist victims of domestic violence and their children. In 2010, WAA served 10,406 individuals. The mission of WAA is to provide quality and compassionate services, in a manner that fosters self-respect and independence in persons who have been victimized by domestic violence.

SHARE, Self Help and Resource Exchange, empowers people to make a positive difference in their lives and those of their neighbors by linking individuals and community resources. People can purchase food packages in exchange for volunteering their time with community service.  SHARE is open to everyone – there are no restrictions!  SHARE works because of its high level of participation, its devoted volunteers, and its dedicated host sites.  Helping others is always an important outreach, but it becomes especially crucial at holiday time, when there are so many families that might go without food.

Established in 1990, the SHARE, Self Help and Resource Exchange, Food Network provides approximately 13,500 food packages each month. People can purchase food packages in exchange for volunteering their time with community service. By combining buying power and volunteerism, SHARE is able to offer quality foods and substantial savings to its participants.

The Jackie Robinson Senior Center is located in Harlem, New York and provides meal services to senior members of the community. They serve breakfast and lunch to local senior citizens, providing over 1000 meals per week.  In addition to food services, they also offer information and assistance with accessing healthcare and food stamps services for the elderly. The center also offers recreational activities.

The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) is the largest hunger-relief organization in New England and among the largest food banks in the country. Last year, GBFB distributed almost 35 million pounds of food, enough to provide healthy meals to as many as 545,000 people at risk of hunger. GBFB works to acquire, store, organize and distribute food through local food pantries, community meal programs, homeless and residential shelters, youth programs, senior centers, and day-care centers embedded in communities throughout the nine counties of eastern Massachusetts.

The Greater Chicago Food Depository, Chicago’s food bank, is a nonprofit food distribution and training center providing food for hungry people while striving to end hunger in their community. The Food Depository distributes donated and purchased food through a network of 600 food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters to 500,000 adults and children every year. Last year, the Food Depository distributed more than 46 million pounds of nonperishable food and fresh produce, dairy products and meat, the equivalent of more than 95,000 meals every day. Innovative training programs and initiatives developed by the Food Depository also work to provide men, women and children with the tools necessary to break their individual cycles of poverty.

Launch out Into the Deep Christian Center is located in Chicago and run by Pastor William Gibson and his wife Annie. They run a weekly food pantry where they serve all needy families in the community and anyone else who is referred to them until their supplies are exhausted. They receive donations, and provide some financial assistance from collections at their church each week. Pastor Gibson has found that even a little help can bring encouragement to impoverish families, especially during the holidays. In addition to food and financial services, they also provide a safe haven for inner city youth after school.

Founded in 1964, UMOM is the largest homeless shelter for families in Arizona, UMOM New Day Centers has been dedicated to helping homeless families in need of life’s basic necessities. The face of homelessness in Phoenix has changed throughout the decades, and UMOM has risen to the challenge of providing food, clothing and shelter to those in need since its inception. More importantly, UMOM provides families facing homelessness with the tools to succeed in moving forward, building a bridge to self-sufficiency.