January 2025 Newsletter

Matt Taylor had a vision. Inspired by Project OpenHand organizations on the East and West coasts offering nutritional support to people with HIV/AIDS, he wanted to bring a similar service to Columbus that would address the nutritional needs of men, women, and children living with HIV/AIDS.

Taylor, a popular floor manager at COSI, was living with the disease himself and knew firsthand how important proper nutrition was. Malnutrition and wasting syndrome were common with HIV/AIDS and in the days before antiretroviral medications were readily available, proper nutrition was the only way to fight the disease. After spending time volunteering in Project OpenHand kitchens in San Francisco and New York, Matt established Project Open-Hand Columbus in 1994. His first 10 meals were delivered to patients at the Pater Noster House, an AIDS hospice on Broad Street.

Project OpenHand – Columbus became a LifeCare Alliance program in December of 2004, representing one of the earliest mergers of nonprofit organizations in Central Ohio. The merger allowed us to offer more services, including one-on-one nutrition counseling and customized Walmart food deliveries to meet the nutritional and dietary needs of those living with HIV/AIDS.

We currently serve about 400 clients, 111 of which receive frozen home delivered meals. Most of our clients utilize our Walmart delivery program, a partnership with Columbus Public Health and the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. Our registered dieticians create customized grocery orders, which are delivered on a monthly basis to clients of Project OpenHand—Columbus.  From September 2023 to September 2024, we completed 1,413 orders, which equates to nearly 71,000 meals.

Thanks to your continued generosity and support, the legacy of Matt Taylor lives on. From the initial 10 clients in 1994 to the hundreds we serve today, our goal has remained the same – to meet the nutritional needs of men, women, and children living with HIV/AIDS in Central Ohio.