Open Arms of Minnesota
Serving medically taliored meals to those with serious illnesses
by Natalie Pogorelc
Background
Individuals with serious medical conditions face many barriers when trying to obtain healthy nutritious meals for themselves and their families including cost, time, ability, and transportation. Unfortunately, healthy food is more expensive and those who are critically ill are often only able to work a limited amount, if at all due to their conditions. Additionally, patients have to spend large amounts of time visiting the doctors, doing treatments, etc. and they may not have time to grocery shop and cook meals for themselves and their families. Some illnesses cause patients to experience pain and have limited mobility, thus they may be physically unable to prepare meals for themselves. Open Arms helps to alleviate these burdens by providing meals directly to critically ill patients free of charge.
Eating nutritious meals can not only help patients feel better but it can also be essential in managing certain health conditions such as diabetes or heart disease. Some medical conditions require very strict diets that individuals may struggle to cook. Therefore, Open Arms of Minnesota helps fulfill this need so clients can focus on other important things.
About Open Arms
Open Arms of Minnesota is a non-profit organization that started in 1986 and is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Their mission is “To nourish body, mind and soul” (“Open arms”, n.d.) and they do this by cooking and delivering medically tailored meals to individuals with a variety of serious medical conditions including HIV/AIDS, ALS, and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) free of charge. Open Arms also provides meals to caregivers and children of their clients as they are also impacted by their loved ones' illness. There are five different menus clients can choose from depending on their dietary needs including a heart healthy diet, a kidney-friendly diet, and a flavor neutral diet. Currently Open Arms serves over 600,000 meals a year to their 1,100 clients. In order to produce all these meals, Open Arms relies on its over 7,300 volunteers as well as support from their full-time staff including professional chefs, bakers, and dietitians.
About my work
I worked in several different areas at this organization including the kitchen, bakery, and pack-out help, so each day I volunteered was a little bit different. In the kitchen my tasks included chopping vegetables and bagging meals, while in the bakery I would scoop muffin batter and cookie dough as well as package baked goods. During pack-out help, I would assist in putting all the different fresh components of meals into bags which were then delivered to clients later that day. There are also several other roles volunteers at Open Arms of Minnesota can participate in, including delivering meals to clients and working in the gardens to help grow produce during the summer months.
Looking Forward
Before starting at Open Arms I never thought about the barriers some individuals with serious illnesses face in order to obtain healthy meals each week. I applied my knowledge about social determinants of health, which I learned about in my Introduction to International Public Health class, to look at the service Open Arms provides from a new public health perspective. Additionally, volunteering at Open Arms has taught me more about the healing power of food. I had always heard the saying “food is medicine” but until I started at Open Arms I never fully understood it. These meals have a real impact on the lives of their clients and their families. The work of Open Arms helps ensure patients are eating right, but it also relieves stress and brings joy to the clients. I have truly enjoyed volunteering at Open Arms and hope to continue to volunteer here for as long as I stay in the Twin Cities.
References
Open arms of minnesota. Open Arms of Minnesota. (n.d.). Retrieved March 22, 2022, from https://www.openarmsmn.org/
Natalie Pogorelc
Hi, my name is Natalie and I am from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I am a Biology major with minors in Chemistry and Spanish as well as a concentration in Community and Global Health. During my four years at Macalester I have enjoyed playing on both the women’s club hockey and club lacrosse teams. Outside of school I also enjoy cooking, baking, and camping. After Mac, I plan on working as a clinical research coordinator for a few years before applying to either medical school or physician assistant school.
Image Credits:
Photos of Meals for title background : Minnesota Cancer Alliance. (n.d.). Four trays of Open Arms of Minnesota meals containing chicken and broccoli. Minnesota Cancer Alliance . Retrieved March 30, 2022, from https://mncanceralliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/meals-300x201.jpg.
Photo of Open Arms building: Open Arms of Minnesota. (n.d.). The exterior of the Open Arms building in Minneapolis. Open Arms of Minnesota. Retrieved March 30, 2022, from https://i.ytimg.com/vi/r0V0O7SuMsM/maxresdefault.jpg.
Photo of volunteers in Open Arms Kitchen: iSpace Environments . (2016). Volunteers working in the Open Arms kitchen . iSpace Environments . Retrieved March 30, 2022, from https://ispaceenvironments.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/OpenArms_Feature.jpg.