Ruth Brinker, founder of Project Open Hand, died August 8, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. She was 89. Project Open Hand is one of the first organizations to support gay men with HIV/AIDS. Brinker established the San Francisco charity in the early 1980s by asking locals and vendors to contribute money and food toward delivering meals to people with AIDS, many of whom were dying. Today, Project Open Hand serves nearly 2,600 meals a day to people with HIV/AIDS and other diseases, as well as seniors. Her family asks that donations in her memory be made to Project Open Hand. A public service is planned for September 12.

To read the Chronicle article, click here.