'Let's go back to the brutally hot summer of 1988 when the steering committee of the NAMES Project was hosting the historic display
of the [AIDS] quilt at the old Navy Pier,' recalls 52-year-old Chicago native Lori Cannon about the conception of what was originally
known as Open Hand Chicago, an organization that would go on to serve more than three million meals to Chicagoans living with
AIDS. Vital Bridges is the new name for Open Hand and the two suburban AIDS agencies it merged with last year.
'After nine months of planning, the display came that very hot weekend in July and I think that following the success of that, and I
speak for the committee—many of them have since died and others have moved on to other chapters in their lives—we all looked at
each other and it seemed like we were experiencing post-partum blues.
'We had worked well as a group there was very little ego. As caregivers, we knew that we were loyal and devoted to our friends
but there were many people in the city of Chicago that didn't have that good fortune; they lived in isolation; they lived in shame and
the stigma that was unfairly imposed upon them. We all started bringing to the meeting what we felt we could do, which would be a
meals-on-wheels similar to what seniors had been receiving for the longest but these meals would be for people living with AIDS.'
One would not think that 15 years had gone by—since almost every recollection is so very present in Cannon's memory banks:
'Some people had a background in social work, in food services and in my case, I was a school bus driver and I knew routing. And by
the courtesy and generosity of Tom Tunney [now alderman in the 44th Ward], we had the kitchen at Ann Sather's restaurant on
Belmont.'
In that incredible five months between August of 1988 and Christmas Eve of 1988, Cannon and other volunteers were able to
create what would become a model for other cities. Cannon still serves meals whether it is through delivery or managing one of six
grocery centers located throughout the Chicagloand area.
Here she shares why she was drawn to help people living with AIDS, why she still gives more than 100 percent, and the
importance of volunteers.
WCT: How did you decide who would receive meals?
LC: Back then we had decided since our first delivery would be on a symbolic holiday and for many this would be their last
Christmas. We reached out to social workers and case managers at various AIDS units of hospitals through out the city and we asked
them to recommend their most needy clients (men, women, infants), and the first evening included 35 clients spread out between
Rogers Park, Lakeview, Albany Park, Humboldt Park and the South Side, which spanned from Hyde Park all the way to 137th Street.
WCT: When people think of organizations serving people with AIDS, back then I am sure that the majority were gay white males.
Has that changed given the spread of AIDS to different groups?
LC: From the very beginning, the services were extended to a rather diverse crowd. True the biggest routes were the Wrigleyville,
New Town and Lakeview areas. We have always served all races, families, and transgendered. But in the beginning, yes, and I
would say that was probably true of most of the organizations. And it is also important to note that every single AIDS organization in
Chicago has been started by the gay community and that these tireless visionaries fought with their dying breath.
WCT: The spread of AIDS has grown tremendously in the African American community. Do you all service the West Side?
LC: We have always served the West Side, that would include Wicker Park, Humboldt Park, and Austin. There are some programs
coming that way because it is an undeserved population in the city and it is not as easy to get people to be tested as it is on the North
Side. Hopefully that will change. Recently with the new merger, we have expanded grocery service to Oak Park and the deliveries of
meals to the western suburbs.
WCT: Tell me about the merger.
LC: We have recently gone through a merger and that was necessary given the nature of the government dollar these days. We
are hopeful that the expanded services will reach more people. However, the name might have changed but one thing has remained
constant and that is the delivery of meals and providing groceries—that has been constant.
WCT: What is a typical meal?
LC: Our meals are a main course, two side dishes. The box lunch consists of a nice sandwich or a salad, fresh fruit, dessert. Well
we have nutritionists and dieticians who consult with the caseworkers about what clients' sensitivities or restrictions are for diabetics
or people who have high blood pressure and need a low-sodium meal. However, the majority of the people we serve are taking
advantage of our grocery centers, which started popping up nine years ago. They are full-service grocery centers with state-of-the-art
refrigeration, all manned by volunteers starting with the unloading of the trucks, the stocking of the shelves, the filling of the orders
and everything is self-selection.
WCT: So more clients are able to shop for themselves and prepare their meals. Is that due in part to the advancements made in
AIDS research?
LC: Yes. We were once delivering meals to bed-ridden and homebound clients, but with the advancement of treatments many of
our clients are healthy enough to use the grocery centers. We give them a list of the food categories of the fresh fruits and vegetables,
the frozen meats. It is a very cheerful and pretty place, you know it is decorated colorfully. We don't look anything like a government
program, that is for sure, and we have taken great pains to come up with whimsical art.
WCT: So how does a person qualify to use your services?
LC: Our referrals come from case mangers, physicians or social workers and I have to say that in 15 years, we have never had a
waiting list and that is to our credit. I do not know how many agencies can claim that if someone is in need and we hear about it that
person can get service that same day.
WCT: Where are your grocery centers ?
LC: I'm at 5543 N. Broadway. Then there is Humboldt Park, Elk Grove Village, Oak Park, 75th Street on the South Side and one
just opened in Harvey. We are very proud, no other city in America has a network of grocery centers.
WCT: What drew you to volunteer and later work for an organization serving people with AIDS? Why not some other cause like
breast cancer?
LC: My life was transformed by the first AIDS death of a contemporary in 1983. I don't think that it had a name back then. He was a
close friend and this very mysterious and fatal virus was creeping into my inner circle, people were suffering, and we didn't know what
it was. The medical community didn't care enough to find out what it was and slowly as information started leaking out, we knew that
we were in the middle of something very frightening and that our lives would never be the same again.
WCT: So you lived through what writer Larry Kramer wrote on?
LC: Exactly. Here in Chicago there were a lot of Lori Cannons out there experiencing the same thing. These young athletic
people ended up dying like old men and no one could tell us what was happening. ... If people want to reflect back to the obituary
pages of gay newspapers, it was pages and pages of names of people around my age. And aside from the suddenness and severity,
you feel even more rage when you know that people were allowed to die. ... It was a disposable population. Who the hell cared if a
few faggots or junkies died? In Chicago, we cared.
WCT: Who are some of the more memorable clients and volunteers?
LC: I would say the most memorable people to me … the unsung heroes of the war would be the volunteers. Each volunteer
brings a magic to what they do. It is something very basic about breaking bread with someone and you bond with them and these
volunteers connect with clients maybe differently than other volunteers doing other things. Like you are entering someone's home
and someone is in their nightgown or pajamas; it is very intimate and you don't know what preceded you.
I am happy to say that the people that I know represent the finest of humanity and compassion and to say thank you hardly seems
enough. I salute them; they come in from their jobs and years ago we had routes that took hours and hours and everyone made that
supreme effort to make sure that everyone got fed through the blizzards, downpours, heat waves, no one missed out. There was a
volunteer who was a Friday regular and every Friday he was there and that following Saturday, I ran into his roommate at the Brown
Elephant. He said well Lori, you'll be happy to know that your volunteer finally filled out all of the paperwork at the police station. And I
said what paperwork? And he told me that his car had been stolen and that he had rented a car to do the route. He was so selfless he
wanted to put the route first and he never told me.
WCT: Do you remember delivering your first meal? What was that like?
LC: Oh yes. It was Christmas Eve; I was in a powder-blue pickup with my driver. We were so eager. I took the South Side route
because I knew the area very well or so I thought [laughs] and that is when I got into trouble. We have hot meals, some gifts and some
groceries and my first client lives on 73rd Place, not 73rd Street but 73rd Place and I knew that I would find it but I didn't right away
and no matter which way I turned there was Minister Louis Farrakhan's Masque. Finally, my driver wanted me to call but I didn't want
to bother the client and I finally found it.
And I met this man with a beautiful face and he was so kind and in the future he asked me if I minded delivering his meals to
someplace else, a drag bar, because he wanted to start a support group and in time he became a leading South Side AIDS activist.
Many people were in the closet and it was the old 411 bar on 63rd Street. This client passed away about two and a half years ago.
WCT: What was the saddest experience?
LC: We delivered a meal to a drag queen on the South Side and he had begun to die and we waited with him for the ambulance.
He told us about his life and he was so peaceful that my partner who is a playwright decided to write a character about him. He
wanted me to give the meal to someone else because he said that he would not be needing it.
WCT: You mentioned that you have volunteers who have been around since the inception of the organization. Why do you think
volunteers stick around so long?
LC: They must get the payback they want and they are committed to a mission to serve with dignity and compassion food to
people who are struggling. They are removing one burden from the day-to-day life of people who are struggling.
WCT: How has your role changed?
LC: Well like everyone, I was a volunteer and I had a day job. Now I am on staff. I get to work with very fine people at the grocery
centers. I just want to feed people.