Open Heart Adds New Board Members

A message from Open Heart:

Open Heart Kitchen (OHK), the only hot meal program in the Tri-Valley area, has announced that Gary Harrington and Justin Gagnon have joined its Board of Directors.

“We are very honored to welcome both Gary Harrington and Justin Gagnon to the Open Heart Kitchen board,” said board President Ted Monk. “Both bring an enormous amount of business acumen and compassion for others to the position, and will make an enormous difference in our goal to feed the hungry of the Tri-Valley.”

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Local Pleasanton philanthropist Gary Harrington is known for his deep interest in public art in the region. He, along with Nancy, his wife of 45 years, purchased and donated many of Pleasanton’s impressive public art collection. For the past three years, the Harrington’s have been conducting a series of popular monthly public art walks in Pleasanton. Gary is retired from more than three decades as an educator in the public school system. He has both Bachelors (California State University, Northridge) and Masters degrees in Economics (University of California, Riverside), and a Masters degree in School Administration and Supervision from California State University, East Bay.

Also joining the OHK board is Justin Gagnon of Danville, an entrepreneur and CEO of Choicelunch, a San Ramon based healthy school lunch company serving 300 schools throughout California. Justin was named the “Most Admired CEO” by the San Francisco Business Times in 2011, and was a semi-finalist for the Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” awards from 2012-2014. In 2011, he participated in a White House Business Council forum discussion on job creation in the United States with senior administration officials. He has a degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Notre Dame.

Open Heart Kitchen feeds the hungry every weekday as an interfaith effort, and serves more than 260,000 meals annually. There is no qualifying process to receive meals. Meals can be eaten at OHK’s multiple serving sites, or taken to go. OHK works in cooperation with the Alameda County Community Food Bank, more than a dozen local food pantries, and various Tri-Valley non-profits with missions to promote nutrition and hunger relief.

About Open Heart Kitchen

Open Heart Kitchen is the only hot meal program of its kind in the Tri-Valley area. The program feeds the hungry at five locations in Pleasanton, Livermore and Dublin, ALL ARE WELCOME. In addition, Open Heart Kitchen provides the low-income seniors of the Tri-Valley area a senior meal program at the Ridgeview Commons Senior Center, 5200 Case Avenue in Pleasanton. Hours are 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. each Monday through Friday.

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