Press Release
For Immediate Release
January 27, 2015
Contact:
Joanne Hall
(925) 426-7822
jomamahall@comcast.net
Open Heart Kitchen Welcomes Two New Members
to Board of Directors
Livermore, CA----Open Heart Kitchen (OHK), the only hot meal program in the Tri-Valley area,
is pleased to announce 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.”
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 20122014. 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.
###