About Open Hands
How Open Hands started
With a pickup truck in 1998. Here’s the rest, how we work and who leads us.
Our story
It started with a pickup truck
In 1998, a tornado flattened half of a small town forty minutes from Pastor Ray’s church. He filled his pickup with bottled water and blankets and drove over. The next day eleven people from his church came with him, and by the end of the week so had four other churches.
We now respond to disasters on four continents, but it still starts the way it did with Ray: a church shows up quickly with what people need, prays with them, and stays until the local churches can carry on.
What guides us
How we work
01
Respond fast
The first 72 hours matter most.
02
Serve everyone
Help is never conditional, on faith or anything else.
03
Work with churches
Local churches stay long after we leave.
04
Dignity first
We ask families what they need before we hand anything out.
05
Rebuild
Relief is the first week. Recovery takes years, so we stay.
06
Careful with money
Every dollar is accounted for.
89%
of every dollar goes straight to programs
Financial integrity
Where your gift goes
We are audited every year and accredited by an independent charity council.
Read our annual reportLeadership
Leadership
Responders, nurses, builders and pastors.
Frank
President
Maria
Operations
Ade
Field Director
Lena
Medical
Tom
Volunteers
Rosa
Church Partnerships
Ian
Logistics
Kim
Finance
Help us be ready
A gift to the emergency fund lets us send teams before the next disaster makes the news.