Peter and Maria Wenner

Having moved to San Francisco as a small child 53 years ago, world traveler Maria Wenner is always so happy to return home to SF after a trip abroad. As a result of career moves, Peter found his way to California ciruitously from western Maryland, through Baltimore and New York City, and the two have been inseparable from Fog City ever since.

Peter and Maria married in 1995 and have been long advocates of supporting those in need across San Francisco. When Peter first moved to the city, at the height of the AIDS epidemic in 1987, he witnessed firsthand how terrible the circumstances on the ground truly were.

“I saw several of my colleagues afflicted with this terrible disease and not being able to help themselves,” recalls Peter. “I know we are so much closer to getting to a cure, but just thinking about how desperate those times were, I knew I wanted to support organizations doing that kind of work.”

Peter initially connected with Project Open Hand through the ad agency Young & Rubicam, where he worked at the time and which produced POH’s early advertising work in the late 1980s. Maria has been volunteering at multiple organizations for the past 30 years and began volunteering at Project Open Hand in early 2000s and ultimately hired the then-executive chef to cater her retirement party in 2006.

“It’s important to us that we help address the inequality we see and Project Open Hand is one of those organizations helping to fill those gaps,” Maria said. “Wellness you get from having food in your life, the origins with Ruth; we just have such love for the organization and for San Francisco.”

This affection culminated in 2009, when Peter and Maria decided to include Project Open Hand in their estate planning. In joining the Ruth Brinker Legacy Society, Peter and Maria have helped to ensure the longevity of Project Open Hand and that those seeking Meals with Love will always have a seat at our table.

“People who have the means should be looking for ways to fill these gaps; for us it was always a moral obligation,” Maria says of their decision. “It touches so many different areas and was always going to be something we did. We love being able to help others and connect with people in need; we just felt we had to do our part.”