Stepping Up: Elisha Project promises no peanut butter and jelly, no cans, no embarrassment

EAST PROVIDENCE — Even before COVID-19 arrived in Rhode Island, George Ortiz Jr. saw a notable increase in families seeking food assistance from the nonprofit he cofounded, including families with two working parents.

His nonprofit, Elisha Project, started as a ‘food rescue’ operation, taking surplus meals and foods from businesses and restaurants, and serving people in need.

In the year before COVID-19, 500 families a week were receiving its distributions. Its food sources include several universities and about 15 restaurants, Ortiz said.

The unemployment and hard times created by the new coronavirus has expanded his clientele.

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“By the second week of COVID, we were up to 2,000. Now we’re at 4,800,” Ortiz said.

This month, a partnership with PUMA, the athletic wear company, will provide thousands of its families with new backpacks and T-shirts for family members. The relationship started when an executive at PUMA volunteered for the nonprofit, Ortiz said.

He saw an opportunity to give the children, in particular, something they could use, that they would be excited about.

The food distributions from Elisha Project are handled in a particular fashion. Families receive ‘shares’ not handouts. They do not have to provide their financial histories to receive help.

Ortiz remembers what that felt like. He sought help himself, he said, after losing his business. And he remembers that he and his wife and two children were denied help at a pantry, because he had a financial history that indicated he had made good money in prior years.

He founded the nonprofit with his wife, Carrie Lynn, in 2012.

“When we started this, one of the things I said was I’ll never give out peanut butter and jelly,” he said. “We thrive on ‘No cans. And no peanut butter and jelly.’ And never asking how you got to where you are.”

Providence Business News is spotlighting nonprofits, companies and workers stepping up to challenges presented by the spread of the new coronavirus.

Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at macdonald@pbn.com.