WEST WARWICK – Every week, hundreds of people from Rhode Island and beyond visit the building on 15 Factory Street to stock up on groceries for just a small donation, no questions asked.
When she founded Project Hand Up, Coreen St. Jean is on a mission to ensure that no member of society has to choose between eating food and paying bills. Now, five and a half years later, Saint Jean is hoping that by purchasing the building in which it is located, the nonprofit can help more families in need.
A fundraising event at Sweatshop Fitness this weekend will help her achieve that goal.
“Let’s help a great organization buy a building and serve more people in the community,” Heidi Odette, owner of Sweatshop Fitness, said of the Spring Craft and Vendor Fair scheduled for Sunday. “It must be a really fun time.”
Founded in 2017 in a small store on Brookside Street, Project Hand Up moved in January of 2020 to a much larger building on Factory Street, half a mile from its original location. The nonprofit has operated out of the building’s 9,000-square-foot warehouse ever since, filling the space with a wide variety of food and other items that are regularly donated by places like the Ocean State Job Lot, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and Stop & Shop And Roch’s is fresh food.
With this move, Project Hand Up’s ability to serve the community grew exponentially — and at just the right time, because when the pandemic struck two months later, the number of families needing the kind of help the organization offers rose exponentially.
These days Project Hand Up serves between 450 and 500 families each week. For just $6, these families get $200 worth of groceries, everything from fresh produce and canned goods to toiletries and detergent.
As it currently uses the parking lot at West Warwick Civic Center, Project Hand Up will not be able to open until 3pm, but if it owns the building, the organization can expand its parking and will no longer need a street parking with It continues, at least for now, to deliver groceries to sidewalk shoppers.
“We could open more hours if we bought this building,” Saint Jean said of the organization, which is currently only open five and a half hours a week.
The building also needs more cooling units, and more electrical capacity to support them.
“Then we can have more food, because we will have more cooling,” said Saint-Jeanne. “We can definitely help more people, as we can eat more food to give them.”
However, Saint Jean warns against putting all that money into a building owned by someone else.
The organization obtained pre-approval for a mortgage loan and is now in the process of obtaining the necessary inspections. St. Jane said she expects the building to close within two months.
Mortgage payments will result in project handover of approximately $5,000 per month, compared to the $3,000 he currently pays each month to rent the place. St. Jane said fundraising, such as the one happening at Sweatshop Fitness this weekend, will help offset that cost.
Before the pandemic, Sweatshop Fitness hosted two fundraising events for Project Hand Up each year — Audet, who serves on its board, said she is a firm believer in the work the nonprofit does.
This will be the first major fundraiser the Coventry Fitness Center has been able to host since prior to March 2020.
Sunday’s event will feature over 35 vendors selling everything from Pampered Chef products to locally made crafts. Prizes will be drawn from each vendor, and the grand prize will be valued at over $1,000.
Kiki.FM will be streaming live, and food will be served.
In addition to raising money for Project Hand Up, Audet said she hopes the event will raise awareness of the organization and the role it plays in the community.
“People don’t realize how important this program is,” she said. “I’m just sticking around for anything we can do to make it easier for the community to have this nutritional supplement program.”
Audet said the Craft and Vendor Fair is an opportunity for those looking to give back to learn more about Project Hand Up and the important work it does. She said it’s a free, family-friendly event, and a great opportunity to support small local businesses.
She added, “It’s a way of bringing the community together, and I feel like there’s never been enough of that.”
The Spring Craft and Vendor Fair will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Sunday, May 15, at 81 Sandy Bottom Road, Coventry.
