New organization gives back to the RGV

Sol Garcia | THE RIDER

Criminal justice graduate student Hannah Orendain has founded an organization called RGV Gives Back, which serves the community by providing food to essential, frontline workers and other community members. 

“RGV Gives Back’s mission is to spread hope and positivity within the RGV,” said Orendain, president and treasurer of the organization, which is in its sixth week. “We aim to give back to the frontline workers, essential workers, neighbors, families, friends, strangers, all within the RGV.” 

The organization, which is run by Orendain and her mother, Lillian Orendain, accepts donations to purchase the food from noon every Saturday to 3 p.m. the following Thursday. On Fridays, RGV Gives Back picks up the food and delivers it to the people chosen for that week, Orendain said. 

“It’s all up to the RGV residents,” she said. “We post photos every week … asking them where they want to see us give back to because it’s not our money that we’re doing it with. It’s their donations that are allowing us to do this.” 

The food for the week is purchased at the business place that can give RGV Gives Back the best deal, but the organization tries to support local businesses or take suggestions, Orendain said.

“We do take suggestions or recommendations, but we also kind of just call a lot of places and whoever can give us the best deal sometimes, that’s who we end up working with,” she said.    

The organization applied to be an official nonprofit organization on Aug. 26 and is waiting for certification. 

“We applied, filled out, paid for it, did everything but … it takes about seven to 10 days to have the state process everything and to get back to us with our official [Employer Identification Number],” she said. “With that EIN number, we’re able to go to businesses and get tax deducted.” 

Orendain was raised to give back to her community. 

“My dad used to be the president of the RGV Food Bank Board,” she said. “I’ve had experience growing up and giving back to underprivileged families within the RGV.” 

Her experience and hearing about RGV Serial Tipper, a tipper who accepts donations to tip large amounts to serving staff, inspired Orendain to create RGV Gives Back after graduating from Baylor University with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a minor in poverty studies and social justice.

“I want to give back to a lot of people, and who’s more deserving of it right now, especially during a pandemic, than our frontline workers, our essential workers, those that are risking their lives, their safety, their health, their families’ health and safety,” she said. 

This week, the organization chose seven applicants to serve as board members. If they accept the positions, their responsibilities will include contacting local businesses for food deals, get staff counts for the week’s recipients and help RGV Gives Back reach more of an audience, Orendain said. 

“We need that middleman who’s going to be able to reach out to the community and get ideas and tell us who they want to see us give back to,” she said. 

Once the organization gets more established, it plans on having more members and committees, Orendain said. 

“Once that happens, I would love to have any students that are … interested to be part of our team,” she said. 

For now, students or any other community member can help the organization through donations via Venmo, Cash App, PayPal, check or Zelle, Orendain said. 

“Anything works,” she said. “Donations are always appreciated and always accepted.”

The organization also sells merchandise including T-shirts and stickers.

“We have those available, and all proceeds do go to RGV Gives Back,” she said. 

Through donations and merchandise sales, RGV Gives Back has given back to 1,294 people in its first four weeks, Orendain said. 

“When the RGV comes together, we’re able to help a lot of other people that are struggling,” she said. “This is our way of just giving back to the community that gave me so much over the past 21 years.” 

During its first week, the organization delivered individually packed lunch bags from Wendy’s to 170 workers of the three COVID-19 units at Doctors Hospital at Renaissance in Edinburg, said Cristie Esparza Perez, director of patient experience at DHR.  

“For our staff, it gave them motivation, it gave them hope, knowing that the community was supporting them,” Esparza Perez said. “Having something like RGV Gives Back … and having them do all of this for people that they don’t even really know, it just says a lot about the organization and what they’ll do for the community.” 

Last week, RGV Gives Back also delivered Italian food to about 160 traveling nurses staying at the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton McAllen, said Andrea Rodriguez, director of sales and marketing at DoubleTree Suites. 

“What I’ve learned with nurses [is] the way to their heart is definitely with food,” Rodriguez said. “They were just very happy.”

RGV Gives Back has also delivered food to workers at the Weslaco Police Department, RGV Food Bank, San Juan Nursing Home, and more places, according to its website. 

For more information on RGV Gives Back, visit its website at https://www.rgvgivesback.org.