Costs Went Up. The Need Went Up. The Doors Stay Open.

Fifteen years. Zero salaries. Help us fund the rest of this year by September 30.

This is us. Volunteers, families, and neighbors of every background, in front of the windows where the work happens.

Costs went up. The need went up. The doors stay open.

Groceries cost more than they did a year ago. So do utilities, insurance, and the gas in the truck we use for delivery. And more neighbors are knocking than ever.

We need $37,500 by September 30 to fund the rest of this year. Every distribution day. The pop up clinics. The tutoring. The emergency rent help. The emergency calls for help. And the phone that answers at two in the morning. Nothing canceled.

If you give one thing today, give this: your gift keeps a door open that a lot of people in Brooklyn, Ohio and Greater Cleveland have no other way through.

A distribution day before the doors open. Pallets of eggs, poultry, and groceries, ready for the families already on their way.

Fifteen years. Zero salaries.

Since 2011, nobody at Project Exartizo has drawn a salary. Not one person. Not me.

Last year more than 1,500 neighbors and 760 families walked through our doors in Brooklyn, Ohio and Greater Cleveland for food, free medical and mental health clinics, adult education, emergency help with rent and utilities, and a bilingual help line that never closes.

Here is what we do, in plain terms:

• Food distribution days. A Latino focused pantry where everyone is welcome and no one is asked to prove they deserve to eat. You walk up, you get food.

• Free pop up clinics. Single day medical and mental health clinics with bilingual providers, for people who would otherwise go without.

• Adult education and tutoring. Adult literacy, GED prep, and ESL, because a better job usually starts with a class somebody was brave enough to walk into.

• Emergency rent and utility help. For the month when the math does not work and a family is one bill away from losing everything.

• A 24/7 bilingual help line. English and Spanish. The phone that answers at two in the morning, when there is nowhere else to call.

Volunteers packing boxes by the stained glass. This is what your gift turns into.

A building that people refused to give up on

In 2023 the Refine Church building that housed our work was broken into five times in a wave of burglaries and hate crimes. Our neighbors rebuilt it with us in under six months.

In 2024 that congregation, the church that founded us, was given a 1.5 acre campus in Brooklyn, Ohio, debt free. It became the first Latino led congregation to own property in the city’s history, and it opened those doors to Exartizo.

Places do not survive that kind of year unless people believe in them. You are reading this because a lot of people already do.

A hallway lined with packed food boxes, ready to go out the door.

Born in a church. Open to everyone.

You do not have to share our faith to share this table. Veterans, teachers, retirees, working families, newcomers, people of every faith and none. If you can walk up to the door, the door is yours.

And every gift, whatever its size, walks straight out to the family standing in front of us.

A community baby shower. Folded baby clothes, diapers, and a little girl who never has to know how close it was.

Families choosing what they need, with dignity, at no cost.

What your gift does

Every dollar you give here is combined with donated food, donated time, and volunteer hands, so it stretches much further than the same dollar would at the store. Here is the kind of thing your gift makes possible.

• $25 helps stock a family’s box on a distribution day.

• $50 helps keep the bilingual help line answering, or covers learning supplies for a student in tutoring.

• $100 helps a family stay in the light for another month with emergency utility help.

• $250 helps underwrite a station at a free pop up clinic so a neighbor sees a bilingual provider at no cost.

• $500 helps fund a full distribution day for the families who show up that morning.

Our team with the Hunger Network truck. No one goes hungry. No food goes to waste.

A room full of diapers, wipes, and baby goods, and volunteers making sure every family leaves with what they came for.

Volunteers setting the tables before families arrive.

If we fall short

I will be straight with you, because you deserve that. If we do not reach this goal, we start cutting services, and the people who lose them are the ones with the fewest options. A pantry day gets smaller. A clinic does not happen. A call goes unanswered.

I would rather tell you that now than explain it to you in October. This is not desperation. It is honesty. We are still here, still open, still saying yes. I am asking you to help us keep that true through the end of the year.

A mother and daughter beside boxes marked Family #7. Every family has a number on our list and a name we know.

Want to do more than give? Start a team.

Click Fundraise at the top of this page and start a page for your family, your business, your ministry, or your crew. Set your own goal, invite your people, and climb the team board together.

It takes two minutes to set up, and we will send you everything you need. When your friends give on your page, you see it happen in real time, and so does everyone else. A little friendly competition has a way of feeding a lot of families.

A Christmas giveaway. Wrapped presents and two bikes a couple of kids were not expecting.

Delivering gifts on a city sidewalk. This is what showing up looks like.

A neighbor at his own front door, arms full. Delivery day never gets old.

Double your gift without giving a dollar more

Many Cleveland employers match gifts one for one. That means your $50 can become $100 and your $100 can become $200 at no extra cost to you. Billions of dollars in matching funds go unclaimed every year, mostly because people never find out their employer offers it.

So ask your HR office whether your company matches charitable donations, send them the receipt we email you, and we will handle our half. If everyone who could get a match asked for one, we would be a long way toward September’s goal already.

A home delivery in progress. Boxes to the door, no questions asked.

Give monthly and keep the doors open past September

If you would rather give steadily, $50 a month keeps these doors open long after this campaign ends. Monthly gifts are the most reliable thing a small organization like ours can have, because they let us plan instead of scramble. You can set it up in the donation box and change it or stop it anytime.

A volunteer delivering to a single new dad with everything his baby needs.

The fine print, in plain language

Project Exartizo is an independent 501(c)(3), EIN 82-0954417, with the Candid Platinum Seal of Transparency. Every gift is tax deductible and you get a receipt by email right away.

Prefer a check? Mail it to Project Exartizo, 8720 Memphis Avenue, Brooklyn, Ohio 44144.

An expecting family with a donated stroller, bassinet, car seat, and breast pump. A whole first chapter, handed over in a hallway.

A few honest questions, answered

Why are you fundraising if you received a grant?

Fair question. We recently received an operations grant, and we are grateful for it every day. Now we are working to match it with community support, because groceries, utilities, insurance, and gas all cost more than we planned, and more neighbors are coming than ever. Every gift here helps us match that grant and finish the year with nothing canceled. A grant is a foundation, not a finish line.

How do I know my money is used well?

Fifteen years, zero salaries, nobody on payroll, including me. We hold the Candid Platinum Seal of Transparency, the highest level Candid awards, so our finances, governance, and results are open for anyone to check.

I do not share your faith. Is this for me?

Yes. We were born in a church and we are proud of it, but the pantry, the clinic, the help line, and the classroom are open to everyone of every faith and none. Nobody is asked what they believe.

What happens if you do not reach the goal?

Services get cut, and the people who lose them have the fewest options. That is exactly why I am asking now.

Can my business or organization sponsor this?

Yes, and thank you for asking. The sponsorship levels are just below.

For businesses and organizations: sponsor this work

If you run a business, a civic group, a union local, or a congregation, you can put your name behind this work in a way your whole community will see. Here are our levels for this campaign.

Friend of the Table: $250. Your name on this page and on our online donation tree, plus a thank you shout out on social media.

Distribution Day Sponsor: $500. Everything above, plus your name on the signage at one food distribution day.

Community Partner: $1,000. Everything above, plus your logo on this page and the tree, and a dedicated social media post telling your story.

Cornerstone Sponsor: $2,500. Everything above, plus top logo placement, on site signage at our events through the end of the year, and a standing invitation to visit a distribution day.

Pillar of the Community: $5,000. Our highest level. Everything above, plus premier placement, a feature story, and recognition as a lead sponsor of our operations for the year.

To sponsor, give at your level through this page and email us so we can gather your logo and details, or mail a check to Project Exartizo, 8720 Memphis Avenue, Brooklyn, Ohio 44144.

One of our families and one of our volunteers, on a distribution morning.

La Estrella: our donation tree

We are building an online donation tree so the people who keep these doors open are never invisible. We call it La Estrella, the star, because a star is the thing you follow home in the dark, and that is exactly what this community has been for so many families.

At these levels, your name, or your family’s, your business’s, or your organization’s name, is added to La Estrella on our website, where it stays as a permanent thank you.

• Roots: $2,500 and up. The foundation that holds everything.

• Trunk: $1,000 to $2,499. The strength that carries the weight.

• Branches: $500 to $999. The reach that keeps growing.

• Leaves: $100 to $499. The living proof that the tree is alive.

• Seeds: any gift up to $99. Every tree starts here, because nothing grows without them.

Want your leaf to carry someone else’s name? You can give in honor or in memory of somebody, and we will letter it that way. Just tell us when you give.

A family leaving with a stroller and bassinet. Your name on La Estrella means moments like this keep happening.

Thank you for reading this far

Somebody is going to knock tomorrow. Help us be the kind of place that can still say yes.

Behind the scenes. Phones in hand, boxes everywhere, one small dog supervising. A normal morning here.

With gratitude,

Pastor Luis Vizcarrondo

Founder and Executive Director, Project Exartizo

Costs Went Up. The Need Went Up. The Doors Stay Open.

The Pantry, the Clinic, the Help Line: All of It Stays On.

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