EPCF announces launch of ‘Get Shift Done for El Paso’ initiative
Staff Report April 7, 2020
Tuesday morning, officials with the El Paso Community Foundation announced a new partnership with Get Shift Done to pay adversely affected hourly workers in the hospitality industry to work shifts for the El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Bank.
Get Shift Done for El Paso provides wages of $10 an hour to workers left jobless by the coronavirus pandemic while providing meals for the disadvantaged. The program started Saturday, April 4 with the first of 40 daily shifts.
Get Shift Done was launched by Dallas business and community leaders Anurag Jain and Patrick Brandt with the support of their respective companies, community leaders, restaurant owners and nonprofit organizations. It was created to fill the gap between the reduction of volunteers and the increased need among food banks and other nonprofits with those from the food and service industry in need of supplemental income.
El Paso is the second city to roll out the initiative. The El Paso Community Foundation learned about the innovative program and contacted Get Shift Done.
With a short turnaround time, Get Shift Done for El Paso launched Shiftsmart technology to register workers for shifts at El Pasoans Fighting Hunger. The Shiftsmart platform and operations team manage the onboarding, matching, scheduling, dispatching, and routing of workers to perform shifts.
“Thanks to an incredible team in North Texas, we were able to adapt this innovative program,” said Eric Pearson, President and CEO of the El Paso Community Foundation. “This helps hospitality workers — who represent 31% of unemployment claims in the area — fill essential, caring jobs, and maintain the dignity of hard work.”
El Paso State Rep. Cesar Blanco said, “There is a lot of need in El Paso right now during this difficult and challenging time as we are dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Workers are out of work and families and seniors are struggling to put food on the table. That’s why I’m proud to support the partnership with the El Paso Community Foundation and Get Shift Done to employ displaced hospitality workers at El Pasoans Fighting Hunger food bank who will help provide meals for needy families. This partnership is a win-win for our community.”
El Pasoans Fighting Hunger, El Paso’s only food bank, distributes food to more than 130 partner agencies and programs, including pantries, churches, and shelters in El Paso, Culberson, and Hudspeth counties.
With jobless claims spiking to record levels, the Get Shift Done concept was hatched at just the right time by helping people work to earn a basic income. Within days, other cities, municipalities and countries contacted the organization about assisting them in meeting the needs of the food insecure in their own areas by utilizing the Get Shift Done template.
Patrick Brandt, President of Shiftsmart, said: “El Paso has a strong infrastructure in place to allow us to quickly lend support to provide meals to vulnerable people.”
For more information or to support this fund, go to getshiftdone.org/elpaso or epcf.org/getshiftdone.
