Feeding the community, celebrating all cultures

Ana Ortiz provides food and so much more for Ithaca’s underserved populations

Anywhere in Ithaca where people are discussing food insecurity or the needs of the area’s underserved populations, our latest Hometown Hero Ana Ortiz is likely to be found. Having long served her community as an individual who goes to great lengths to help those who are struggling, over the years Ortiz has assembled a diverse and loyal team called No Más Lágrimas.

No Más Lágrimas/ No More Tears recently achieved 501(c)3 nonprofit status, a significant step toward better achieving its stated goal of supporting individuals and families of all backgrounds, cultures and identities affected by economic and social barriers to meeting their basic needs and empowering themselves to achieve their aspirations.

“Every year, it seems like she’s gaining more ground in the direction she wants to go,” said Lucas MacDonald, of MacDonald Farms in Ithaca, who has known Ortiz for nearly 20 years and donates his extra vegetables to No Más Lágrimas.

“It’s been a great experience,” he said. “To give back to the community a little bit is fun. You meet different people — all kinds of people who are there get food, and volunteers of all ages and all races.”

The organization not only gives food assistance but also leads community celebrations, organizes youth programs, provides advocacy on behalf of and support for recently incarcerated individuals and other underserved people and supports victims of domestic violence.

Ortiz, who moved from Puerto Rico to New York City as a teenager, and then to Ithaca a few years later, was a victim of domestic violence herself. Back when she had two young children to support, their father was abusive and struggled with drug addiction.

“Because my kids’ father had that problem [with drugs], he would take everything out of the house,” Ortiz said. “Then one day, I’d had it. I took my kids, and I left. There was too much abuse. Not just hitting — it was an emotional thing. And one day I came home and my house was empty. He had taken everything.”

She went to a safe house, where she faced the challenges of caring for her children in an uncertain living situation.  

“I just went to tears and tears, and one day I said, ‘Wait a second. I’m struggling. My kids are not comfortable. My kids’ father is in jail getting three meals a day not even having to worry about rent. Where is this picture coming from?’ And that’s why ‘No more tears,’ no more crying, and that’s why I put it in Spanish and English. My background is from Puerto Rico, but I don’t care where I live — I will represent my country as best I can.”

Ortiz is excited to educate people about her culture at every opportunity, but she makes it a priority to celebrate other cultures as well.

“Not only do I celebrate my Puerto Rican culture, but I celebrate every culture on this planet,” Ortiz said. “They say, ‘Ana, I’m from Japan,’ I say, ‘Let’s do something from Japan!’”

One of No Más Lágrimas’ biggest ongoing efforts is a weekly food giveaway at its headquarters, the Henry Saint John building located at 301 S. Geneva St. The event, held most Thursdays from 4 to 6 p.m. (inside or outside, depending on the weather), serves about 100 individuals and their families.

The food distribution takes a tremendous amount of organization, and Ortiz is there leading the charge, every step of the way.

“She’s always been an activist around food and food security,” said Monika Roth, who worked  for many years as the agriculture and horticulture program leader for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County. “She’s always looking at what there is a need for and trying to make it happen.”

“She’s also that engaging and bubbly kind of person,” Roth added. “Because of her connections to her community, she reaches people that aren’t reached by the traditional pantries and service providers around here. I think she’s definitely providing a niche need.”

In an effort to reach out to people of all cultures, Ortiz makes it a priority to include culturally diverse food among her pantry’s offerings, Roth said.

Ortiz has a keen ability to surround herself with people of varying areas of expertise, many of whom were busy setting up the food giveaway on a recent Thursday afternoon. 

When asked what her title is, volunteer Sharon Tregaskis and Ortiz looked at each other and eventually settled on “food giveaway coordinator” as an apt descriptor for the work Tregaskis does.

“Nobody has a title,” Ortiz said. “It’s like a co-op, like we are all the boss. I call her boss,” she said, gesturing to Tregaskis. 

About 20 to 25 volunteers work with No Más Lágrimas to help make the food pantry happen every week. There are frequent issues to overcome, from the weather to the challenge of meeting food safety standards for an event that is constantly changing from week to week in terms of the food available.

People of all ages, ethnicities and backgrounds show up on a regular basis to lend a hand.

“We have some little kids who help out after school, and retirees,” said Tregaskis. The dynamic of No Más Lágrimas’ volunteer base has changed somewhat since the COVID-19 pandemic, she added.

“Since people have gotten jobs again, or maybe have to show up in an office or something like that, now more people who are self-employed have that flexibility to volunteer, or people who are retired,” Tregaskis said.

Tregaskis’ experience with Ortiz goes back to the summer of 2020.

“I was aware of her earlier in the pandemic,” Tregaskis said. “We were working in parallel; I was doing a lot of fresh access distribution work, and at some point she found me at the event I was doing at West Village and introduced herself, and basically said we should be working together. Everything I was doing was going to end with the growing season, so as my work eased, I picked up more work with her.”

In the earlier part of the pandemic, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits were only available to use in person, Tregaskis said, so people who relied on SNAP to buy groceries had limited options for obtaining food in a way that was COVID-safe.

Ortiz was instrumental at assembling a dedicated team to help the community survive that difficult time, Tregaskis said.

“Her capacity to draw people into a team and to keep them engaged … we’ve had lots of volunteers that have come and gone … but also a lot of people who have stayed engaged because of her capacity to hold a team together,” Tregaskis said.

Tregaskis recalled that when she first met Ortiz in 2020, Ortiz was already running a diaper giveaway as well as the food distribution events.

“She was really good at coordinating and overseeing a growing cadre of community members who wanted to support work around mutual aid and access to material goods, whether that was diapers or wipes or small appliances,” Tregaskis said.

As different volunteers would pop up, Ortiz would swiftly put them to work, quickly identifying their strengths and asking them to switch tasks if those strengths did not match the job they were first assigned.

“Instead of saying, ‘We need these things, so you do it,’ she’s much more tactical at noticing, ‘This is a thing you’re good at,’ or, conversely, ‘You don’t seem to be thriving in this role. Let’s find a different way for you to participate.’”

Ortiz sees the potential in members of Ithaca’s younger population.

“Her commitment to child development and youth leadership is amazing,” Tregaskis said, “[in] that she has a long-running partnership with high school students and that we are often able to plug in also little kids, with adult volunteers, or afterschool kids to help out, and it seems to be kind of an engaging opportunity for everyone across generations.”

Now that Ortiz has secured a permanent location for No Más Lágrimas, she has even bigger plans for the future, including the establishment of a county Latino center.

For more information about No Más Lágrimas, visit nmlagrimas.wordpress.com. 

Tompkins Weekly’s Hometown Heroes Award is sponsored by Security Mutual Insurance and Canopy by Hilton Ithaca.