Ruchama Jean Baptiste, a nurse practitioner, launched Lavie Scrubs in February 2020 to help medical professionals look and feel great with affordable and comfortable medical uniforms and accessories. In 2021, Ruchama was selected by the Urban League of Palm Beach County to receive a $10,000 small business cash grant from Elevate Together™ powered by Round It Up America®. This cash grant allowed her to purchase more inventory and hire a part-time assistant to help contact potential clients.

During the grant presentation, Office Depot Associates learned that Ruchama’s inventory and office space for Lavie Scrubs were destroyed in a warehouse fire, which forced her to operate temporarily from a mobile unit.

“We launched our business in 2020, right before the pandemic happened. After that, we were in a warehouse and we had a fire in our building, which caused us to lose a lot of our inventory and we had to start over,” Ruchama said.

Once Ruchama was able to secure a new storefront several months later in Delray Beach, Office Depot wanted to help make her new office a comfortable and productive work environment with an in-kind donation of brand-new stylish furniture, office essentials and cleaning supplies.

“During that time, we were fortunate enough to have Elevate Together help us. They donated furniture, supplies, and we also won a grant that helped us kickstart our business, and here we are today,” Ruchama said.