ORLANDO, Fla. _ Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac has teamed with J.U.M.P. Ministries Global Church to assist Project Life, Inc., in an effort to provide food to school-aged children in the area amid the coronavirus outbreak. The pandemic has forced school districts across the country to temporarily shut down, leaving some children without a source for breakfast and lunch.
And that's where Isaac said Project Life comes in.
"Project Life simply believes in standing in the gap for others when they can't stand for themselves," Isaac said in a video posted to social media on Sunday.
Beginning Monday, daily breakfast and lunch meals will be available for ages 18 and under. The hot breakfast can be picked up from 8:30 to 11 a.m., and the hot-lunch item from 12:30 to 3 p.m.
The grab-and-go program will be at J.U.M.P. Ministries, 2550 W. Colonial Drive, Suite 300 in Orlando.
In addition, Isaac said families can pick up a box of non-perishable food items every Friday. Isaac said the group also plans to drop off breakfast and lunch meals for the children of families living in many of the extended-stay hotels along West Colonial Drive.
The church's Facebook page indicates the program will last for the duration of the extended school closures.
Anyone interested in volunteering (Isaac specifically mentioned cooking) or donating items or money can go to projectlifenow.org.
Isaac also appeared in a YouTube video with bishop Durone Hepburn, the founder of Project Life, and Orlando city commissioner Regina Hill, who represents District 5 that includes J.U.M.P. Ministries, to talk about the program.
"We're trying to do what we can to help families who are less fortunate," Hepburn said in the video.
"There will be masks, there will be gloves, (and) there will be sanitizer to make sure nobody's getting sick," Isaac said in his video. "There will be a lot of different things we're putting in place to make sure everyone stays safe, but we just cannot sit on our hands while this stuff is going on."
Isaac, who is in his third season with the Magic and recently became an ordained minister, is the latest member of the Magic to step up and provide community assistance amid the pandemic. Following the NBA's decision to suspend its season, Orlando Magic ownership announced it was funding a $2 million compensation package to pay hourly employees for the remainder of the regular season for games missed due to the coronavirus.
"The coronavirus, everybody knows about. It's completely turning our world upside down," Isaac said in his video. "We're just trying to do whatever we can to make sure we are thinking about the most in need, those that cannot get what they need at this time. We just want to be that helping hand."
