UP FRONT Elizabeth Ochs helps turns ‘trash’ into creative treasures

BY ROBERT ISENBERG

Elizabeth Ochs, 39, never expected to become the founder of the Creative Reuse Center of Rhode Island. But her new nonprofit, in East Providence, has already become a destination for artists and crafters in search of raw materials: t he warehouse is full of buttons and rope, cardboard tubes, wire, wooden cigar boxes and much more, all meticulously organized and economically priced.

A NATIVE OF Charlottesville, Virginia, Ochs came to Rhode Island to attend the Urban Studies program at Brown University. A seasoned consultant for nonprofit and educational institutions, Ochs was a regular visitor at Recycling for RI Education, along with her 7-year-old son, Isaiah Ellowitz. When RRIE was forced to shut down last year, Ochs and Isaiah took matters into their own hands, moving much of its stock before RRIE’s doors closed forever in December 2022.

Ochs, her husband,

Taylor Ellowitz, and Isaiah live in Providence. We caught up with Ochs at the Creative Reuse Center, where she is the director and Isaiah spends a great deal of time and is honorary co-director.

The following Q-and-A is from a recent interview and Ochs’ answers have been lightly edited for clarity. What is the Creative Reuse Center?

This is a place where you can come and find reusable treasures and create new worlds with them. We believe that kids and their creativity is expansive. We believe that material shouldn’t be wasted. We believe in creating a community outside of the horror of this world – instead of being around destruction, actually be in a space of creation.

How did you put all this together?

RRIE, which is the former and beloved reuse center of Rhode Island, existed for 30 years in this massive space off of Elmwood Avenue [in Cranston], and especially educators and artists have been going there forever. So when they closed in December, we all felt sad. We felt, “This is a community treasure, and we need to retain it.”

So then we went on a bit of an adventure: We got a moving truck, we filled it up with lots of things from RRIE, and we moved it to RIMOSA, the Rhode Island Museum of Science and Art, got all set up – and then a month later, they closed. Then we thought: We have too many treasures on our hands, we can’t let go of this. So we found a spot in South Providence that was really beautiful, we got all set up, but we realized very quickly that we would grow out of that space. So we got another moving truck – this is the third moving truck –and we came all the way to East Providence. We found an affordable space here that has an overhead door, it’s accessible for trucks and cars. And we opened in October.

How has your son gotten involved?

Every step of the way, Isaiah really has been the CONTINUED