About

Inspired by his father, who was farmer in India, Ronak (Rick) Patel has a giving spirit that compels him to serve his community by providing the tools necessary to success in school and beyond.

Under the tutelage of his father-in-law, he opened a gas station in downtown Hardeeville in 2006. Opening his own business felt like the endgame—that a comfortable living as a business owner and family man was the pinnacle.

Over the next five years, Patel purchased  two more gas and convenient stores, a pharmacy, a liquor store, a warehouse space, a grocery store, an insurance company, and alcohol import license own Mezcal called “Arbitrario”. He built a staff of 40-plus employees and found a passion for giving wannabe entrepreneurs a hand up.

As his businesses grew, Patel knew it was time to be more aggressive in giving back on a wider scale to the community that helped build him up. He and Vaishali created the Patel Foundation of the Lowcountry, and just months after its launch, they faced an immediate chance to help.

In 2019, when a tornado hit upper Jasper County, he organized to deliver meals, water and groceries to those displaced by the tragedy. He utilized his network of suppliers to put together a food drive in 2020 that, to date, has provided over 870,000 pounds of groceries to area families. 

Patel and his family were presented with the inaugural Heartbeat of Hardeeville award by the Town Council in March 2021, created to honor residents that go above and beyond for the betterment of the town and its people. In the Summer of 2020, Jasper County Chamber of Commerce awarded the “Make A Difference” award to the Patel Foundation of the Lowcountry. The Foundation has continued to host community food drives while building a food distribution network with a growing roster of area business leaders and has created a supplies partnership with the Jasper County School District to address food and supply gaps between school district budgets and the growing population.

“Doing things because it’s the way they’ve always been done, keeping systems because we’re afraid of failure or change, it just holds us back,” Patel said. “I’ve learned this through life lessons, and I want to show folks there is another way to approach business, education, and life.” ~ Ronak (Rick) Patel