Community Dinner Donations Help Puerto Rican Farms
In June of 2018, in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the Hinesburg Youth Project (HYP), our church youth group, traveled to Puerto Rico for a week of service. The service activities around the island included building residential structures, distributing basic needs, and rebuilding organic farms. The group worked alongside people from Puerto Rico, learning about their hurricane experiences, their culture, and about their spirit of gratitude and resilience.
When Hurricane Fiona hit the same region of the island last fall, the church wanted to help again. Funds raised from a community dinner and distributed through HASER, a Puerto Rican non-profit promoting social well-being, are helping support Enlace Tres Vidas, an ecosystem of farms, including the farms worked at in 2018. These farms are committed to increasing the accessibility of organic products to historically marginalized communities. They are connected to a program that distributes product donations to senior populations in rural areas and have helped reduce the food insecurity of vulnerable populations in the rural area of Puerto Rico.
This donation, in addition to continuing a relationship that started with the youth trip, dovetails with other efforts sponsored by our church and supported by the Hinesburg community to help address food insecurity in our community and beyond, including the Little Free Pantry and support for the Vermont Foodbank’s BackPack Program.
In June of 2018, in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the Hinesburg Youth Project (HYP), our church youth group, traveled to Puerto Rico for a week of service. The service activities around the island included building residential structures, distributing basic needs, and rebuilding organic farms. The group worked alongside people from Puerto Rico, learning about their hurricane experiences, their culture, and about their spirit of gratitude and resilience.
When Hurricane Fiona hit the same region of the island last fall, the church wanted to help again. Funds raised from a community dinner and distributed through HASER, a Puerto Rican non-profit promoting social well-being, are helping support Enlace Tres Vidas, an ecosystem of farms, including the farms worked at in 2018. These farms are committed to increasing the accessibility of organic products to historically marginalized communities. They are connected to a program that distributes product donations to senior populations in rural areas and have helped reduce the food insecurity of vulnerable populations in the rural area of Puerto Rico.
This donation, in addition to continuing a relationship that started with the youth trip, dovetails with other efforts sponsored by our church and supported by the Hinesburg community to help address food insecurity in our community and beyond, including the Little Free Pantry and support for the Vermont Foodbank’s BackPack Program.
