Food producer network 2020 grantee

Community Through Colors (La Finca de Hamberto)

Founded in 2017 in response to the devastating Atlantic hurricane season, Community Through Colors’ (CTC) mission is to bring disaster relief to remote, isolated, and under-served coastal communities. La Finca de Hamberto is CTC’s Vieques-based hub, which opened after Hurricane María to bring relief supplies from Florida to Puerto Rico via sailboat. The farm is one of only a handful on Vieques and one of the only sources of chicken eggs on the island, where 99% of food is imported via a notoriously unreliable ferry system. The hub is a model of resilience, self-sustainability, and alternative food sources. Its low environmental footprint includes building farm infrastructure out of recycled equipment like pallet fencing, and partnering with restaurants to collect excess food as animal feed. Both programs have diverted tens of thousands of pounds of waste from Vieques’ landfill, which is located next to the ocean and is rapidly running out of space. With very few external resources, much has been created in the past few years to slowly but surely increase the amount of food grown locally on Vieques.

WCK’s support will be used to acquire and transport a used 20-foot container that will enable CTC to safely and effectively store animal feed and preserve crops after harvest. In the short term, this added storage capacity will provide a longer window for sales and gathering produce. In the long term, CTC will be able to produce additional delicate leafy crops and consistently sell tens of dozens of eggs every week to local residents, leading to a five-fold increase in sales in year one, and the hiring of a local farm manager in year two.