One Year of Meals Made With Love for our Abus
It’s hard to believe that COVID-19 has had a grip on our world for more than a year now. During this time, we’ve been physically separated from friends, family, and community to keep each other safe. We’ve adapted to new ways of communicating, learning, working, and staying connected. And here at Plenitud PR, we’ve been looking to serve our community in innovative ways while also protecting those most vulnerable to the pandemic in our area.
For me, one of the most impactful examples of this effort came about at this time last year. It was Easter weekend, and here at the farm we’d been blessed with an abundant harvest--in fact, we had a surplus of amazing fresh produce that we just wanted to share. We brainstormed about how we could safely do this, and began thinking about those most in need of fresh, healthy foods. Our thoughts immediately went to our community elders, an especially vulnerable population to the intersecting difficulties of social isolation, health effects from the virus, and lack of access to quality medical care. These variables compound an already tenuous situation for elders in our area, which is one of the most economically disadvantaged and underserved in Puerto Rico, and where access to fresh, organic, nutritious food is severely limited. Using heightened safety and hygiene protocols in the kitchen, we decided to come together and make an Easter feast to share with some of our elderly neighbors, and it was a huge hit!
We had some amazing conversations with our neighbors that day. We learned more about how they were spending their time in the early days of Covid lockdown - and that was mostly alone, without access to family support, and even unable to get to essential services like the grocery store or pharmacy. They were struggling to have their basic needs met, and staring down the barrel of prolonged isolation with an unknown end date. They needed help, and we were inspired to act. That’s when we knew - this was going to be way more than a one-time thing.
This is how the Love An Elder - or Amo Mis Abus - food distribution program was born. With all hands on deck and very strict kitchen and delivery protocols, we began daily meal delivery for over 50 isolated elders in the community. We spent 6-8 hours cooking every day and over 4 hours driving in the winding, narrow roads of our isolated mountain region to get these meals to them as fresh as possible. In many ways, we were not in an ideal position to undertake such a program at this time. We’d just lost our primary source of income for the whole season - student groups coming for service learning trips from US universities - and were facing the prospect of canceling these groups for the next year or more. We barely had enough financial resources to maintain our own staff, and had no idea how we could guarantee financial solvency in the months to come.
Despite all that, we knew that we had to do anything and everything in our power to take these risks and put our elders first.
We found ways to make it work, and teamed up with community partners to created shared opportunity for service, including partnering with World Central Kitchen, which funded the purchase of ingredients for these meals for the first several months of the program. In the process, we made some incredible friends, and heard - from a safe distance - the most incredible stories of resilience, strength, and wisdom from these beloved leaders. This experience had a profound impact on every one of us involved with the program, and we made a video to share with the larger Plenitud PR community:
While it became unsustainable to continue daily meal deliveries, we knew we wanted to continue this service in any way we could, so we transitioned to weekly meal deliveries - a service we are continuing to this day, just over a year later. Even though our grant funding for this program has ended, we are so committed to keeping it going that we are dipping into our operating budget to continue serving our elders, even despite a more than $225K loss to our unrestricted income this year alone.
“At times it seems impossible to keep going with the odds stacked against us, but when you’ve met the people we have, and have had the opportunity to see their faces light up with gratitude and joy at the simple gift of a fresh meal, you know that you have to keep going no matter what the cost. ”
This year has been full of ups and downs, great uncertainties, increased responsibilities, and more than a few surprises. For me, one of the biggest of those surprises came in the realization that, in the end, we were not the ones doing the serving at all. We may have brought them a hot meal, but in turn our elders served us with the wisdom of experience that taught us what is really important in this life. They served us with unflagging joy and strength in the face of seemingly unconquerable obstacles, showing us what deep resiliency really looks like. They served us with warmth and instant connection, demonstrating the power of relationships to bridge all barriers. And most importantly, they served us with genuine, heartfelt appreciation, teaching us that a grateful heart is the greatest gift we have, and that to share it with others is like a rising tide that lifts all boats. These are lessons I will never forget, and I am overwhelmed with gratitude to have been a part of this amazing journey with Plenitud PR and our beloved elders community.
