AFTERMATH
Manolo López will never forget driving through Puerto Rico days after Hurricane María, a category 4 storm, devastated the archipelago. “It looked like a bomb had set off, the trees, the parks, the signs that once stood tall were no more and as we stepped out of the cars we were welcomed by the grief, heat, and pain of our brothers and sisters,” he recalls those first hours back in his homeland.
Makeshift clinic in Vieques
The first mission was to Vieques, an island East of the mainland of Puerto Rico. Often referred to as the colony of the colony. Vieques has a long history of resistance because they rallied Puerto Rico to stop the Navy from using their coasts as testing grounds. Currently, they don’t have a hospital and lack medical services. So a team of medical experts and chefs left San Juan at 3:00a.m. to take the ferry to Vieques. Manolo and the other chefs made sure to prepare food that wouldn’t get spoiled on the journey: seranata and mashed roots. Serenata is a dish usually consumed during Lent. It consists of boiled codfish salad with root vegetables, green bananas and hard boiled eggs. For Manolo and his team it was important to cook dishes that could be preserved and wouldn’t create harmful bacteria.
They set up in a park called La Esperanza, Spanish for hope, alongside doctors that were offering first-aid. After everyone that went to the park was fed, they visited houses to distribute meals. He remembers the moment a mother of four gave him a big hug and cried after the gesture. “It wasn’t just about serving a meal and leaving. It was about being present, being human, really seeing the person in their most challenging moment.”
Manolo’s love for Puerto Rico, its people, and its land moved him to halt his business and dedicate the next year and a half to address food security. Almost 90% of food in Puerto Rico is imported and without open ports or electricity, many families didn’t have enough to eat. But after two and a half months of first-response, his efforts shifted towards long-term recovery for local restaurants.
What was Cosa Nuestra Relief Fund?
The idea of focusing on helping restaurants recover, rather than continue serving meals, happened after the Association of Puerto Rican Restaurants (ASORE for its Spanish acronym) published a report with alarming figures:
The Cosa Nuestra Relief Fund aimed to help chefs and small business owners around Puerto Rico recover after Hurricane María. Manolo partnered with the Mark E. Curry Family Foundation. They served as a fiscal sponsor and matched every dollar raised.
Aside from crowdfunding, Manolo and the Cosa Nuestra team used their experience to create pop-up benefit dinners. The first one was at Art Basel during December 2017, and they raised nearly $22K on a 50 person sit down dinner.
“Normally, the seats to benefit dinners are sold for $500+ but I felt that it was elitist and knew that many people were hurting and wanted to help.
So, I did a silent auction and notified everyone that the seats had no charge, but the expected price each chair needed to raise was $250-500”, explains Manolo. Diners raised funds at their offices or with loved ones instead of having to front all the money themselves.
They also had events in México and Colombia where 150+ guests would dine and learn about what was happening in Puerto Rico.
In total, the Cosa Nuestra team raised over $55K during these dining events and that was distributed amongst 17 restaurants.
The Cosa Nuestra Relief Fund bought 250-500 meals a day at $6 for each restaurant and provided compostable plates and utensils. If the restaurants kept their food cost under $2 a meal, they would profit $4 out and make anywhere from $1,000-$2,000 a day.
The hidden stories of the aftermath
Hurricane María was a tragedy, no doubt. Yet, there is also a side to the aftermath that is overlooked: how communities came together to rebuild. “Solo el pueblo salva al pueblo” is a common phrase used in Puerto Rico meaning only the people save the people.
Beyond charity, in Puerto Rico communities resorted to mutual aid—a practice of helping each other, identifying resources, and using your skills for the common good. There are currently 14 projects across the island that are part of a network of mutual aid organizations. There are also churches, nonprofits, and neighbors that helped their community in ways that go unnoticed.
We often hear about post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, but there is another concept that is less talked about: post-traumatic growth. This concept is in the center of Isabel Unanue’s thesis “Seeing more clearly: Communities transforming towards justice in post-hurricane Puerto Rico”. In her thesis, Unanue talks about how the lack of aid doesn’t only affect us physically, but psychologically. She interviewed different communities and found that “community residents unanimously reported helping one another”. She also noticed that “in communities where leaders’ vision extended beyond reconstruction to pre-disaster levels, a process of transformation began.”
This shows the importance of not importing solutions, but supporting communities on the ground and their initiatives. The aftermath of the hurricane also showed that Puerto Ricans have a lot to teach the world about justice and transformation.
Manolo came out of Puerto Rico a different man. His ego was eradicated, his perspective shifted, and what once was fulfilling now felt meaningless. He recalls returning to New York after the hurricane and being at a dinner where so much food was being wasted. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. He asked himself: “How can I do a road map so people understand our story and the work we are doing?”
That’s when opportunities to speak started to pop-off and the designer, turned chef, turned producer—became a storyteller.