TAKOMA PARK, MD -- Thursday marked the one year anniversary of the ferocious Category 4 Hurricane Maria that slammed into Puerto Rico.
It wreaked havoc all across the Virgin Islands and Caribbean.
Now, one year later, a Takoma Park Chef said he sees the light in the darkness.
Chef Sammy Diaz, who is Puerto Rican, said he has hope for a new life.
Diaz is working with a group called Chefs de Borinquen. Borinquen is the native word for Puerto Rico.
The group is planting new seeds on a farm destroyed by Hurricane Maria.
“This is the first trial of Aji Amarillo (Yellow Chili Pepper). We’re going to try this on our land," said Diaz.
Diaz took a video last August, on his second trip to help the island.
“Going back and still seeing that a year later, after the hurricane, that people are still struggling but still have a smile on their faces and still wanting to help, I think that’s the Puerto Rican spirit and the drive for me to do more,” said Diaz.
WUSA9 met Chef Sammy about a month after Hurricane Maria hit in 2017. He saw how hard DC Celebrity Chef Jose Andres and his non-profit, the World Central Kitchen, was working to feed island.
However, the devastation was so big, Diaz kept hearing from friends, there were still towns going hungry. So Chef Sammy organized a group of four chef-friends to purchase food and cook on the island, on their own.
“That was kind of like the force to create this organization,” said Diaz.
That force he’s talking about is not Hurricane Maria. It’s Hurricane George.
Diaz said he was a kid when his family survived the 1998 storm on the Island. He remembers what it was like living through that devastation.
“A week passes by and you realize that you don’t have no electricity. And that you’re having to wait on a truck - a FEMA truck to drop off drinking water,” he said.
Republic restaurant’s owner, it’s patrons and support from a DC non-profit called Friends of Puerto Rico, got Chefs de Borinquen to the Island.
In their first trip, Diaz cooked for three different towns in three days. They used the tin roofs blown off homes to make grills.
Hurricane Maria was worse than Diaz could’ve ever imagined. A post-hurricane Government of Puerto Rico report found suicides had spiked.
It took more than six months for power to be completely restored.
The most recent hit came from a George Washington study that found nearly 3,000 people died in the wake of the hurricane. Not the 64 the US government initially recognized.
“The most frustrating part for me is that we have seen a downfall of supporters,” said Angelique Sina.
Sina is president of the group, Friends of Puerto Rico. They’ve been collecting donations and helping families leave the island since last September.
“Now is the most crucial part because relief is easiest but right now, recovering is the hardest,” Sina said.
When Chef Sammy went back to the island last month, he revisited a Boys and Girls Club and cooked for in the town of San Lorenzo.
“The student population increased because of the closure of schools. And you know, obviously, they’re all trying to keep the kids happy and try to do things to kind of steer their minds off what’s happening. But you see that there’s definitely a need and you see with more students, you obviously need more food,” said Diaz.
That’s his next goal: to help recreate businesses by connecting struggling farmers to places they can sell to, like the Boys and Girls Club.
It’s a big step for the local chef, but he’s determined to plant hope, one seed at a time.
“I just think about the people and what the people on the island are going through and if any way, I can help them out, I try to,” said Diaz.