Smells of spicy jerk chicken, rice and peas, and mannish water soup wafted through the Island Inn event center in Oak Bluffs on Saturday evening as guests gathered for a community fundraiser to help Jamaicans rebuild in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.
Some 200 people came out for the “Donate, Dine, & Dance: M.V. Chefs’ Buffet to Support Jamaica,” which featured a large buffet prepared and donated by chefs and restaurants from across Martha’s Vineyard.
“A lot of our workforce is Jamaican, our chef is Jamaican, so we really wanted to do something,” said Chef Jimmy Alvarado of Tigerhawk Sandwich Co., who helped organize Saturday’s event. “It’s the time to give.”
Kharma Finley-Wallace of HoverFly Events took part, along with Chef Jimmy and Rachel Alvarado, and Chef Deon and Emily Thomas of Deon’s Kitchen, and Tilton Rentals.
“The Jamaican community here on this Island is so vast, and they’ve been here so long, I can’t imagine any Islander doesn’t have a connection to what happened in Jamaica,” Finley-Wallace said.
Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica late last month as a Category 5 hurricane. Bringing wind speeds of up to 185 mph that toppled infrastructure, caused widespread flooding, and wiped out power, it was the strongest hurricane in the country’s recorded history. At least 45 individuals from Jamaica have died from the storm, though officials expect the number to increase as recovery efforts continue in the hardest-hit areas. The storm’s aftermath has also fueled a deadly outbreak of leptospirosis, a bacterial illness often found in contaminated water following major flooding. Power and phone services are still down in some regions, and hundreds of thousands of residents are exposed to unsafe conditions.
But on Saturday and an ocean away, the mood was one of resilience and hope. Guests at the fundraiser sampled a wide range of dishes from the well-known Island chefs, while DJ Dern kept the energy high on the dance floor. Organizers encouraged attendees to donate what they could, with tickets beginning at $25.
It wasn’t a typical buffet. Nearly everything in the room — the trays of food, the hours of labor, the music — had been given freely. Chefs spent days preparing dishes, volunteers set up and served, and guests arrived ready to give what they could. What might have been a simple fundraiser became something more intimate: a reminder that on this Island, community care shows up in the form of food, time, and the willingness to help people thousands of miles away.
Finley-Wallace said she was moved by how quickly the Island responded once planning began, crediting the network of chefs who donated both their time and their food. “This might not be a whole lot, but we’re just doing what we can from our little rock in the sea,” said Finley-Wallace.
Tamara Chin, Finley-Wallace’s sister, grew up on the Vineyard, and said the Island always comes together to help people when they can. Her great-grandmother immigrated from Jamaica at age 14. Some people have seen through their families the damage the storm has caused, and event attendees with family in Jamaica were appreciative of Vineyarders rallying around relief efforts.
The buffet included bucatini marinara from the Maker, mango-pineapple-peach jerk chicken thighs from Winston’s, curry chicken from Mo’s and Vineyard Caribbean, and many more dishes. Chef John Ashton contributed butternut squash biryani. He said that as a chef, helping others feels instinctive — even those he has never met. “What makes this Island so good is that the community comes together to support people in need,” said Ashton.
The bar was staffed by volunteers Nicola Morrison and Trisan Headley, representing Chef Laurie. Morrison, who moved from Jamaica to the Island three years ago, said, “I want to help my country, and it’s very bad out there, and this is something I could do.”
Headley, also from Jamaica, said volunteering felt essential. “I just had to chip in, to do my part,” she said. She added that she fell in love with the Vineyard four years ago, particularly with the mix of cultures she found here. “It’s my home away from home,” said Headley.
Guests filed in and went through the line, stacking their plates with as much food as they could — smoked pulled pork, jerk chicken thighs, enchiladas, short ribs, cornbread, polenta — as attendees took their seats. After dinner and dessert, the dance floor came alive, and within it was a room full of people choosing to help because they cared, offering what they had from this little rock in the sea.
Finley-Wallace provided the link to a fundraising initiative, led by Chef Deon for those interested in supporting: https://givebutter.com/p2Rotf
If article contained a link to enable interested readers to easily make a donation, additional funds would likely flow in- possibly many additional gifts. Maybe someone could add this to comments, or the information could be added to the on line story and the printed version later in week. Readers would also be interested in the amount raised.
So much fun for a great cause! Just a correction – it was my GREAT grandmother, not grandmother who immigrated from Jamaica when she was 14.
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