Envision da Berry loses farm truck to wreck

Published 6:00 am Friday, February 21, 2020

Whether you like the vernacular of referring to New Iberia as “da Berry” or not, most people can admit that the Envision da Berry non-profit has had a positive effect on the city’s West End.

The 501(c)3 organization, now in its ninth year, has been involved in everything from starting neighborhood gardens to distributing bicycles, from sponsoring Broadway sing-alongs to full-blown music festivals to highlight the neighborhoods around Hopkins Street.

Last week, though, a traffic crash cost the organization its farm truck, an essential part of the operation that has brought fresh fruits and vegetables from the group’s gardens to its vegetable stand near Hopkins and Field streets.

“We will be without a work truck for the garden now,” said Phanat Xanamane, the organization’s board president. “It’s going to make things harder.”

According to Xanamane, the driver of the truck was not seriously injured.

“They are alive, but bruised and achy,” he said.

But that still leaves the group without its primary mode of transporting produce from its two gardens to Da Berry Fresh Market. But that is not the only project that would be impacted. Envision da Berry has also been recycling old bicycles, repairing them and giving them to members of the community in need. It also means that when the planting season comes, other means will have to be found to get soil and amendments to the gardens to prepare for the next crop.

Now, the group is hoping that a donor for a vehicle can be found.

“It’s just an old farm truck,” Xanamane said. “It isn’t anything fancy.”

The old farm truck, though, helps support the organization that serves as one of the only outlets for fresh vegetables and fruits in the West End area. As in most cities, the large supermarkets in New Iberia have gravitated away from older and poorer neighborhoods. That, combined with the collapse of smaller family-run neighborhood markets, has left “nutrition deserts” across large swaths of many municipalities.

The proceeds from the market also help support programs for Envision da Berry and jobs for the workers who maintain the group’s two farms and market.

Any person or organization who has a truck that could be donated to Envision da Berry, or who would like to make a donation to the group to help defray the cost of a new vehicle, is asked to email info@daberry.org. Financial donations can be made electronically on the non-profit’s website at daberry.org.