At the Mango Melee event hosted by St. George’s Botanical Gardens on Sunday, representatives from Viya, Reef Responsible, and Virgin Islands Good Food unveiled the cover of the 2024-2025 Viya V.I. Telephone Directory.
The directory features photos of V.I. farmers and fishers. Additionally, the group introduced the first edition of the “Good Food Pages” section in the directory, which includes contact information for V.I. farmers, fishers, food producers, and farmers’ markets, according to the press release.
“This year, Viya is proud to publish the US Virgin Islands Telephone Directory dedicated to showcasing our farming and fishing communities across the Virgin Islands,” said Jennifer Matarangas-King, vice president of Public Relations and Governmental Affairs at Viya. “The phone book cover features beautiful portraits of VI farmers and fishers ‘in their element’ and putting their passion and expertise towards providing nutritious food for our community.”
The cover artwork features beautiful portrait photographs by St. Croix photographer Stephanie “Chalana” Brown. Brown has contributed stunning artwork and photographs for numerous Viya V.I. Telephone Directory covers in recent years. This year’s cover features a collage of portraits of 11 Virgin Islands farmers, fishers and food producers, the press release stated.
The motto featured on the cover, “First, We Feed Ourselves,” was contributed to Virgin Islands Good Food by St. Croix farmer Fyah Love and is a call to action to Virgin Islanders to prioritize and invest in building a food system that will feed Virgin Islanders, V.I. families, children and elders first — as opposed to developing a food system that prioritizes and relies on the export of locally grown and harvested products to be shipped elsewhere, it said.
Virgin Islands Good Food first introduced the motto to the community at their Island Food Systems Summit held on Feb. 19-21 at the University of the Virgin Islands, St. Croix campus. The motto can be found on Virgin Islands Good Food’s promotional items, T-shirts and stickers, the release stated.
Sommer Sibilly-Brown, founder and executive director of Virgin Islands Good Food, shared, “This is an exciting launch for us because we are really putting farmers and fishers in the spotlight and creating a tangible resource that can help increase their customer base and sales. It also feels special to have this opportunity to put VI food producers on the cover —front and center — to help all of us remember the important role and crucial value that farmers and fishers have in our everyday lives and futures in the Virgin Islands.”
“This year’s directory also introduces the first edition of the ‘Good Food Pages,’ which is a phenomenal new resource for residents, businesses and families. Now, everyone can build connectivity and relationships with local farmers and fishers – and we can all actively support our local food movement,“ Matarangas-King added.
The “Good Food Pages” include hours of operation and locations of local farmers’ markets, as well as contact information for farmers, fishers and food producers on St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. John and Water Island. In addition to contact information, the “Good Food Pages” listings include a list of the most commonly sold items from each producer, the release stated.
Customers can use the pages to contact farmers and fishers during business hours to inquire about current items for sale and to make arrangements for direct payment and pick-up. The “Good Food Pages” are located towards the center of the printed 2024-2025 Viya V.I. Telephone Directories and are also available online at https://bit.ly/m/Good-Food-Pages.
The new “Good Food Pages” results from a collaborative project and partnership between Viya, Virgin Islands Good Food, and the Reef Responsible Sustainable Seafood Initiative. Also known as “Reef Responsible,” the program is currently managed by the Division of Fish and Wildlife at DPNR and seeks to foster an understanding of how catching, purchasing, serving and consuming locally harvested seafood can positively influence our commercial fishery and the future of our coral reef ecosystems, according to the release.
Sibilly-Brown added, “The ‘Good Food Pages’ is an example of a true symbiotic partnership and collaboration. We are so grateful to Viya for publishing and including the guide in the phone book, which will reach tens of thousands of people. And we want to recognize how crucial Reef Responsible’s partnership has been in building a guide that includes our territory’s fishing community. It has been a joy working with partners who are so aligned in goals and intentions, and it really catapults ideas, like this one, into fruition.”
Farmers, fishers and food producers who are interested in signing up for the free listing in the next Good Food Pages in the 2025-2026 Viya Telephone Directory can start the process by visiting https://bit.ly/Sign-Up-2025-GFP, the release stated.
For more information about the “Good Food Pages” or to sign up for the 2025-2026 edition, email info@goodfoodvi.org or call 340-727-8443.
