| Triangle Y-Camp | |
| Description: | Triangle Y-Camp is an indigenous-led food security and food sovereignty initiative rooted in the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé of Panama. Dr. Timothy Zellmer serves as Director of the Rotary Club project. Bernardo (Itili) Salina Palacio — a Ngöbe tribal member and agronomist — serves as Director of Instruction, operating from the project’s permanent home: the Centro de Capacitación Seguridad Alimentaria (Food Security Training Center), located in Llana Ñopo, inside the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé. The Training Center is open to all — indigenous and non-indigenous alike — and serves as a hub for food security education across Panama and beyond. The project’s co-founders include Rodrigo “Gigo” Vergara, a master nursery grower, and Newman Washington of Hunter Health Systems in Wichita, Kansas, USA — an Eastern Shoshone co-founder with ancestral ties to Sacajawea, serving members of over 200 tribes. The Ngöbe-Buglé community drives the vision: to train their own people and spread proven food security methods across Panama and to the world. Rotary eClub One serves as the sponsoring partner — providing structure, accountability, and global reach, not control. The program trains community members to grow and teach sustainable food production using a three-part model: conservation food gardens, Moringa trees, and small-animal protein (rabbits). Dr. Zellmer, Bernardo, and a growing team of new certified trainers have traveled multiple times into Chiriquí Province and Bocas del Toro Province to deliver certified Food Garden Instructor trainings beyond the Comarca itself. Since the first five-day camp in March 2025, over 100 Food Garden Instructors have been certified — the majority from the Ngöbe-Buglé community itself — using a “see one, do one, teach one” model in which each certified instructor becomes the trainer of the next generation. |
| History of Involvement: | The program has been self-funded by its founders. Rotary Club support is now essential to sustain and scale what has been proven to work. In April 2026, Triangle Y-Camp launched the Panama Heirloom Seed Bank — a separate initiative focused on the preservation, propagation, and distribution of open-pollinated heirloom seeds for long-term food sovereignty. This work is carried out in partnership with the ECHO Global Seed Bank (headquartered in North Fort Myers, Florida, with a regional Impact Center in Guatemala). Verbal commitments have been received from Panama’s Ministry of Agricultural Development (MIDA) and the Minister of Agriculture of Chiriquí Province to support seed propagation and extend national organic certification to Triangle Y-Camp graduates at no cost. Presentations have been made to Rotary clubs in Quito and Baños, Ecuador — respectively the oldest and youngest Rotary clubs in the country — with interest in expanding the Triangle Y-Camp model to South America. The Centro de Capacitación Seguridad Alimentaria is equipped with Starlink satellite connectivity to support training, communication, and curriculum development across the Comarca and with international partners. Triangle Y-Camp is a project of Rotary eClub One — District 5450, operating under the motto The World is Our Territory. |
| Location: | Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé, Panama |
| Timeframe: | 2025 |
| Rotary and NGO Partners: | Triangle Y-Camp is an indigenous-led food security initiative rooted in the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé of Panama. Dr. Timothy Zellmer serves as Director of the Rotary Club project. Bernardo (Itili) Salina Palacio serves as Director of Instruction, operating from the permanent Centro de Capacitación Seguridad Alimentaria in Llana Ñopo — open to all. The program trains community members in conservation food gardens, Moringa trees, and small-animal protein production, with certified trainers traveling into Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro provinces to expand the program beyond the Comarca. Since 2025, over 100 Food Garden Instructors have been certified. The program has been self-funded by its founders; Rotary Club support is now essential to sustain and scale what has been proven to work. The Panama Heirloom Seed Bank, launched in April 2026 in partnership with the ECHO Global Seed Bank, supports long-term food sovereignty through heirloom seed preservation and distribution. A project of Rotary eClub One — District 5450. |
| Member Sponsor: | Timothy Zellmer |