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A tragic barn fire offers an opportunity to express farmer support
by John Klar
On April 6, while the Nodes family was attending church, their barn caught fire with numerous pigs and sheep trapped inside. By the time the family rushed home, it was too late to extinguish the fire or even rescue the livestock.
I recently met this family, and Jacqui and I were scheduled to have dinner with them that very Sunday evening. Instead, this tragedy struck, all too familiar to farmers everywhere.
I visited with Eric Nodes on Tuesday afternoon, and the devastation is still being cleared. The family is in shock but also has been happily blessed with a huge outpouring from the Vermont community. Eric told me that neighbors he had never met had stopped by in support. While I was there delivering some maple syrup and pastoral support, a woman drove up and offered the family an envelope with cash, and soon, another woman arrived with food for dinner, including corn chowder made by her husband and a bottle of maple syrup.
I am proud to be part of a community of generations of farmers who understand this all-too-familiar trauma and who rallied quickly to support this young family who is new to the area. They will rebuild, as Vermonters always do after floods, fires, or other tragedies.
I share this Substack this morning to invite my readers to support this family also, either with a cash donation or simply a note of prayer, as permitted by a fundraiser. Please also consider sharing this post to inform others about this tragedy and the opportunity to support a rural Vermont farm family as they rebuild.
The author is a Brookfield best-selling author, lawyer, farmer and pastor.
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Categories: Agriculture, Commentary, Vermonters Making A Difference
Many of us wonder what we can do to help turn our once strong state around, and helping our salt of the earth farm families, especially those with many children, is a direct investment in the people of our future. We can build the future through them even while the malefactors destroy until they self-destruct. Thank you John Klar for highlighting the need of this farm family with 9 children. Their barn burned while they sat in church praying for others.
This is so devastating. Any fire is tragic, but one with so much loss of animals is heartbreaking. I was glad to see the Go Fund Me a few days ago, so I could contribute at least a little. All that some folks are doing is “like it used to be” here in Vt., incl. “Barn Raisings”.