5th Generation Family Farm Needs your Help!

UPDATE Hi everyone! I am so excited and thankful! We may not have reached the monetary goal set on this platform but taking into consideration the free electrical installation, discounted commercial refrigeration work, all of the money donated in person at the store, and the checks mailed to us with beautifully hand-written letters...we made it! We have ordered the commercial compressor and it has arrived. The new electricity has been installed. The ceiling insulation has been purchased and we are waiting for it to be installed. I believe we have enough money for one of the two doors to be replaced and we are well on our way to having the second one replaced. We are looking forward to having it all completed so that we can better serve all of you! Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts! We couldn't have done it without you!

Hi, my name is Sara and I'm setting up this Go Fund Me for my husband, Chuck and our 5th generation-diversified family farm. It has taken a lot of tears and humbling ourselves to ask for help.

Chuck has worked the farm since he was 6 years old. His 88-year-old father still works the farm. His sister is our CPA, and does our taxes, payroll, and much more. His mother helps with office work, errands, and organizing things like when other family members are available to do a project here. My husband doesn't even take a salary from the farm. He is such a hard worker and about 2 months ago he went for an MRI and learned his back is broken. We recently hired help to take over some of the chores he has difficulty with due to constant back pain. The walk-in no longer working has caused us incredible financial hardship.

Part of what we do is raise dairy cows and their non-gmo feed, and use that milk to make cheese, Greek yogurt and curds. We have a farm store on the farm that is still not quite making a profit, but we are SUPER close! This past week the walk-in refrigeration died. We use two 24,000 btu air-conditioners with Cool Bot overrides - they both stopped cooling. Chuck ordered new parts and spent almost 8 hours on the phone trying to get them to work. The conclusion is that the units both need to be replaced.

We have been working towards getting a commercial condenser unit installed because the two air conditioners don't cut it if we have 2-3 high-heat days. Last summer we lost everything in the cooler during a heatwave, last week we lost about $1,000 in products. When I say the store wasn't making a profit I'm not kidding, or I would have done this last summer. There are so many costs to owning/operating a store and the raw milk liability insurance is a lot. We tried getting an emergency loan. Nope. It will be 6-8 weeks minimum.

We survive financially by selling raw milk, our cheeses, Greek yogurts and cheese curds. We have been spending $20 a day on dry ice and $32 a day on bagged ice to keep all of the products in coolers at the right temperature. This is $52 per day. We can't keep doing this. It is over $350 per week! If you think this is a worthy cause to donate a few bucks to, please share this link. We appreciate you even reading this and considering helping us.

Thank you for your time! Sara and Chuck Curtiss