Help Mr. Gant Save His Family Farm

Hi Friend,

I consider myself a farmer as an agricultural science degree holder and one-time professional horticulturalist. I maintain a 1/4 acre lot with a kitchen garden and a small flock of hens. My father, too, and my grandfather and great-grandfather as well were farmers on both sides. Now, I find myself here to help this farmer, Mr. Gant. I hope you will too.

I am the Food Pantry Coordinator where Mr. Gant gets his chicken scraps for food. This letter below has been shared with permission by a mutual friend trying to help.

NC AgrAbility, a program headquartered at NC A&T and focused on assisting farmers with disabilities, has been working since October 2023 to make sure Mr. Gant does not become homeless.

In short, he has flown largely under the radar of the official disability and medical system since he was in a seven-vehicle pile-up in the early 2000s. Prior to this accident, he worked as an electrician and has not worked on the books since. As this accident left him unable to regulate his limbic system, he experiences severe panic attacks and heart rate increases from interactions and sensory experiences you or I would consider benign: paying a phone bill, eating grilled chicken, going to the bank—much less tolerating the application process for SSI after experiencing setbacks there years ago during his application.

There is no cure for his issue. He is prescribed beta blockers to assist with this issue, but he cannot really engage much with other people. Yet, despite this, he worked as a farmhand for ten years until a heart rate episode left him unable to do that. He then relocated to his parents’ place and built a modest business selling eggs, chicks, chickens, chicken litter, and looked after his elderly parents.

From October 2023 – February 2024, we bent over backwards to see if he could qualify for SSI or other kinds of government assistance and followed many suggested avenues. Without revealing too much of his personal business, he does not. However, he has managed to pay for himself from his modest farm business until the last year. He usually lives on less than $600 a month, yet the lien on the house he inherited is more than that.

After his remaining parent died, Mr. Gant inherited the house from them, and in NC, the lien on a property is also inherited.

Beside himself with panic, he found his way to call the RAFI farmer crisis hotline last year, and through them, found his way to NC. We do not offer direct monetary assistance but do work with partners usually to find funds for assistance for disability to keep farming. While he also has an unaddressed back issue which prevents him from bending, the largest issue facing him though is this lien, which is why we have started with that.

While we were looking for additional poultry for him to keep him in business, someone was struck by his story, and she became a benefactor from March – October 2024, paying his lien. That was the window she could commit to. Had it not been for her, the bank would have foreclosed on him, and he would have become homeless. Due to his issues, he cannot move into a shelter or tolerate being in close proximity to other houses, as he is extraordinarily sensitive to things like perfumes and dryer sheet smells, etc.

Once he begins to receive Social Security, Mr. Gant will be able to pay his lien himself, and, with his modest chicken business, be able to pay his other debts and pay his own way. He lives off very little now, has no home phone, has never used the internet, rarely runs his electricity, has found old food pantry donations to feed his chickens, and pretty much can only tolerate interactions with them and a couple of wild animals he has befriended. Those are his “social” interactions besides selling through his modest farm business.

There are other technical farm-related items we can assist him with to make his farm operations easier, but we can’t do that until this main issue is solved, which is staying where he is.

He has never really asked anyone for anything until fall of 2023. He experienced a tremendous improvement in his panic level once the benefactor assisted. Assistants have been to his place six times, had a nurse evaluate him, and maintain regular contact with him.

He cannot refinance this lien as he has no demonstrable income and makes so little. In this case, he is not dissimilar to many unhoused folks, in that he has cobbled together a means to survive that, while unconventional, worked for him until recently when his parents passed.

Mr. Gant also finds deep comfort in religion, is very serious about his faith, and feels that it remains a miracle he survived what he underwent. Despite what would be very dire circumstances for most of us, and in spite of his virtual absence of tolerance for stress, he remains generally positive in outlook and has been assessed for depression or suicide risk, which he does not have.

He still needs $700 to make it until his first Social Security check. He would be very glad for even less than that, as he could attempt to make up the difference with his modest farm sales.

Update: Mr. Gant was brought to tears and ever so grateful for all your help. However, he also then disclosed he still needs help! Because of his limited income he has been living off credit cards and shared with me that he has over $26,000 in credit card debt with interest of over 30%!! There’s no foreseeable way out of the hole he’s in. He’s also just been denied food stamps as his assets (his property and farm equipment) are too great for him to qualify. If there’s anything you can spare he’s so very grateful. I’ll share updates as soon as I am able.