Help Farm Workers Recover Stolen Money

Hello, My name is Barney Hodges, I, along with my wife Christiana, own Sunrise Orchards in Cornwall, Vermont. For 50 years our family farm has been an important part of our community's working landscape and during that time we have been blessed with the opportunity to hire, each year, workers from Jamaica whose hardworking hands have harvested millions of pounds of apples and helped keep hundreds of acres of Vermont landscape open, spectacularly beautiful and an integral part of our community visually and spiritually. Quintessential Vermont! This winter we have six workers living on our farm packing apples and pruning apple trees alongside several locals we also employ. These workers are a part of the 40-person workforce we hire annually to harvest our crop from August-October. Their Names are Headley, Donovan, Uroy, Willoughby, Joseph and Ivan.

Sadly, on January 27, 2023, there was a burglary at our housing unit, a place these men call home during their time in Vermont. Over $18,300 of their hard-earned money was stolen along with some personal belongings. This was a violation not expected in our quiet, intimate community. For some of the guys, this was their current life savings; money they would use when they return to Jamaica to send kids to school or renovate their homes.

We have little to go on in terms of catching the thief(s). We have no security cameras, which in hindsight was a mistake and the worker's reliance on local banks, was not encouraged enough as their money was stored in the bunkhouse rather than safely in a bank account.

We would like to help our workers get their money back, by raising all of it through this GoFundMe campaign. In addition to this, we would like to install security cameras on the property and improve the locks on the doors making their home away from home safer and allowing the men to feel more comfortable about their belongings while at work. These workers were targeted by criminals who knew that farm workers have cash and they are predictably away from their home during the day (the burglary occurred while the men were at the apple packing house between 1:00 PM and 4:00 PM on January 27).

For those who contribute and live locally, we will be having a harvest celebration in the fall, complete with traditional Jamaican goat stew and Manish Water to say thank you to those who donate and to continue to develop and foster the sense of community and flavor Jamaican workers bring to our region. This gathering will be open to all who would like to come but is a direct thank you from the workers to those who donated to help our cause.

Thank you for your support,

Barney and Chris Hodges

Sunrise Orchards - Cornwall, VT