‘A part of our family’: N.L. farm fundraises for Jamaicans in wake of Hurricane Melissa

It was a windy Saturday at Lester’s Farm Market in St. John’s, where Oshane Barrett is a seasonal worker, but his mind was on a much more destructive wind thousands of kilometres away at his home in Jamaica. 

Hurricane Melissa tore through the Caribbean island nation last week as one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes to make landfall.

Melissa battered the country with sustained winds of up to 295 kilometres per hour, leaving massive destruction in its wake. 

“As Jamaicans we try our best to be in high spirits, but at this point now we’re in low spirits to know that the devastation has really affected us,” Barrett told CBC News on Saturday.

“We're just trying to be strong, trying to do as much as we can to help and assist back at home.”

To that end, Barrett said a recent fundraiser at the farm gave the Jamaican seasonal workers a big boost. 

On Saturday and Sunday, admission fees for the farm’s field of fun were all donated to help the Jamaican employees and their families. The farm also accepted donations at its craft fair on Saturday. 

Meanwhile, an online fundraiser through Lester Farm Market’s website was set up for anyone who couldn’t make it to the farm in person. 

Farm owner Susan Lester Ryan says they employ about a dozen Jamaicans every year as seasonal workers. She says the farm wouldn’t run without them. 

“Most of the veggies that you see here on our shelves have been harvested by them or grown by them.”

Barrett has been working at the farm seasonally for five years now, and describes working in Newfoundland as a good fit for him.

“It just feels like home to me,” he said, noting the similarities among the two island cultures. 

“Jamaica and Newfoundland always had good ties — when you gave us the cods, and we gave you the Screech rum — so, it's always been like that.”

As for Lester Ryan, she said the farm wanted to help in any way possible.