Davis Barn Fire

Ambry Fleming Ducharme is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

Many people have heard of the devastating barn fire in Norwich/Preston on Tuesday, January 11th. This barn was the main barn of a working dairy farm that has been in the Davis family for generations. The Davis’ have been customers at Fleming’s for 35+ years and their oldest daughter, Jen, has been my best friend for over 20 years. They are salt of the earth people who value family,

honesty, and hard work.

The barn that burned was the farm’s milking parlor, workshop, storage loft, and more. Thankfully no one was harmed. But they did lose their main source of income along with decades of time, effort, supplies, and mementos.

Keeping the animals afloat, cleaning up, and beginning to rebuild has proven more difficult than anticipated as not only the structure was lost but also all tools, feed, storage space, and so on. For example, on day one after the fire, clean up couldn’t begin until someone went to the store to buy shovels, brooms, and wheelbarrows. Similarly, it was time to feed the cows but all feed and hay had been destroyed. Thankfully local farmers have come together, as farmers do, to help the Davis’s in a pinch but then the question became, “well, how do you store hay without a barn?” You get the picture. How do you rebuild without a single tool?

The Davis’s can’t rebuild without tools and building materials. They can’t keep their animals without food and shelter. We can’t bring back the structure or things lost but we can help to make moving forward just a little easier. Many people have asked me how to help and this is what I thought may be the easiest way to allow as many people as possible to help. Anything that is collected through this Go Fund Me will be put towards rebuilding the milking parlor to get the family back to their livelihood as quickly as possible.

Sue and Phil Davis are proud, hardworking people who find it very difficult to accept assistance from others, even from those closest to them. And although many have already stepped up to help (family, friends, farmers and members of the community) it’s still not enough. They are ready to take on this challenge on their own but I’ve seen this community come together before and do amazing things and I’m calling on you to do it again.

And on behalf of the Davis family, I know they have the deepest gratitude towards each and every person who has thought of them, offered to help, perhaps donated items or time. They are completely overwhelmed but have been touched by the outpouring thus far.

Thank you for you consideration.

From Sue & Phil and their family:

We wanted to reach out to each and everyone of you and say thank you so much for your support through such a difficult time for us. We can not even begin to express how grateful we are to have you in our lives. We have been so overwhelmed to hear from and have support from high school friends, farm friends, friends we haven’t seen in years, new friends and the support of people we don’t even know. The community has really stepped up to help and we will never forget it. We have a long road in front of us, but each of you have helped to make it a little easier.

An update and our plans:

Looking ahead- we have started cleanup. We have cleaned the milking parlor- which was the only standing part of the barn. We have also cleaned the calf barn- which will be turned into the dairy. The cows finally seem to have settled a bit after such a scary night for them. We were able to milk them and will continue to, until they are fully dried off. This will allow some time for us to rebuild. We hope to put a roof on the parlor and the dairy next weekend. And then we will work on the free stall area after. We have a lot of cleanup which will take time, but we are hopeful. Know that each of you have contributed in the rebuild of our farm. Thank you all again.

Forever Grateful,

Sue & Phil Davis

And Family