12/14/25 Update: Thanks to St. Bridgets Community Center, Rachel, who sponsored the concert with SeaStrings . A donation bowl raised over $500. Central Mainers are so generous and compassionate to people they don't even know. Miquel was able to finish the Zinc roof (I am still trying to load up the photo of the shelter.) He plans to buy a chain saw with this xtra $ and start removing trees from roads and so people can build shelters and start planting .
11/15/25 Update: A local woman and a musical group will be offering a concert on Sunday, December 14th, at 2 p.m. at the St. Bridget Center in Vassalboro, Maine.
to raise money for the family . this will go to buy the metal “zinc” for the roof. If you can’t attend or would like to donate toward the roof, you can either send any amount via SpotFund or contact me directly.
11/14/25 update: Miquel's brother was able to use the stones and sand (meant to repair the wall from the tree damage in June) to pour a concrete slab for a small room . With the $400 raised so far in Spotfund, he bought the wood and supplies to make the walls of the room. He is hoping to locate a metal roof ( another $400) Prices are high and supplies (if even availability ) are low. They fortunately had a relative in Kingston who was able to obtain a 2 burner Coleman type stove to start to cook ( they do have the 5 gallon propane tanks. There will probably not be electricity for many months, if not a year, and the water pipes are broken throughout the village. Miquel is allowed to take back 100 # on the plane (another $100 fee) and plans to make enough money this week to buy some clothes and shoes for the family and a small solar lamp that can charge the phones.
10/31/25 I met Miquel 6 years ago through some friends when he first came to Lemieux's Orchard in Vassalboro to do seasonal work. A serious, family man, his faith in God was severely challenged when he lost the home in Jamaica from Hurricane Melissa. His wife was able to take a video during the storm from a neighbor’s home. ( First clip, sorry I am no techie so it is sideways) .
In St. Elizabeth area , up in the mountains , the gusts were recorded as 220mph. It first blew out their windows , then doors, then the roof. When the bed started blowing away , she fled to her neighbors, with the 4 children. (Photo of 3 of them on the front page from last year).
The other video shows their village the day after the storm , with only a few homes standing. All of the family’s possessions were blown away except the broken frame of the bed. A tree had been blown and smacked the cinder block walls, buckling the walls so that at least one has collapsed.
While the storm miraculously spared them their lives, it dealt a devastating final blow to the morale of the family. Six years ago, the family had been suddenly evicted from an apartment (there are few protections for renters and people can be thrown out on the street with little notice). Miquel poured most earnings from the work here in Vassalboro into his hand built , modest two-room home. Things started to turn around for him. His daughter had just been named #1 in Jamaica for cross country running and was offered a scholarship to a local premier high school. His wife had started a small “ma and pa” store nearby to supplement his agricultural earnings. But in January 2025, his wife had severe head trauma from an MVA. She had barely recovered, when their son had a hernia rupture and needed emergency surgery. (In Jamaica, a family must provide the money for even emergency care before a person is treated.) If that wasn’t enough, in June , a tree fell on his new home , requiring a wall and new roof and bathroom that was still being repaired at the time of the storm.
Then Hurricane Melissa hit while he was still up in Maine picking apples.
He hopes to be back home before Thanksgiving as the apple season has ended.
Your generosity can make a world of difference to get a roof over their head. Any amount will help give them hope again.
The wall of the house that collapsed after a tree hit it.
