Help Pat’s Pastured Rebuild After Our Market Truck Fire

Last week, Pat’s Pastured experienced one of the hardest days in our farm’s history.

While traveling to our Saturday farmers markets in Rhode Island, our refrigerated market truck caught fire and was completely destroyed. Thankfully, everyone made it out safely. But within minutes, we lost not only the truck itself, but also refrigeration equipment, coolers, cooking equipment, farmers market tents and displays, meat inventory, tools, supplies, and countless other pieces of equipment our farm relies on every week.

The truck wasn’t simply a way to get to the farmers market.

It was one of the most important pieces of infrastructure in our entire farm operation.  And now, with the help of our community, we’re working to rebuild.

How the Fire Has Impacted Pat’s Pastured

Our refrigerated truck is used throughout the year to safely transport thousands of pounds of pasture-raised meat and other farm products.

It supports nearly every area of Pat’s Pastured, including:

• Farmers markets throughout Rhode Island
• Product transportation and deliveries
• Our USDA poultry processing operation
• Refrigerated storage during busy production weeks
• Our Farm Store
• Our To-Go Cart at Hope Street Farmers Market
• Farm dinners and special events
• Educational programs
• Thanksgiving turkey pickup days
• Off-site community events
• Equipment and supply transportation

Losing the truck has impacted far more than our ability to get to market. It has disrupted the day-to-day infrastructure that allows us to raise food, safely move products, serve customers, support our employees, and keep the farm operating year-round.

The Immediate Impact on Our Farmers Markets and Farm

The effects of the fire were immediate.

On the morning of the fire, we were forced to completely rethink our Saturday operations. Our staff was consolidated at Hope Street Farmers Market, which meant Pat’s Pastured was unable to attend two of our other regular farmers markets that day.

Even at Hope Street—our busiest weekly market—we were operating at a fraction of our normal capacity. We weren’t able to open our To-Go Cart and were unable to bring our usual full inventory of products.

For a small family farm, those lost sales matter tremendously.

We depend on the revenue generated each week through our farmers markets, Farm Store, online orders, events, and other sales channels to pay our employees, purchase feed and supplies, care for our animals, and keep the entire farm operating.

At the same time that we experienced a significant loss of revenue, we suddenly faced the enormous expense of replacing the equipment necessary to get back to work.

What Was Lost in the Fire

We are still completing a full inventory of everything that was destroyed, but we expect the total loss to exceed $100,000.

Major losses include:

• Our refrigerated box truck
• Commercial refrigeration and cold-storage equipment
• Large coolers and insulated transportation equipment
• Grills and cooking equipment
• Farmers market tents, tables, displays, and signage
• Equipment used for events, dinners, educational programs, and turkey pickups
• Food-service supplies
• Tools and operational equipment
• Meat inventory and other farm products
• Hundreds of smaller pieces of equipment and supplies accumulated over more than 20 years of farming

Some things can be replaced fairly quickly.

Others—particularly the refrigerated truck and commercial equipment—will take considerably more time and investment.

We’re Already Rebuilding

We do have insurance, and claims were filed immediately following the fire.  However, we do not yet know how much of the total loss will ultimately be covered or how long the insurance process will take.

What we do know is that we aren’t waiting to get back to work.

Our team has already started securing temporary refrigerated transportation, replacing essential equipment, rebuilding our farmers market setups, and finding ways to adapt our daily operations so we can continue serving our customers while we rebuild.

Since the fire, one question has come up again and again:  “How can we help?”

The kindness behind that question has been overwhelming.

So, after hearing it from customers, fellow farmers, neighbors, friends, and people throughout our community, we decided to say yes.

How to Donate to Pat’s Pastured

We’ve created several ways to support Pat’s Pastured as we recover from the fire. Choose whichever option is most convenient for you.

Donate Through GoFundMe

Our GoFundMe fundraiser has an initial goal of $60,000 and will help us bridge the gap between our total losses, immediate recovery expenses, and what insurance ultimately covers.

[Donate through our GoFundMe →]

Donate Directly Through Pat’s Pastured

If you prefer not to use GoFundMe, we’ve also created a way to contribute directly through our website.

You can choose your donation amount and add it to an existing online order or make a contribution on its own.

[Donate directly to Pat’s Pastured →]

Donate Through Venmo

You can also support our rebuilding efforts through Venmo:

Venmo: @pcmcniff

Every contribution—large or small—helps us replace essential equipment and allows us to focus our energy on continuing to farm, care for our animals, support our team, and serve our customers.

What Your Support Will Help Us Rebuild

Funds raised will help us:

• Secure temporary refrigerated transportation
• Replace refrigeration and cold-storage equipment
• Rebuild our cooking and To-Go setup
• Replace farmers market tents, tables, displays, and supplies
• Replace equipment used for farm dinners, turkey pickups, educational programs, and community events
• Replace lost meat inventory and other products
• Cover emergency rentals, transportation, and recovery expenses
• Begin replacing larger pieces of equipment essential to our operation
• Bridge the gap between our total losses and what insurance ultimately covers

Our goal is not simply to replace a truck.  Our goal is to keep Pat’s Pastured moving.

Other Ways to Help Our Local Farm

Financial contributions aren’t the only way to support us.

Keep Shopping With Pat’s Pastured

Continue visiting us at our farmers markets, shopping at the Farm Store, placing online orders, and choosing Pat’s Pastured for your family’s food.

Every purchase helps keep our employees working, our animals cared for, and our farm moving forward.

Share Our Story

Sharing this post or our fundraiser with friends, neighbors, family members, and anyone who believes in supporting local farms can expand our reach far beyond what we can accomplish alone.

Come See Us

Show up at the markets. Stop into the Farm Store. Come to an event.

Seeing familiar faces and continuing to serve this community means more to our family and team than we can possibly express.

And if making a donation isn’t possible right now, please don’t feel that you need to. A share, an order, a market visit, or a kind message is meaningful support.

Our Goal Is Simple: Keep Farming

Right now, our goal is simple.

Keep farming.

Keep our team working.

Keep caring for our animals.

Keep showing up for our customers.

Keep serving every market, every event, every family, and every community that depends on Pat’s Pastured.

The fire happened in minutes.  Rebuilding will take much longer.  But we’re committed to doing exactly that.

A Personal Thank You From the Pat’s Pastured Family

One of the things that has surprised us most since the fire isn’t just the loss—it’s the overwhelming kindness we’ve experienced.

We’ve received messages from customers, fellow farmers, neighbors, friends, and complete strangers asking one simple question:  “How can we help?”

Asking for help doesn’t come naturally to us.  We’re farmers. We’re used to figuring things out, fixing what breaks, getting up the next morning, and getting back to work.

But Pat’s Pastured has never belonged only to our family.  For more than 20 years, thousands of customers, employees, fellow farmers, volunteers, neighbors, and friends have become part of this community.

You’ve watched our children grow up behind the farmers market stand. You’ve attended dinners on the farm, brought your kids to educational programs, picked up your Thanksgiving turkey with us, shopped at our Farm Store, trusted us to feed your families, and shared our story with others.

You’ve helped build this farm right alongside us.

So when so many of you asked us to give you a way to help, we decided to say yes.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.  We’re going to rebuild.  

We’re going to keep farming.

And we’re going to keep showing up—for every market, every event, every employee, every animal, and every family who depends on Pat’s Pastured.

With gratitude,

Pat, Kelly, Marin, Cavan & the entire Pat’s Pastured Team