I love this story: VT organic farmer's barn burns down and virtually the entire state chips in

[cali]

The Bid for the Barn (www.bidforthebarn.org) is an online auction to raise money to help Pete’s Greens Craftsbury farm rebuild after a devastating barn fire. The auction, put together quickly in the days immediately after the Jan. 12 fire, has a remarkable array of items available, including:

<snip>

Robin McDermott, co-founder of The Mad River Valley Localvore Project, organized the auction with Nancy Baron, former CSA manager at Pete’s Greens. Organizers hoped to raise $15,000, McDermott said. With two days remaining to bid, they have far exceeded their goal, she said.
“Like everyone else, when we heard about the fire it was like, ‘Oh, my God, what can we do?’ ‘’ McDermott said. “While we didn’t imagine that it would be as big as it is, we thought this would be a good way to give chefs and Pete’s customers and other people who wanted to help, a chance to give something.”

Chef/owner Eric Warnstedt of Hen of the Wood restaurant in Waterbury has donated several meals at his restaurant – including a chef’s tasting dinner for six. Friday at noon, the top bid for that meal was $1,165, McDermott said.
There are many other fundraisers around the state for Pete’s Greens, including a concert featuring Phish’s Page McConnell and Jon Fishman at 8 p.m. Thursday at Higher Ground in South Burlington (www.highergroundmusic.com)

<snip>

Johnson, 38, sent an email to members of his CSA (community supported agriculture) Friday in which he wrote about the support he has received since the fire, and his plans to “pay forward” on the donated money — essentially treating the community’s financial contributions as a loan which he will repay toward future farm aid in Vermont.

<snip>

http://blogs.burlingtonfreepress.com/sally/2011/01/28/as-money-comes-in-pete-says-hell-pay-forward/

http://www.petesgreens.com/

http://www.bidforthebarn.org/