WAYNE COUNTY, Pa. — It was a fun day at Grapevine Hills Farm in Salem Township for a hoe-down as people packed the barn with basket raffles, food, and music, all to support a well-known farm family.
"Everybody knows the Hollister family, the Hollister Hill, the Hollisterville; the family has been here for a long time, and they are just such kind, giving people," said Judy Longo, Lake Ariel.
So when the Hollister family's barn in Jefferson Township caught fire in February, people like Lisa Robertson knew she had to do something to help them rebuild.
"The next thing I said was, you know what, we're doing a barn raising, why don't we do a benefit in our barn and it just kind of morphed after that," said Lisa Robertson, coordinator.
The fire took hours for crews to put out, and luckily, no animals were hurt.
Marc and Sheryl Hollister say the support they've received since that day is overwhelming.
"I've never been one to accept stuff like this, and I can even get emotional over it," said Marc Hollister.
"It's hard for me to understand people who do not know us from Adam doing all of this work for us, just for us," said Sheryl Hollister.
People at the benefit all recall the moment they heard the news of the fire, and they came out in droves to help in any way they could.
"You get that sick feeling in your stomach, and as soon as you find out that no fatalities happened, you take a step back, take it in and then realize everything else that needs to be taken care of," said Longo.
The Hollisters say they won't be able to completely replace what they've lost, but it will be enough to help with scaled-back plans to store hay and house the farm animals.
"Well, I don't really know if we are going to be able to rebuild, it was a big barn, and with the way insurance works, it's only an outbuilding to them because I didn't have the building insured, so we're not going to be able to do a whole lot as far as a big barn," said Marc Hollister.
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