Patricia Brown hasn’t heard from her 4-year-old daughter who lives with her grandmother on the southern coast of Jamaica, which Hurricane Melissa pummeled on Tuesday, Oct. 28, as a Category 5 hurricane. Telecommunications are spotty around the country in the aftermath of the storm—the strongest to strike the island in modern history. Brown has worked as a seasonal employee at The Homestead resort in Glen Arbor for the past 14 years. The Homestead employs 35 Jamaicans as housekeepers on a seasonal basis. Some have returned to the job in Glen Arbor for 20 years. They work hard, and play an indispensable role in Leelanau County’s tourism-based economy. We’ll update this story as we learn how the families are doing—and how the Leelanau County community can support them as Jamaica recovers from Hurricane Melissa.