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Fundraiser continues for The Homestead’s Jamaican workers two months in the dark

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Longtime seasonal residents at The Homestead, John and Belynda Hudspeth, offered this Dec. 26 update for their crowdsourcing fundraiser to support 35 seasonal Jamaican workers at the Glen Arbor resort whose communities were impacted by the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa on Oct. 28. Their campaign has raised $48,000. However, the more than 80 people (including children and the elderly) directly impacted by this fund are only in the very early stages of a massive rebuilding process, write the Hudspeths. Click here to read more and for a link to donate. … In the closing days of 2025, we’re updating key stories that the Glen Arbor Sun published this year.

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Stuck in Glen Arbor, Jamaican workers worry about families after Hurricane Melissa ravages island

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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.

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