PERQUIMANS COUNTY, N.C. — After 10 years operating in North Carolina's Harnett County, The Veteran's Farm is ready to serve veterans in the northeastern part of the state.
Commissioners in Perquimans County recently approved the organization's request to start a location near the volunteer fire department outside Winfall.
“It’s veterans taking care of veterans and farmers taking care of veterans and they turn into farmers, and then it turns into a great big community and we support each other," said founder Robert Elliott in a recent interview with WTKR News 3.
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On its website, The Veteran's Farm is described as "dedicated to helping veterans transition into farming as a meaningful and self-sustaining career."
But the benefits go beyond building a new career.
“We talk about veterans suicide a lot," said Elliott. “A lot of those suicides occur during the transitional period from military to civilian.”
He learned that himself, Elliott tells WTKR News 3, in 2011 when he was let go from a 10-year career as a U.S. Marine Corps contractor after serving in the Marines for five years.
“I grew up on a commercial farm in North Carolina in Franklin County and I saw a lot of the challenges that my folks had," he said. "I decided I did not want to do that with the rest of my life.”
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But life came full circle in the search for purpose after his military career ended.
“At the end of the day, of all things to save me was a chicken in the backyard that was like, 'Hey, dummy, you need to get back into farming,'" Elliott recalls.
By 2015, what Elliott describes as a therapeutic experience returning to the farm inspired him to start The Veteran's Farm. Located just miles from Fort Bragg, the nonprofit has been able to reach veterans in North Carolina and beyond who were interested in learning farming skills.
Now, expansion is on the horizon and Perquimans County was selected as a second pilot location.
“We’re looking [at] about four to five acres and some wooded area where we’re going to be able to put in a greenhouse, a little market house. A little fenced-in area for a little bit of livestock, chickens and honeybees and stuff like that," said Elliott.
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But to get there, he needed local help.
“Farming and military heritage [is] strong in northeastern North Carolina," said Betsy Wright Rhodes, a volunteer and board member for The Veteran's Farm, who helped get the organization connected to the right people locally. “I am from northeast North Carolina and my family’s there and we come from farming heritage and it makes sense that I would develop that part.”
Wright Rhodes is also working on an introductory event for locals called "Boots on the Grange" at the Perquimans County Recreation Center outside Hertford.
“All the work that Betsy has done in the northeastern part of the state has really been quite mind-blowing to me and the warm welcome that we’ve been getting from Perquimans County," Elliott said.
WTKR News 3 is told that plans for the actual site outside Winfall are still in the works, but construction is expected to start later this year.
