About Us

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Lindsay & Dan Smith were determined to help our fellow military community and survivors of traumatic events. After a decade of volunteer work on several Board of Directors for  Nonprofits, Lindsay knew they wanted to not only help a cause, but find a way for it to fund itself and operate through our community by also helping the volunteers serving those that serve. 

With a 20 Year Background in Hospitality, it was not surprising Lindsay developed the plan for The Barn at Smith Acres, LLC.

Shown here is the original drawing on that napkin in 2018.

It surely didn't happen overnight. And it wasn't for a lack of effort. Things like new babies, new jobs, a PCS, a Pandemic, a broken spine, and then a direct hit from a Category 5 Hurricane all set us back a bit. 

But we're yet to lose sight of the plan. We will build a venue that will hosts events that will assist in paying for services, retreats, family gatherings, trainings and more for our fellow Veteran and First Responder Families.

In Early 2022 the land was purchased and we began to build. July 2022 the foundation was poured, and never will we forget the day the exterior of the building was completed... September 25, 2022. Just 3 days prior to us taking a direct hit from Hurricane Ian as a Category 5 and demolishing our community as we knew it. The building didn't have a scratch; but many neighbors did & we went to assist them instead. In February 2023 we were finally able to begin working on our building and grounds again to works towards our goals.

WHAT • A • YEAR! 

So around January 2024, we finally finished the white barn enough to start hosting events to raise some money for overhead and events. Until then, we still stuck to our goal and passion and held events for Lee County First Responders & Veterans Out of our own pocket. Our hearts couldn’t had been any fuller! ♥️ 

But THEN we got the news that Dan was being deployed to Syria. So that’s that.

Then I was contacted by the county that our AG Status wasn’t renewed. So that meant no more events.

So then I cried. Prayed. But never lost focus on this beautiful property had been ours to be blessed with for a purpose! So then more Agricultural & Husbandry Classes began! We got more animals & training and turned around and shared it with our AWESOME community; which was just as excited to learn this stuff as us!!

Fast Forward to ending of 2024, Dan is home from deployment, our farm is bringing joy and education to our community & we have raised just enough funds to host a VETERAN’S COUPLES RETREAT

for this upcoming Valentine’s Day Weekend!!

We feel that God has led us here, refused to let us give up when things got hard, and here we are… ready to serve!