Mary Anne’s Meats started as a small deer processing operation in 2002. From 2002 to 2007, Mary Anne upgraded her facility to bring it up to state meat inspection guidelines. Her business exploded and soon she was hiring people and expanding the operation. She experienced ups and downs over the years, but nothing would prepare her for the events of the summer of 2017 and beyond.

June 1st of 2017 was a normal day until a local customer mistook her gas pedal for her brake and drove through the front wall of Mary Anne’s Meats. The force of the vehicle struck the solid oak sales counter and sent it crashing towards the rest of the equipment. The building buckled east to west. Fortunately, no one was injured, but when damage was assessed it was determined that Mary Anne would not be able to reopen until extensive repairs took place. Due to a dispute with her insurance company, what seemed like a fairly straight forward process drug on for months (and now years). Mary Anne’s employees had to find other jobs and her customers had to find other vendors. Although months passed and her business remained closed, she wasn’t forgotten, “I remember every time I would get discouraged or think about giving up, I would get a note in the mail or a knock at the door, someone just stopping to check on me.”

Mary Anne would need that encouragement as she searched for answers through the winter months. After over a year, the answer she was hoping for didn’t come. “When you lose your job, or in my case your business, it consumes you until you find a resolution. I worked so hard for so long that the idea of letting it go wasn’t an option. I had to find a way to make it happen and pray my customers would come back.” Her mind was set as she mortgaged her properties and sought help from those that were able to help her including Farmers State Bank, who gave her the financing she needed. After nearly 14 months, extensive repairs were completed and Mary Anne was ready to re-open.