The last of Jay Peak Resort’s international workers, stranded in Vermont because of Covid-19 travel restrictions, have made it home.
Most of the ski resort’s 53 seasonal workers this year were from Peru, and when the South American country closed its borders to all travel March 15 in response to the pandemic, they found themselves stuck.
Over the past few months, Jay Peak employees worked with the Peruvian consulate in Boston to get a handful of workers at a time aboard humanitarian flights.
And the last flight, carrying the last six internationals, took off Wednesday, said company spokesperson JJ Toland.
“I think there’s a sense of accomplishment for the team that worked around the clock to get these guys and girls home,” Tolland said.
The majority of the workers — some of whom were Argentines — came to Vermont in January, Tolland said. The Orleans County resort typically welcomes foreign workers on J-1 and H-2B visas to bolster staff during the prime winter season, especially in housekeeping, a common practice among the state’s resorts.
But the coronavirus crisis meant some of the workers had to extend their stay for seven months. Normally, said Tolland, people stay for three.
The resort moved the workers from dorm-style housing to some of its newer cottages, where they lived in quarantine and received weekly food via trucks.
Meanwhile, Melissa Sheffer, who runs the resort’s visa program, spent time daily talking to Pervuian officials about the situation. Officials would often call her at night to let her know about a flight the next day, Tolland said, and she’d rally workers ready to leave and arrange overnight travel for them to make it to Logan International Airport in Boston.
“As the pandemic progressed … the flights became harder and harder to come by,” Tolland said. “At some point the Peruvian government started charging, I believe, for some of the flights … but then things returned to humanitarian.”
A resort isn’t the worst place to quarantine, but the isolation impacted the internationals.
“At the end of the day, you’re not home, you’re not with your family, you’re not with the friends that you might have grown up with,” Tolland said. “And that takes a toll on you.”
Maria Davila, a college student and one of the Peruvian workers, spoke to NBC 5 earlier this week about the ordeal — and her relief.
“I’m looking forward to seeing my family, my friends,” Davila told the TV station. “But also to enjoy the food — that’s what I miss the most. Peruvian food is amazing.”
She was slated to fly home this week, NBC 5 reported.
With the relief came some sadness, Tolland said.
“There’s a camaraderie that comes with working your way through a crisis, and those bonds were formed,” he said. “They became like family.”
Davila felt the same.
“We’re really grateful,” she told NBC 5. “They treated us like we were a family here.”
Tolland said Jay Peak plans to host foreign workers again next ski season.
Several of the stranded want to return, he said.
The Jay Peak properties have been in a court-appointed receivership after allegations of investor fraud by the former owner, Ariel Quiros, and former president, Bill Stenger.
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