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Friends and Family Restaurant Support

Team fundraiser
Jeremy Workman and Danielle Booth are organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Becky Young.
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Shortly before midnight on February 20th, 2023, Friends and Family Restaurant in Pearisburg, Virginia caught fire. The restaurant is owned by my mother-in-law and father-in-law (Becky and Jimmy), my wife (Autumn) is the manager, my sister-in-law (Danielle) works there full-time and I chip in part-time on weekends when I'm not working my full-time job as a logistics manager.

My mother-in-law and father-in-law opened the doors to the restaurant on April 6th, 1996 and have operated ever since. It was always my mother-in-laws dream to own her own restaurant and after meeting Jimmy that dream became a reality when Friends and Family Restaurant was opened. Becky and Jimmy were even married in the restaurant later in 1996. While owning and operating the business they raised two daughters who grew up playing and working inside the doors. When I met Autumn in 2007 the restaurant became a huge part of my life, from spending time with the love of my life (and future wife) to the weekly communion we held each Sunday with good family friends (the Robinsons) I knew the place was special. Autumn and I eventually had our own wedding and shared our first dance as husband and wife in the dining room. As the years rolled on I worked in the restaurant a lot, working on menus, doing social media, cooking, washing dishes, etc. My wife became the manager and our own kids fell in love with the place as well. The restaurant was and is a big part of our daily life. Not only has the place been an important part of my life it has been an important part of our community. Many loyal customers, friends and family have shared great homecooked meals inside the doors of Friends and Family Restaurant.

The night of February 20th and the early morning hours of February 21st were a surreal experience. We sat at the bottom of the parking hugging, crying and watching the building that has meant so much to all of us go up in flames. First responders worked diligently but the fire was too intense and an impending roof collapse resulted in the building being destroyed by the blaze. Personally, I have been torn on what should happen next, but my mother-in-law has never wavered in her desire to rebuild the restaurant that so many knew and loved. As I told them the entire time, I would fully support any decision she made and with her decision to rebuild that is what I intend to do. This fundraiser is designed for that and a little more.

First off, yes the restaurant was insured and we are still in the process of working through those details, however, we do not know how much it will truly cost to rebuild and how much we will need to truly have things back the way they used to be. My second goal for this fundraiser is to help support the employees who are now without a job. This not only includes myself and my family but 9 others as well. While we do not yet have clarity on the insurance and how much support it will provide to the employees, we anticipate a long process to rebuild and anything extra to support our employees until we are back up and running will be a great relief for those affected.

For any questions or additional information please feel free to contact me via the restaurant's Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/FriendsandFamilyRestaurant .

We will provide updates on facebook and here and will link any relevant information as well.

Local News Links.





Fundraising team: Family (3)

Jeremy Workman
Organizer
Pearisburg, VA
Becky Young
Beneficiary
Danielle Booth
Team member

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