A Great Reason to Skip Tomorrow's Latte

This morning our town saw a fire downtown that destroyed people's homes as well as two local restaurants much-loved in this community. Those restaurants -- Backyard Pizza and the very newly opened The Peddler -- are both owned by a young couple, and also staffed by young adults and other hard-working people. Backyard is home to my favorite pizza ever -- the Warren Pear, which is too delish to describe in words. More importantly, the service and atmosphere are just friendly and outstanding.

The fire was a total freak accident, and I know the entire city of Huntington is distraught. My friend Sarah, her boyfriend Kevin and I JUST had dinner at Backyard Pizza last night ... so heartbreaking to know that was our last meal there -- our last meal only for a while, I'm sure.

I am confident and hopeful that both restaurants can come back better than ever, and I'm also confident that our city will come out in full force to help Drew and Megan rebuild, as well as to help those who are, for now, unemployed.

If you want to donate, another awesome local person set up a GoFundMe page, which you can access here. $4,245 has already been raised, which is AWESOME. Maybe take the $5 you'd spend at Starbucks on the way to work tomorrow and donate it instead? This is one of the reasons it's awesome to live in a smaller town. People just come together in a big way.

I know everyone will join me in keeping the first responders, the restaurant owners and employees and all those who lost their homes today in our prayers.