Columbiana Co. comes together for children of fatal crash victims
EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio - The Fire Street Grille in East Liverpool is answering the call, and firing up the grill, to lend support in a big way to the family of a Columbiana County couple that died in a head-on crash on Sunday.
The owner of the Fire Street Grille, Scott Cox, who is also a Calcutta Firefighter tells 21 News, they sold over 900 steak
Eight children were left behind after a triple fatal crash that claimed the lives of 11-year-old Addisyn Benzel, 39-year-old Jamie Nign, and his wife, 26-year-old Meghann Nine.
The couple, both Calcutta Firefighters, had 4 children together, and Jamie also had 4 children from a previous relationship.
Joyce White of Columbiana County says it was important to attend the fundraiser in a show of support, "It's so sad. We all have children. We all have grandchildren."
Family, friends, first responders from a number of communities and strangers have come together as one, for the day long fundraiser at the Fire Street Grille, offering steak or spaghetti dinners for under $10 and a chinese auction.
100% of the proceeds raised at 9-hour event will benefit the couple's young children and their care.
Beaver Local School bus drivers who attended say, it's a tragedy that hits home. Some of the couple's children are students in the district.
Lisa Cibula of Lisbon says, "If it hurts one family in our community, it hits us all."
The outpouring of support has been overwhelming, business, private citizens, joining firefighters to provide donations including 500 New York Strip steaks, to pull this fundraiser together.
Scott Cox is the owner of the Fire Street Grille, "Just people donating, saying do you need this? Do you need that? ... And we put it all together."
Cox says he worked with Jamie and Meghann Nine as a Calcutta Firefighter, but he's known Meghann nearly all of his life.
He say she always had a hug for everyone. Now it's the community hugging her back.
But the support for the deceased couple's children does not end there, Jim Shaw is Meghann's uncle and he tells 21 News, the community has also donated the materials and the labor to build several bedroom's and an additional bathroom at the grandmother's home, where some of the children will now live.
