SANTEE, S.C. — A month after a fire destroyed a Midlands landmark business, hundreds gathered to donate money and show support for the employees.
The last month has been anything but easy for Mike Henderson. He's one of the dozen employees at Lone Star who's been out of work since the Christmas fire.
"It's just been stressful with my bills, and my car, and even diapers," Henderson said. "It's just every financial, or just getting out of the house."
He said he remembers the years of work and, most importantly, the family built in that restaurant.
"I met people that brought me out of the depths that I was in and really turned my life around, just by the coworkers or even the people that would just come in and eat," he said.
A fire in December destroyed centuries of history inside the Santee landmark.
Racheal Henderson and her husband Cory are the current owners of Lone Star, taking it over just a few years ago. They described the last month as stressful.
"It's hard on everybody else, especially our workers, they relied on us to pay the bills," she said.
On Saturday, they hosted a public fundraiser at the Roadway Inn off I-95 to raise money for the employees who are out of work now. On Saturday afternoon, a line stretched from the cafeteria to the front door. Mark McLeod said he showed up to show his support for the Lone Star family.
"My family and I have been going to Lone Star for years to eat. It was one of the best restaurants around," he said.
Throughout the afternoon, hundreds filed in; just two hours after they opened, Racheal Henderson said they'd sold over 300 plates.
"The love that's been shown in the community, we couldn't ask for anything better than that. Today is a perfect example of that; everybody showed up," she said.
The family said they want to rebuild and put the Lone Star back on the map. However, there isn't a timeline for when that might be.
"We're gonna have to come back smaller than what we had, but we'll still have the same food, same great barbeque," Racheal said.