The giving spirit of the St. Cloud community shined bright once again on Wednesday.
Cobblestone, the downtown eatery and event space, held a benefit spaghetti dinner Wednesday focused on helping a pair of families devastated by nearly-simultaneous house fires early Saturday morning. One of the homes served the community by housing multiple special needs individuals.
The homes are total losses, forcing the Baxter and Foster families to rebuild and reset. They need help.
That’s where Cobblestone’s Angie Redman and Sheri Meade stepped in, arranging a benefit dinner with drinks, desserts and a dinner of spaghetti, salad and bread.
“What I do best is cook, so I decided to use my talent to feed hundreds of people and help,” Redman said. “I prayed for it, and every need was met. I didn’t ask for anything. The outpouring from this community was overwhelming. It showed what ‘St. Cloud Proud’ really means.”
The event was billed with a 5:30 p.m. start, but if you showed up then, you were one of about 100 already. Some were downtown businesspeople, others came with their whole families. A nearly constant stream of others walked out with stacks of to-go meals in styrofoam.
The dinner really started at 4:15. By 6:10, Redman worried they’d run out of food. But in the end, the event sailed passed the $5,000 goal and raised, according to Cobblestone’s Facebook page, $5,917.
And it’s not over. The restaurant will continue to accept gift cards (Amazon, Wal-Mart, restaurants, et al) for the families. The Fosters need adult diapers of all sizes, and the Baxters are looking for a place to live while they rebuild.
Those donations and gestures would just add to another positive difference and response made again in Osceola County.
