Martins Ferry resident Barb Maguire recently experienced significant damage to her home due to a house fire which led to the community coming together to raise funds for her. (Photo provided)

MARTINS FERRY – After destruction, a community is coming together to raise money for a member who is in need.

On Saturday, at the Alerts Engine Firehouse, located at 201 S. Zane Highway, will see community members grub out on spaghetti to raise money for Barb Maguire.

Maguire’s home on Pearl Street caught on fire this past New Year’s Eve which caused significant damage to her home. All of the funds from the event will be going directly to Maguire for fire repairs.

“The biggest reason this came about is because Barb is well known in the community. She’s a giver and she gives to everybody else,” event organizer Tammy Graham said. “So a lot of our friends got together and said, ‘hey, let’s have an event for her.'”

She added that although the event is about fundraising for Maguire, it is specifically about the community coming together to support her.

The spaghetti dinner will also have basket raffles, independent raffles, gift card trees and many other items for raffle that were donated by residents.

Attendees can purchase 25 tickets for $20 or six tickets for $5. Graham added that the gift card tree raffle and certain special higher ticketed raffle baskets will cost $5 per ticket.

Raffle tickets will be sold in person at the event or online through the Facebook event page called “Pasta for a Cause: Benefit for Barb Maguire.”

Graham said that she will be livestreaming the ticket drawing on the Facebook event page to provide clear proof that nothing suspicious goes on with the drawings.

“We are going to record those draws as we pick each basket and then we will put those online so everybody can see that, you know, it’s on the up and up and then we’ll contact those people to let them know they won,” she said.

Graham added that the fundraiser was the only way that she and her friends could show their support for Maguire.

“We have a lot of community support in the area as well as out of the area as well,” Graham said. “I know that this is overwhelming for Barb, and she never reaches out for help. And again, it’s more of a community response to her to give a little bit back to her. Because she is just such a good human being. And we all just wanted to let her know that she was loved and that we were.”

Graham added that the fundraiser was the only way that she and her friends could show their support for Maguire.

Organizers thanked Gatto Food Services, Ohio Valley Awards, RSQP Print Shop, Hanover Fuel Stop and the Alerts Engine Firehouse for donating supplies to ensure the event goes well.

Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for children. The dinner will include spaghetti, salad, dinner roll, dessert, and drink.

The event kicks off at 4 p.m. and ends at 7 p.m.