Community Pulls Together To Reopen Restaurant

SKOWHEGAN (NEWS CENTER) -- A restaurant in Skowhegan has reopened thanks to the generosity of some of its loyal customers.

Charrier's Family Steak and Seafood has been in business for more than twenty years. In April, tough financial times forced the restaurant to close its doors.

Loyal customer Tom Mccarthy decided help the family reopen the business. He asked local business and people in the community to donate money, and raised thirty thousand dollars.

The money helped to pay license renewal fees and taxes. Co-owner Andrea Kane said she never realized how much the restaurant meant to the community.

"I was shocked," Kane told NEWS CENTER. "You know they say, 'We would really like to help,' so then when you call and you're hearing about all these thousands of dollars in checks being written, it was just, I had to take take a step back for a few moments."

Restaurant owners plan to pay all the money back within a year. In the meantime all the people who loaned money can eat in the restaurant for free.