‘Rinky Dinks family’ holds benefit for Greene County family that lost home in gas explosion
Gideon Bradshaw/Observer-Reporter
Andy Gregg of Greensburg performs Sunday during a benefit for the White family – whose members lost their Morgan Township, Greene County, home in a natural-gas explosion Oct. 31– at Rinky Dinks Roadhouse outside Amity.
Gideon Bradshaw/Observer-Reporter
Melissa Gaso, left, of Graysville and Nikki Cowden of McDonald set up desserts for Sunday’s benefit for the White family.
Less than two weeks after a natural-gas explosion destroyed the Whites’ home, a closely connected but far-reaching network of friends and acquaintances rallied to raise money for the family members as they rebuild their lives.
“They’re pillars of the community,” said Nikki Cowden of McDonald, Sunday in the back of Rinky Dinks Roadhouse on Route 19 in Amwell Township.
“The White family, in general, is just awesome people,” added Crystal Patterson who lives nearby in Amity. “They’d be the first one to help anybody that needs it.”
Patterson, Cowden and Melissa Gaso of Graysville were arranging a table full of homemade desserts.
On a second table sat covered buffet-style trays of spaghetti and meatballs prepared by roadhouse owner Ralph Moore.
“There’s a whole bunch of us that’s helping,” said Patterson, whose daughter, Autumn, learned to ride horses from Lora White 13 years ago. Her husband, Don, has known Lora even longer. “Everyone that’s helping is friends with the family.”
Lora and her husband, Mike White, shared their Bowser Road house with their son, Cody, his girlfriend, Samantha Adamson, and their 4-year-old, James. The dwelling erupted in flames Oct. 31 when Cody turned on a stove.
Cody lifted burning walls of the house to free Samantha and James before all three were flown to Pittsburgh’s UPMC-Mercy hospital. Mike and Lora weren’t in the house at the time.
The Whites were at the benefit dinner Sunday, but they politely declined to be interviewed.
Representatives for the state Department of Environmental Protection and Public Utility Commission, two of the agencies called out for the explosion, said Friday their investigations are ongoing.
“State agencies await additional information before any conclusions can be made on the cause of the explosion and whether the gas source or sources are under DEP’s jurisdiction or other state agency or federal jurisdiction,” DEP spokeswoman Lauren Fraley said.
A house next door to the Whites’ was evacuated that day because it had filled with gas, too.
A spokesman for Peoples Natural Gas, which served the Whites’ home, previously said the gas could have come from a number of sources, including the company’s main line, another company’s line, a storage well nearby, or nearby coal mine. There are several gas wells in the area.
Just an hour or two into Sunday’s event, Patterson estimated attendance around 200. She said there was no set end time.
Singer-songwriter Andy Gregg, a Daisytown native who now lives in Greensburg, started off a lineup of about half a dozen musical acts. He played guitar and sang some of his own music, which he described as classic country.
Gregg’s fellow songwriter Jackson Gardner, who’s originally from Waynesburg, sat near the back of the hall. Gardner said he and Gregg were going to play together later on.
Before they went up, Moore himself picked up a guitar and led a country ensemble that included several basses, plus drums, a banjo and fiddle.
Gardner, now of Morgantown, W.Va., described the Whites as “part of the Rinky Dinks family,” saying the bands and regular customers know each other.
Gregg agreed.
“That’s what everybody does for everybody else …,” Gregg said. “It’s a tight-knit family, so anything we can do – they’d do for us.”