ITHACA, N.Y. -- In the wake of a dangerous and potentially tragic ordeal -- local businesses are trying to help out. They're offering free meals and food to the miners and first responders.
The owner of the State Diner in Ithaca brought sandwiches and pizza to the miners. They also offered a free meal Thursday to any of the miners or first responders.
The owner says in an area of small towns and a close community, she wanted to reach out and help her fellow neighbor.
"We're a small, tight knit community and all we want to do is help. We had a fire here a few years back and we know what it is to have people help us so we wanted to give back. On top of that, some of those miners and workers are some of our patrons and we were concerned about them," said Georgia Stavrapoulos, the State Diner owner.