YOUNGSVILLE, Pa. — A benefit cookout is being organized for a Youngsville couple in Warren County whose home was damaged in a fire last October.

Robert and Sarah Thomas have been struggling since the fire, moving from place to place, while trying to get back into their home.

A fundraiser will be held Sunday at Island Park behind Tops in Youngsville, from noon-2 p.m. or until food runs out. Food choices are hot dogs or hamburgers and macaroni salad, with donations requested. It will be a drive through pickup.

The fundraiser is being organized by Brothers by Choice, an organization in the lower Chautauqua County area. Rose Nupt, who helped to organize the fundraiser, said it was decided that the benefit was needed to help the family make it through the current hard times.

“We are having this fundraiser to help get the place running again,” Nupt said. “They have no furniture, no bathroom, everything needs to be hooked up again.”

Currently, the family’s main source of income is picking up cans on the side of the road and turning them into the stores for a few cents at a time.

“Sarah Thomas is known in the area for picking up the cans,” Nupt said. “The husband, Robert, is disabled, and he works by picking up the cans as well and then hauling them with his car. His car is on its last wheels as well.”

Nupt said Sarah Thomas also used to work at Blair until it went out of business. In the winter, she rings the bell for the Salvation Army and gets paid for that.

“That’s about six weeks worth of income for an entire year,” Nupt said.

Additionally, Nupt said that Robert Thomas is in his 60s and Sarah Thomas in her late 50s.

“They really need our help,” Nupt said.