EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (WKBN) — A group of friends served homecooked meals to residents of East Palestine.

Allie Hartle and her two best friends are from Butler, Pennsylvania. After attending Wednesday’s townhall meeting in East Palestine, they decided they wanted to help. The same night, they began planning a Sunday night homecooked meal for the village.

“We went to my grandpa’s house because that’s the biggest kitchen that I have access to,” Hartle says. “And the three of us just cooked for probably, like, four or five hours straight.”

Hartle says she spent about $500 of her own money to start. She also reached out for help on social media and raised over $1,000 to put toward the meal.

“I said, ‘Wow! These people are coming from everywhere,'” says Randy Sabo, an East Palestine resident. “This is really, really nice.”

Hartle’s friends say they wanted to help her help others.

“If this were to happen to me, I would want someone to do that for me,” says Briena Dermond. “I just am happy to be able to give someone kindness and just share the love.”

A friend saw Hartle’s post and reached out to Dianna Elzer, owner of Studio 25, to see if they could host the meal there.

“Sent me a message on Facebook said, ‘Some people I know, they want to cook dinner for everybody. Can they use the old PNC parking lot, which is down the road?’ I said, ‘Well, we can do one better,'” says Elzer.

The group of friends served a warm Sunday night dinner of chicken stir fry and spaghetti with beef.