(Photo provided) Woodsfield residents Madison Morisco, left, and Kaitlin Kinney prepare prizes for their raffle to help support workers who were injured in the recent orphan well site explosion in Washington County.

WOODSFIELD — Madison Morisco and Kaitlin Kinney are stepping up to help their neighbors who were injured in a recent orphan well site explosion in Washington County.

They are selling raffle tickets for $5 each to raise money to support three Monroe County residents involved in the incident. The money will go to help Remington Weckbacher, Chazz Bates and Christopher Pinkerton with their medical expenses.

Six people were injured in the late August explosion, five from Monroe Drilling Operations and an inspector from the Ohio Department of National Resources. The crew was plugging an orphan well – a well with no owner – in Wayne National Forest. The injured workers were first taken to Memorial Health System in Marietta and later transported by medical helicopters to other facilities.

“It’s close to home. I feel like Monroe County is a really tight-knit community, and I feel like everybody usually comes together when something bad happens,” Morisco said.

Kinney said her children attend Beallsville Elementary School, and the mother of one of the injured workers is a secretary at the school, so she felt she needed to step up and help.

“Our school district is all connected, so it makes it better and easier for everybody who wants to donate,” Kinney said. “Our motto is, ‘Always together is better.'”

She added that she and Morisco are just trying to help the community because she believes Monroe County is filled with residents who help out as much as they can.

“We’re a small community, but we’re all spread out in different schools and all, but we still always just seem to come together and support one another,” Morisco said.

She added that during difficult times is when a small community like Monroe County tends to pull through for each other.

Morisco said when a tragedy happens, it tends to make people want to help because they understand the need. She said those residents also understand that if their family went through something traumatic, they would want their neighbors to do the same.

Tickets will be sold until Oct. 11.

First prize is a gift card tree worth nearly $600. Second prize is a YETI tailgate cooler filled with various football-themed accessories. Third prize is a $50 gift card to JLK Carry Out in Beallsville. Fourth prize is a coffee lover’s basket filled with various coffee treats, and fifth prize is a 19.5-inch stainless steel, smokeless, wood-burning firepit.

Those interested in purchasing raffle tickets can contact either Morisco or Kinney on Facebook or call Morisco at 740-213-8296 or Kinney at 740-213-3045.

Both Kinney and Morisco wanted to thank the community for its participation and asked for everybody to continue to send prayers to the injured workers and their families.

“They’re improving, so I think that if people want to continue to pray that could help,” Kinney said.