In the early morning hours of March 5, Cafe 72 in Clements was completely destroyed by a fire.

Now, friends are rallying around owner Peggy Hobbs as she relocates the popular cafe to the old Catfish Inn location at 12250 Hwy. 72 West.

Saturday, March 19, from 11 a.m.-4 p.m., friends of Hobbs are having a benefit chicken stew at the new location to help with the purchase of new equipment.

“We opened Cafe 72 in October of 2011 –– 10 1/2 years. It used to be the Colt Dairy Barn originally, and it was built in the 1970s. A light fixture in the office overheated, that’s what the fire marshal told me,” Hobbs said.

None of the equipment in the burned Cafe 72 location was able to be salvaged, and there was no insurance on the building.

“Everything we have all worked hard for is down there, and we carried it to the scrap yard. It’s so sad,” she said.

Hobbs plans to move her cafe to the new location permanently and has been busy this week deep cleaning and pressure washing the building in preparation for the benefit chicken stew.

Chicken stew can be bought by the gallon, quart or individual meal.

A bowl with a dessert and drink is $9, a quart is $12 and a gallon is $30 with proceeds going to help Hobbs.

“My friends are the ones putting on the stew to help us get restarted. So we can buy equipment and buy food to help us get back up and going again,” Hobbs said.

“We’ve had all kinds of small donations made to us by individuals, which has been wonderful. People have donated things for the stew, but we are just a little short of what we need. We have some wonderful friends.”