ELKINS — A meatball hoagie benefit fundraiser is being planned to support a community member and local contractor who was severely injured after a fall in April.

Tickets to purchase the meatball hoagie meal are on sale now and will be available on Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church on 315 Kerens Avenue in Elkins. To buy tickets for the meal, contact Lynn Ritter at 304-642-6483.

Made by the St. Patrick’s Ladies Guild of Coalton, the meal will include a meatball hoagie, chips and bottled water. Attendees are welcome to eat in or carry out. Meals can also be ordered for delivery, but must be pre-arranged by request.

Proceeds will go toward supporting Elkins resident Tom Badgett, who sustained critical injuries after falling off a ladder in April.

Badgett, described by his son, Matt Badgett, as “a lifelong resident of Elkins and a well-known contractor for more than 30 years,” broke his neck, five ribs and suffered a compressed spinal cord injury from the fall. Badgett remained in the hospital in Morgantown from April 15 to May 20 and had to return to the hospital for a period from June 28 to July 24.

“They did emergency surgery to remove all the bone out of (Tom Badgett’s) neck, to put in pins and rods and used cadaver bones,” Matt Badgett said in a written statement. “They said he would be paralyzed from the neck down, but with lots of prayers from everyone in the community and his strong determination, he is that 1%.”

Proceeds from the fundraiser will go toward helping with Badgett’s medical expenses, rehabilitation costs and provide essential equipment, such as a walker, an ILEVEL wheelchair and a wheelchair ramp.

After school, Tom Badgett was in the army for two years before realizing that “his true calling was construction,” Matt Badgett states. Tom Badgett was a DCT volunteer at the Randolph County Technical Center at Elkins High School for several years, with Matt Badgett describing his father as someone who “loved to give his knowledge to the younger generation.”

Tom Badgett also worked through the COVID pandemic putting up the protection barriers in the Randolph County Court House.

“He is moving and walking a little bit with a walker. The doctor does believe he will be walking again, it will just be a slow process,” Matt Badgett said in his written statement. “He is unable to work and isn’t sure if he will ever be able to continue doing the work that he loves.”