EPHRATA — Dozens of attendees packed 12 Hawks Bar and Grill in Ephrata on Friday, buying drinks and T-shirts in support of Tanner Williams, a 26-year-old local who suffered a devastating accident that left him hospitalized and partially paralyzed.

On July 25, at Quilomene Dune along the Columbia River, Williams was pulled from the river by bystanders, including two trained EMTs, according to Kristyn Puntenney, who organized a GoFundMe page for Williams. Though it’s not clear what had occurred, those EMTs had to perform CPR for 45 minutes while Williams was transported to a boat launch and then to an ambulance, Puntenney wrote.

Once at the hospital, a CAT scan revealed that Williams had fractured his neck and needed to be placed in a medically induced coma while he was transported to Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane. After delays, Williams went in for surgery the next day, and a titanium cage was installed in place of a fractured vertebra. Further surgeries were performed or scheduled to add more hardware to help Williams recover from extensive damage to his spinal cord.

On Aug. 3, Puntenney wrote that Williams was able to breathe on his own and could feel and move his arms, though he continues to experience paralysis in his lower body.

Puntenney’s GoFundMe page far exceeded its initial $25,000 goal and had surpassed $38,000 raised towards Williams’ medical bills as of Sunday evening, and private businesses such as Ten Pin Pizza held their own fundraisers to help support the local.

For 12 Hawks, which donated all proceeds earned Friday evening to Williams, it was the first day the bar’s doors had been opened since the pandemic hit Grant County in March, said owner Les Day in an interview. Increased costs to operate the bar while also at reduced capacity, all to stay in compliance with state pandemic restrictions, weren’t financially feasible in most circumstances, Day said.

But Friday was an exception, with loyal customers buying a pint from the Ephrata business for the first time in months, and likely for the last time for months to come, Day said, all in support of a local man in need. Staffers, who hadn’t worked the bar since March, volunteered their time, while community members donated the produce and cooking oil used Friday, according to a post by the business on social media.

By the end of the night, the business had racked up over $7,500 to support Williams’ recovery.

General manager Amy Jeffery described the fundraiser as “a total success.”