The following is the text of an e-mail sent by the Longbranch Saloon in Raleigh to its e-mail list and made available to WRAL.com by a recipient.

We Need Your Help!

To Our Dear Friends, Family and Customers,

A turn of events have happened at The Longbranch and we are needing some help. We need to have $80,000 to pay our back rent by Friday February 15th at NOON.
We are not falling behind in any other areas of our expenses. You may remember a year and a half ago The Longbranch was closed down until the building was brought up to code. We do not own this building but because of the nature of our business (the cause for needing the building upgraded), the responsibility of any renovations was entirely on our shoulders. It cost over $300,000 and we've been catching up ever since.

The club is an institution in Raleigh and has been in business for over 28 years and has the potential to be around for many more years.
Fred Wilburn has always been an owner in some copacity through the years and for the last 10 years has been the sole owner.

It's not fun for us to ask for help, but we know the idea of this place shutting down without using all our resources is worse. I know that if we shut down so many of you would come to us and ask why we didn't ask for help....so that's why we've put down our pride and are asking.

We have applied for a loan that could come through by Thursday, but we can't wait around. It might come through on Monday. We will be able to pay everyone back right away.
We are hoping that if 80 people donated $1000 we'll be set. $500 is great too.
A detailed account of all money donated will be kept in the office. A bank account with Bank of America will be opened tomorrow. You can email us for the account number to make deposits for us.

We sincerely thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You personally might not be able to help but you may know someone who could. Please have them call: 669.6065

Thank You from all of us at The Longbranch