“I’m the kitchen manager at Five restaurant on Dauphin Street. We give out free lunches on Thursday to anyone who wants to eat. A portion of our sales at the restaurant goes to American Lunch so we can afford to do this. I feed 70 to 100 each Thursday. It means a lot to work for a restaurant that values me and cares about the community. At the end of the day, we give leftovers to feed the homeless and hungry instead of throwing it away.

My mom raised me that it is not what you receive, it’s what you give. The blessings will come. My mom and grandmother taught me how to cook and I picked it up along the way. My grandmother said, ‘If you know how to cook, you don’t have to depend on a woman.’ I’ve been cooking for 13 years. One day I want to own my own restaurant.
I know what it is like to be in a difficult situation. We have three daughters. Our daughter, Camille, was diagnosed with cancer when she was three. She passed away a year later o April 29, 2017. We were at St. Jude’s in Memphis for more than six months. We stayed at a Ronald McDonald House for a while. People cooked food and cared for us. They became our family away from family. I saw what all of those kids with cancer went through and still had a smile on their faces. I learned there is no reason to have a frown over anything I go through. We live every day for Camille. She lives on through us in everything we do. My tattoo says “Family over everything.” That is how I live my life.”