The goal of any true business is to make money, but one Texas restaurant owner closes her doors to paying customers once a week to feed those in need. For Paulette Johnson, who runs Trucker’s Café in South Dallas, cooking is her passion — and so is the Monday lunch crowd, who turn up to the restaurant for a free hot meal, toiletries and clothing, WFAA-TV reported.
Doors open at noon, and each patron is greeted with a smile and given a number and a seat when they walk in. Then, when their number is called, customers are treated to a hot, home-cooked meal. No one is turned away. Johnson said that her heart floods at the sight of the crowd, which helps to melt her own troubles away.
Johnson, who grew up in a battered women’s shelter, knows what it’s like to go without. At the shelter, she learned how to cook and to give back. “I just thank God for waking me up [to] do what I do today, because I know people out here struggling every day,” Johnson said. “It’s still hard for me, but I’m just worried about everybody that I could help,” she said. “It’s just me, and if I can help and put smiles on people’s face, that’s all I need.”
Barbara Jameson, who smiled as she was served a hot meal this past Monday, expressed her gratitude toward Johnson’s generosity. “I just feel blessed that somebody is out here to care [for] people like us,” she said.
In addition to serving the needy on Mondays, Johnson regularly takes leftover food to homeless shelters, never throwing anything away, she said.