In a cozy spot on Pensacola’s Main Street, a chef named Donell Stallworth has earned a reputation for caring as much about the people who eat there as he does about the food.
For the past ten years, a man named Charlie Hicks—an 78‑year‑old who never missed a day—has been coming in for the same lunch and dinner: a cup of gumbo with just a little rice, sans cracker. It’s a habit that put the dish on the regulars’ menu, and the staff at the Shrimp Basket had chalked it up to a simple routine.
But when Charlie started skipping his usual visits in September, Stallworth’s instincts kicked in. He’d seen enough in the hospitality business to know that a regular who disappears is a red flag.
The first calls to Charlie’s home only yielded the polite excuse of “I’m under the weather,” so Stallworth ordered the gumbo to be delivered straight to the apartment, letting the customer keep it at the door to spare anyone else from catching whatever was going on. That was the normal day.
The third day, however, the telephone rang and rang only to voicemail. Panic began to creep in. Stallworth finally decided to leave the shop, drive straight to the address, and knock. Nothing answered.
Just as he was about to give up, he heard a muffled cry for help—a faint but unmistakable human voice. He opened the door to find Charlie lying on the floor, his body broken and badly dehydrated after a fall earlier that month. The kitchen suddenly felt like a lifeline; Donell had just performed a rescue.
Hicks was rushed to the hospital for a serious, multi‑tissue injury—two fractured ribs and a severe dehydration crisis. While he recuperated, the Shrimp Basket team didn’t let the restaurant just be a place to eat; they became a support system, delivering his favorite gumbo daily to help lift his spirits.
Once he was out of the hospital, the chefs did what any good neighbor would do: they helped Charlie move into a brand‑new apartment across the street, a way to keep an eye on him and to let the friendship blossom.
His niece, Christina Neeper, later told a local journalist, “Donell and the whole team basically saved his life. Donell keeps texting him and dropping by, and it’s turned into a real friendship.”
When Charlie returned to the Shrimp Basket in December, he was greeted warmly by Donell, who said, “I’m glad to have you back, buddy,” as if they were welcoming an old friend home.
The stories that unfold in the kitchen aren’t just about cooking. After a chat that typically starts with “Let’s talk about The Andy Griffith Show,” they laugh and reconnect, sharing life stories that go way beyond the menu.
To Stallworth, having Charlie close by is not just good for business—it’s the best part of his day because, as he puts it, “he’s that uncle, that grandfather, that best friend. He’s all in one.”
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