An Army of Normal Folks - What If We Stopped Treating People Like Mascots? (Pt 1)

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

What if the problem isn’t a lack of compassion—but a lack of expectation? Ruth Thompson was preparing for retirement when a literal dream led her to open Hugs Cafe, an incredible restaurant in McKinney, TX that employs adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. In this episode, you’ll learn why lowering the bar hurts people, how raising it changes lives, and what happens when normal folks decide to stop clapping for effort—and start training for excellence.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You've got a passion. You've got a great heart. You have some experience with people with disabilities, but you don't have anything else, really. You're absolutely right. I had no experience in running a business, running a restaurant, running a nonprofit. You know, we just started talking to friends at our church about it.

It's interesting the number of people who said, I want to help you with that. We had a woman. She was the major fundraiser. at a university in Kansas. She said, I know how to fundraise. I want to help you with that. We had another gentleman who was CEO of a restaurant equipment company.

And he said, oh, my gosh, I can help you with that. We're Episcopalian, we pass the peace. And instead of saying the peace of the Lord be with you, I say, Kim, tell me about your location, downtown McKinney. and she said, I want hugs in my building. You ask me how I did this? God put all these people in my path. Welcome to an army of normal folks.

I'm Bill Courtney. I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband. I'm a father. I'm an entrepreneur. And I'm a football coach in inner city Memphis. And somehow that last part led to an Oscar for the film about one of my teams. That movie's called Undefeated.

Guys, I believe our country's problems are never going to be solved by a bunch of fancy people in nice suits, using big words that nobody ever uses on CNN and Fox, but rather by an army of normal folks. That's us. You and me deciding, hey, I can help. That's what Ruth Thompson, the voice you just heard, is done. Her restaurants, ain't no ordinary restaurants. Hugs Cafe employs adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. That's 85% of their operating staff.

And Ruth's episode will teach you how to listen to callings on your heart, how an army of normal folks in your community can make crazy callings like Ruth's happen and how people with disabilities can do far more than our culture empowers them to. But Ruth and her army are going to change all that. And I cannot wait for you to meet her right after these brief messages from our general sponsors. Segregation and today integration at night. When segregation was the law, one mysterious black club owner had his own rules. We didn't worry about what went on outside.

It was like stepping on another world. Inside Charlie's place, black and white people danced together. But not everyone was happy about it. You saw the KKK? Yeah, they were just dressed up in their uniform. The KKK set out to raid Charlie, take him away from here. Charlie was an example of power. They had to crush him.

From Atlas Obscura, Rococo Punch, and visit Myrtle Beach, comes Charlie's place. A story that was nearly lost to time. Until now, listen to Charlie's Place on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. You know Roll Doll, the writer who thought up Willie Wonka, Matilda, and the BFG. But did you know he was also a spy? Was this before he wrote his stories? It must have been. Our new podcast series, The Secret World of Roll Doll, is a wild journey through the hidden chapters of his extraordinary, controversial life.

His job was literally to seduce the wives of powerful Americans. And he was really good at it. You probably won't believe it either. Okay, I don't think that's true. I'm telling you. I was a spy. Did you know Dahl got cozy with the Roosevelt's? Played poker with Harry Truman and had a long affair with a congresswoman.

And then he took his talents to Hollywood, where he worked alongside Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchcock before writing a hit James Bond film. How did this secret agent wind up as the most successful children's author ever? And what darkness from his covert past seeped into the stories we read as kids. The true story is stranger than anything he ever wrote. Listen to the secret world of Roll Dahl on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Babes, what are you doing? What? I'm just mowing the lawn. No, it's blazing hot and dry out here. Don't you remember? Smokey Bear says, Avoid using power equipment when it's windy or dry. Where'd you learn this?

Oh, it's on... Smokeybear.com with many other wildfire prevention tips. Right. Thanks, honey. Because remember, only you can prevent wildfires. Brought to you by the USDA Forest Service, your state forester, and the Ad Council. For decades, people traveled across the world to see John of God. Desperate for cures no doctor could offer.

And when they arrived, they saw things they couldn't explain. This is real. This guy's actually doing surgery, and it's a miracle. I never believe that miracles were real until that point. But behind those adoring crowds was something much darker. One of the reasons why I never went to the police is because I saw at least five or six men with guns everywhere he went. That was clear to me, like, close your mouth, don't open your mouth, don't say anything. I'm your host, Martina Castro.

And in the podcast, Two-Faced, John of God, will look back on a man who claimed he could perform miracles and got people from all around the world to believe him, from exactly right and Adon de Media. This is Two-Faced, John of God. Listen on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Ruth Thompson, welcome to Memphis. Thank you. At long last. Yes.

After two million delays. That's okay. That's okay. She still brought you a present through all those delays. You brought me a present? I did bring you a present. What did you bring me? Okay.

I brought you wedding cake cookies. Wedding cake cookies. cake cookies. Get out of town. From Hunt's Cafe. If you bring a fat guy something to eat, everything stops. It is taped. How do I open it?

There's tape. Look at that packaging. That's cool. I see. This is highly packaged. So our number one dessert is wedding cake cookies. Oh my goodness. They taped it well.

Well, does it taste like wedding cake? Because I love wedding cake. I'm not going to say a thing. Oh, my goodness. Until you put it in your mouth. house. Do you want some? Oh, yeah.

I'm going to give one of the casches too. Do you want to buy cashes? Here we go. No, thank you. Here. I don't get a whole one? Do you really bring the rest of it? I'm not eating a whole one.

I'm just eating a whole one. Alex, what's? Oh, my gosh. That is so good. Yeah, he's going to eat the rest of it. Yeah, I'm probably ate some more. Holy crap. Isn't that wonderful?

So I was telling her about the cake lady on the drive-over. We had a person. Why is Ruth Thompson bringing me? cakes, and it's because she's a founder, or wedding cake cookies. Wedding cake cookies. She's a founder of Hugs Cafe, which is a little spot and started as a little most spot in McKinney, Texas, that you are going to be shocked at what it does and what it has become and what it continues to become, I guess.

Most definitely. So while I eat this cookie, let's jump. right in because Ruth, you were about to retire. I mean, you were on the verge of retirement. You've lived a full life. Why don't you just stay comfortable and be done? Well, I hope it's okay to say this right here, but God's had other plans. It's okay to say anything you want to say right here. And we have plenty of people who listen to us who have faith. Some are Jewish, some are Christian, Some are agnostic, but I think everybody respects people's perspective.

So tell me about how you know God had a different plan for you other than to retire and go fish. Yeah, yeah. And I love fishing, by the way. But, yeah, I was getting ready to retire. And there's a long story that leads up to it. Do you want that story that leads up to it? We'll get to that. Okay.

Why don't you just tell me? why you didn't retire. Tell me... I didn't retire. You were sleeping one night. Yeah, I had a dream two nights in a row of a restaurant that employed adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. And this was in 2012. My husband and I had planned.

He had done such a great job all our lives, planning for 2013, the year of retirement. And his reply to my dream was, we've got to do it. God's hitting you with a two-by-four. We've got to do it. Briefly, what was the dream? It was a restaurant. And in this restaurant, the majority of the people working there were people with special needs. Intellectual and developmental disabilities, Down syndrome, autism, three-bore palsy.

And, yeah, it's, we did it. We had never worked in a restaurant. Well, I digress. When my husband was 17, he worked in an A&W fast. Hardly a restaurant. Yes, yes. They got burgers and rupeer floats. They got burgers and rupeer floats.

Yes. And your husband's name? Chris. My husband's name is Chris. Is it lost on anybody that you started a restaurant and together your names are Ruth's Chris? You know, that's how we get people to remember our names. We introduce ourselves as Ruth's Chris, no steakhouse. Hilarious.

All right, so the first dream, you said it was two nights in a row. Yeah. Well, explain that. I mean, you dreamed it and then you dreamed it again. And by the way, I've dreamed things, and I didn't decide to change my entire life's plans and go do stuff. So this was a dream. It must have been heavy on your heart.

It was. It was. And I had been teaching adults. with special needs, how to cook at home. And he would come in and volunteer. So he kind of got the bug. He, Chris. My husband, yes, Chris.

And he would volunteer. He got the bug. He fell in love with a population of people that I had fallen in love with. We don't have a family member with disabilities, but we've now got about 70, no 90 loved ones with disabilities. But, you know, we had to do it. In what capacity were you working with adults or kids or whomever with disabilities? Sure.

You just said before the dream you'd been, were you volunteering, teaching people with disabilities, how to cook and care for themselves? No, I was, there was a new grocery store that it opened in McKinney right before I moved there. McKinney, Texas, right before I moved there, called Market Street. They had a cooking school, and I was hired as the manager of the cooking school. My primary job was to book Dallas local chefs to come in and teach the home cook how to up his or her game. That's kind of cool. Yeah, it was really a lot of fun. And that brings, I guess, conceivably brings more people into the grocery store to buy.

So it's a part to bring people in. Absolutely. Yes. as soon as they take a class, they want to go down and shop for all of the neat ingredients. And I had a passion for adults with special needs. Where did that come from? That came from Colorado. I lived in Colorado for 30 years.

And the last job I had up there was CEO, our executive director for a company that was a for-profit company that provided care for really families that had severe children with severe disabilities. We started a day program there for adults because there's nothing for them after they age out, of school, which is the age of 21, and that's across the nation. So we started a day program for adults, and I fell in love with a population of people that are taught me so very much. How do you fall in love with the population of people that the vast majority of folks, when they see people with disabilities, turn away or walk the other way,

or at worst, stare or are appalled? You know, I just think it's my heart. I'll give you a prime story just very recently. I was shopping in a shoe store, just walking around. And there's a woman there pushing a child around. The child was 12, and he's in a stroller. And to me, it was very obvious that he had autism. He was nonverbal, and he just had some of those obvious signs.

And I walked up and started talking to him. I mean, that's what I do. And the mother started crying, and she said, most people turn away and walk down another aisle to avoid us. And you didn't. And that's just who I am. The reason I ask is because when I first met Lisa, my wife of 35 years, when I went to pick her up, the very first night at her front door, I was greeted by a seven-year-old guy named Ben, her little brother, who clearly had some form of disability. He was not, Downs was not his ailment. And he wasn't all. autistic, but like you say, he had obvious signs of some disability in his speech and his mannerisms and his look. But he had a big smile on his face, and he introduced himself, shook my hand

vigorously. And since then, for 35 years, Ben has been a part of my life. He's my children's uncle. He's my wife's brother. He's my in-law's son. But I got to tell you, 35 years with Ben has not been without a lot of challenges. We certainly understand the 21-year-old aging out thing and what to do next. Aging parents in the mid-70s and how do they care for a 40-something-year-old 250-pound guy who, when he gets frustrated, could get angry. All of the things that I have no doubt if you have had a heart for and worked with folks with disabilities you understand.

So I get the bomb crying as you greeted her autistic 12-year-old in a wheelchair or a stroller. What I don't get is how you decide a retirement you want to take this population on. It's hard. I want to agree with you and say it is, but we still travel. That's what we wanted to do when we retired, and we still travel. We have staff, but we also have these people in the world that needs somebody to advocate for them. And we have to be that person. And now a few messages from our generous sponsors, but first, we've launched our first six local service clubs around the country.

At a time when only 33% of Americans are concerned, contributing in their community at the level that they want to, the mission of these clubs is to make service easier for everyone. The first six are in Memphis, Oxford, Wichita, Atlanta, Ozaki County, and the Milwaukee area, and North Duchess County, which is New York. If you live in one of these areas, visit the service club section of our site, NormalFolks.com, and get plugged in. Like other Army members that are launching clubs in their communities later this year,

including San Antonio, Lincoln, Nebraska, Huntsville, Alabama, Licking County, Ohio, Lorraine County, Ohio. If you happen to live in one of these following areas and are interested, email Alex at Army at normalfolks.us, and he'll get you connected to them. We'll be right back. Segregation and a day integration at night. When segregation was the law, one mysterious black club owner had his own rules. We didn't worry about what went on outside.

It was like stepping on another world. Inside Charlie's place, black and white people danced together. But not everyone was happy about it. You saw the KKK? Yeah, they were dressed up in their uniform. The KKK set out to raid Charlie, take him away from here. Charlie was an example of power. They had to crush you.

From Atlas Obscura, Rococo Punch, and Visit Myrtle Beach, comes Charlie's place. A story that was nearly lost to time. Until now. Listen to Charlie's Place on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. You know, Roldahl. The writer who thought up Willie Wonka, Matilda, and the BFG. But did you know he was also a... spy? Was this before he wrote his stories? It must have been. Our new podcast series, The Secret

World of Roll Doll, is a wild journey through the hidden chapters of his extraordinary, controversial life. His job was literally to seduce the wives of powerful Americans. What? And he was really good at it. You probably won't believe it either. Okay, I don't think that's true. I'm telling you, the guy was a spy. Did you know Dahl got cozy with the Roosevelt's, played poker with Harry Truman, and had a long affair with a congresswoman. And then he's took his talents to Hollywood, where he worked alongside Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchcock, before writing a hit James Bond film. How did this secret agent wind up as the most successful children's author ever? And what darkness from his covert past seeped into the stories we read as kids.

The true story is stranger than anything he ever wrote. Listen to the secret world of Roll Dahl on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Babes, what are you doing? What? I'm just mowing the lawn. No, it's blazing hot and dry out here. Don't you remember? Smokey Bear says,

Avoid using power equipment when it's windy or dry. Where'd you learn this? Oh, it's on... Smokeybear.com with many other wildfire prevention tips. Right. Thanks, honey, bear. Because remember, only you can prevent wildfires. Brought to you by the USDA Forest Service, your state forester, and the Ad Council.

For decades, people traveled across the world to see John of God. Desperate for cures no doctor could offer. And when they arrived, they saw things they couldn't explain. This is real. This guy's actually doing surgery, and it's a miracle.

I never believe that miracles were real until that point. But behind those adoring crowds was something much darker. One of the reasons why I never went to the police is because I saw at least five or six men with guns everywhere he went. That was clear to. me, like, close your mouth, they'll open your mouth, don't say anything.

I'm your host, Martina Castro. And in the podcast, Two-Faced, John of God, we'll look back on a man who claimed he could perform miracles and got people from all around the world to believe him. From exactly right and Adonde Media, this is Two-Faced, John of God. Listen on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You know, you said you had two dreams. Mm-hmm.

Some would call that a calling. Do you call it a calling? I do. This is our ministry. This is our ministry. Well, how do you know it's not just a dream? How do you know what is a calling? And you're about to retire.

You've worked your whole life. Your husband, Chris, has, as you said, planned for retirement. Mm-hmm. And you've had this dream. Certainly you're passionate about people's disabilities because of what you've just told us. But for those listening, we've all had thoughts about things we would like to do or we think would be good for society. And then we go on about her daily laughs. What about this was so poignant to you that this was more than a dream and it was a calling?

and what does it say about your belief that you had a responsibility to answer that calling and that at your age, that calling didn't have an expiration date? Yeah. A dream two nights in a row, the same one, everything about it. I don't believe I have ever had. And a dream that was so real. I don't think I have ever had. I did go and talk to my priest about it,

and he said, yes, this is God talking to you. And he said, but usually God needs a two-by-four for me to listen. And he said, well, maybe two, the same dream two nights in a row as your two-by-four. We just knew. We just knew we had to do this and make a difference in someone else's life. It feels like it rides on the coattails of the introduction that you probably never saw coming was the culinary program that you talk about, right? Right. So how'd that start?

I mean, what I just heard was Housewives coming in to buy groceries. I did not hear a culinary program at a grocery store for people's disabilities. So how did it morph? Yeah. When I was interviewed for the manager's position, first of all, when I got to Texas, I wanted to continue that line of work with adults with disabilities and could not find anything. There were no opportunities truly at that time, not only for someone looking for work, but for that population. It was very slim. Love to cook, had a passion for cooking and hospitality, and the cooking school it opened.

When they asked me what my passion was, and I told them about my work with adults with special needs, they said, make it work here. In Colorado. In Texas. In Texas. Yes. When I applied for the job, interviewed for the job as manager of the cooking school in McKinney, the person interviewing me said,

What are you passionate about? And I told them about my work with adults with special needs, how I just had this passion for them. And she said, make it work here. So I started cooking classes. And again, teaching them how to do something as simple as scrambling eggs and making toast. All the way up to one class, I got real ambitious

and taught them how to make pasta. Never did that one again. It was fun. It was fun, but very messy. And we started these classes in 2005. I retired in 2013. And when I left there, we had over 120 adults with special needs who would take classes from us in one month. That's phenomenal.

Yes. Which obviously is what planted the seed for the dreams and for what you're doing now. Yeah. But during that time, I read something that I found fascinating. You said that it was there that you developed a hot take, which was we often treat people with disabilities like mascots. What in the world are you talking about? There, some people look at adults with disabilities as they're fun. They make me smile.

You know, they laugh a lot. But there's so much more to them. And they want to learn. They want to learn. So that's what we're doing. I guess your take on mascots is another way of saying, tongue-in-cheek that a lot of the way we think about people with disabilities is condescension.

Yes. Yes. I like the mascot word better, but condescending. But that's what you're saying. So true. Yes. Aren't they cute? Yeah.

In the South, we might say, bless their heart. Bless their heart. Or you also tell the story of silverware. Let's give them just some silverware jobs. You can tell that story? Yes. And that's so often a restaurant may say, well, we hire somebody that has disabilities and they roll the silverware. And it's, they can do so much more than just roll silverware.

Or a grocery store. It irritates me sometimes when someone says, oh, the local grocery store, and I won't name many names, hires those people, and they bag groceries. Try to put them in the bakery. Oh, my gosh, put somebody with autism in a bakery. You're going to have some fabulous items coming out of there, and they're going to be the same way every single time. We could attest to that. We just ate it. Right. Right. So with that background and that mentality, you have this dream, but a dream is a long way from starting a restaurant.

Yes. Which we're going to get to. But I do want to just drop a couple of quotes on you before we go to the actual restaurant that you said. At hugs, we don't clap for effort. We train for excellence. We don't clap for effort. We train for, in other words,

we don't pat folks on the back for showing up. You have the same expectations of them on the basics as you do with someone without disabilities and you expect them to rise to the occasion. I want you to talk about that. And you also said when you lower the bar, people disappear into it. I love that quote.

Talk about both those things. Yeah, the first one was... You don't clap for effort. train for excellence. Absolutely. We have people who have been at the cafe for 10 years. We don't have turnover. And they want the same thing that you and I and Alex and everyone else wants in this world to be successful and to have their own purpose. And training for excellence. We have one young woman, I'm going to call out Tamika, who is, she's on the spectrum, and she's very, very quiet. But that woman can run our kitchen. And we have promoted her to kitchen lead. And she started out,

never having been in a kitchen. But we trained her for excellence. and this is what we've got now. She now trains, if we have a new volunteer, she trains the new volunteers that come in. If we have new staff, she trains them. And this is a woman who just wouldn't talk. Who was probably destined to roll silverware. Who was destined to roll silverware.

If she were in another restaurant, that's what she would be doing. Because your approach is we train for excellence, we don't just clap for trying. That is correct. When you lower the bar, people disappear into it. They do. We have another young man, Danny. And Danny also, oh my gosh, I wish I'd brought Danny with me.

We now have an ambassador program, and some of our mission-based staff will go out when I go out to speak, and they will go out and speak. Danny is one of our ambassadors. We could have just let Danny. He started out in the dish pit as a dishwasher. He could still be there. He's been there for 10 years at the cafe. He now runs the front of the house, the dining room. Some people don't know what front of the house means.

He runs the dining room. He runs the dish pit. He goes out and speaks about his. journey with hugs and we could have left him in the doing dishes in the dishpit and he would have faded away. In other words, if you lowered the bar to that, he'd have disappeared into that forever. Absolutely. We'll be right back. Segregation and the day integration at night.

When segregation was the law, one mysterious black club owner had his own rules. We didn't worry about what we'll be. on the outside. It was like stepping in another world. Inside Charlie's place, black and white people danced together. But not everyone was happy about it.

You saw the KKK? Yeah, they were dressed up in their uniform. The KKK set out to raid Charlie, take him away from here. Charlie was an example of power. They had to crush him. From Atlas Obscure,

Rocaco Punch and visit Myrtle Beach, comes Charlie's Place. A story that was nearly lost to time. Until now. Listen to Charlie's Place on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. You know Roll Doll, the writer who thought up Willie Wonka, Matilda, and the BFG. But did you know he was also a spy? Was this before he wrote his stories? It must have been.

Our new podcast series, The Secret World of Roll Doll, is a wild journey through the hidden chapters of his extraordinary, controversial life. His job was literally to seduce the wives of powerful Americans. What? And he was really good at it. You probably won't believe it either. Okay, I don't think that's true. I'm telling you, the guy was a spy.

Did you know Dahl got cozy with the Roosevelt's? Played poker with Harry Truman and had a long affair with a congresswoman. And then he took his talents to Hollywood, where he worked alongside Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchcock before writing a hit James Bond film. How did this secret agent wind up as the most successful children's author ever, and what darkness from his covert past seeped into the stories we read as kids. The true story is stranger than anything he ever wrote. Listen to the secret world of Roll Dahl on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Babes, what are you doing? What? I'm just mowing

the lawn. No, it's blazing hot and dry out here. Don't you remember? Smokey Bear says, avoid using power equipment when it's windy or dry. Where'd you learn this? Oh, it's on Smokey Bear.com with many other wildfire prevention tips. Right. Thanks, honey, bear. Because remember, only you can prevent wildfires. Brought to you by the USDA Forest Service, your state forester, and the Ad Council. For decades, people traveled across the world to see John of God. Desperate for cures no doctor could offer.

And when they arrived, they saw things they couldn't explain. This is real. This guy's actually. doing surgery, and it's a miracle. I never believe that miracles were real until that point. But behind those adoring crowds was something much darker. One of the reasons why I never went to the police is because I saw at least five or six men with guns everywhere he went.

That was clear to me, like, close your mouth, don't open your mouth, don't say anything. I'm your host, Martina Castro. And in the podcast, Two-Faced, John of God, will look back on a man who claimed he could perform miracle. and got people from all around the world to believe him. From exactly right and adorn de media, this is Two-Faced, John of God. Listen on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. So with that background and mentality and that background of experience and that background of passion, which, by the way, we say constantly around here that the beauty and magic happens when someone's passion intersects with opportunity. Well, you clearly had the passion.

You had the calling and the dream. But a restaurant, that's a long way. And even classes to teach folks with disabilities how to cook, and even a background at the grocery store, although all of that clearly were steps along the way to setting you up for this ultimate goal, screwing up your retirement, you're still a long way away from a restaurant, from a facility, from a location, from having cash flow to or operation capital to buy food to deal with to own silverware and plates and places to sit and all of the places, all of the things you need to cook like stoves and ovens.

I've worked in restaurants. I put myself through college going through restaurants. they're expensive enterprises to start up and your burn rate, meaning those first few months where you're doing nothing but spending money trying to get things going often kills enterprises before they ever get going. And candidly, you've never run a restaurant or run a business. So I don't even know if you know any of what I'm talking about at that point in your life. I'm certain you do now having done this.

But great, you've got a passion. You've got a great heart. You have some experience with people with disabilities. you feel like you have a calling, you have a dream, but you don't have anything else, really. So how does a dream in saying yes to them or a calling and saying yes to them? How does opening a real world cafe with that basis, how does that work? Yeah. Literally what I said rang true because of the look on your face when you did the long, yeah.

you're absolutely right. I had no experience in running a business, running a restaurant, running a nonprofit. We are a nonprofit organization. Yeah, you also got to get set up with a 501c3, and that's miserable. Oh, yeah. I mentor people now on all of the things not to do. That you learned by doing them probably. Yes. Yes. But really, how does that work? How do you, You and Chris are sitting there looking at each other. We got a dream. We got this. We got this little bit of experience, but we don't know what we're doing, but we're going to go try to do it.

I mean, I don't even know how that happened. How did, really, how does it take us back? Yeah. To those first days. You know, we just started talking to friends at our church about it. This is what we want to do. And it's interesting, the number of people who said, I want to help you with that, who had what we needed.

We had a woman who said, I want to help you with that. And she was a fundraiser before she moved to Texas from Kansas, I believe. She was the major fundraiser at a university in Kansas. She said, I know how to fundraise. I want to help you with that. I know how to write 1023 is the form that you've filed for your nonprofit. I know how to do that. Let me help you.

We had another gentleman who was CEO of a restaurant equipment company. You're kidding. No. I had no, and he was a friend. I had no clue what he did. I mean, we had just been friends for a long time. I knew he traveled a lot. But I told him what we wanted to do.

And he said, oh, my gosh, I can help you with that. You ask me how I did this. God put all these people in my path. I didn't know what E.J. did. I didn't know what this other woman. You know, everybody was in, the right people were there. I also read that you were already resigned to, you're going to have to put this thing out away from everything

because rent and a place was so expensive. Oh, yeah. And then sitting in front of your church one day. That's right. The story with the building is, is February of 2015. You know, I'm not very good at remembering dates, but boy, that's when I remember. Well, hold it. February of 15, you had the dream in 13.

So you've been doing prep on this for 18 months? Yes. We had been working on applying for the nonprofit status, and we had started raising some money by doing big sales. I mean, the things that we did to raise money. And, you know, boy, if somebody wrote us a $100 check, I was praising God. A $100 check doesn't cover the spoilage for the day. Were you trying to raise $1.8 million or something? Yeah. You're trying to raise $1.5 million.

You know, how do you eat an elephant? One bite in a time. I understand, but my goodness. Okay, okay, bear with me. Got it. I'm with you. So we're raising money. By the way, the look you gave me when I said that speaks to your determination back then

because you looked at me like I was an idiot for even saying such a thing. Yes. You were bound and determined clearly. Okay, so go ahead. Yes. I had my board of directors. They were getting us through the processes. I was working every single day on this.

And actually, we put together a concert. Downtown McKinney, let me set the stage a little bit. Downtown McKinney, Texas is this beautiful, old historic courthouse, which is now a performing arts center. And McKinney Square is a tourist attraction, all these wonderful stores that people come to. and we have October Fest and Home for the Holidays and all sorts of fun things during the year. It is Norman Rockwell incarnate. And so we had a concert to raise money. Our former mayor, well, at the time he was not our mayor,

George Fuller's wife, Maylee Fuller drove by, And she said, what's going on? And someone told her what was going on. And I came out to introduce myself to her. She has a nonprofit organization, Love Life Foundation, and she donates to nonprofits. And she had written a check for $100. And I came out, I told her what we were getting ready to do. And by damn, she added another zero to that check. and that was our first $1,000 check. And I cried, yes. But, you know, we did, like I said, we did every, we auctioned off mixers. You know, buy us a mixer.

So people would, we would auction off a mixer. They don't get the mixer. They get to give us the money for a mixer. Anyway, February, we're still trying to raise money. February of 2015, we had $8,000 in the bank. Oh, my gosh. Against a 1.5 budget. Yes.

If we had gone into a strip mall, four blank walls, needing everything from bottom to top, at this point in time, we would have needed $1.5 million. Got it. And I said, okay, let's raise $1.5 million. February, 2015, we had 8,000 in the bank. I'm at church. I sit on the wrong side of the church. A friend of mine who usually goes to the later service, comes to the early service.

So I'm on the wrong side. At my church, you have your place that you sit. Your pew. Yes, my pew. It doesn't have a name on it, but. And I sat on the other side. that behind her, not thinking anything, didn't know she was going to be at this service. We're Episcopalian, we pass the peace.

And instead of saying the peace of the Lord be with you, I say, Kim, tell me about your location downtown McKinney. And she said, I want hugs in my building. We had the name. She knew all about it. And she said, come down tomorrow and let's see if it'll work. In the dream that I had two nights in a row, it was an open kitchen. Two years ago.

Two years before. It was an open kitchen so that customers could see these incredible people working, actually making the food, actually making those incredible cookies that you just tried. Her kitchen was an open kitchen, dining room, looks in, and sees what's going on. So what did she do for you? They made it very affordable for us to move in. There was a pizza restaurant that was there before us, and when they moved, moved out. They left everything.

Ovens and all of it? Yes. Now, they left pizza ovens. We didn't need pizza ovens, but she gave us the opportunity to sell those pizza ovens and keep the funds. Anything that we couldn't use, sell it, she said, and we kept the funds. So we went from needing $1.5 million to needing $150,000. Wow. Yeah. And so now you actually have something to raise to. Yes. You can tell a story. We have a place. Yes. And we have something that you can walk in and see. We could bring donors in and they can see it, envision it. We already had the staff. I mean, these people were just, waiting to be trained to work at a restaurant.

So we would have events in that space, fundraising events in that space. And we would have our future staff. And she didn't even charge you rent or anything. She did charge us rent, yes. But it was not downtown McKinney, it's very expensive. She was very gracious and did not charge us what everyone else pays. So that was February. of 2015.

Yes. Yes. So when did you open? We opened October the 13th of 2015. There's only seven months later. Yes. By August, we had raised all of the funds. And then we bought the equipment that we needed.

Like I said, we had one gentleman who was on our board, who was CEO of a restaurant equipment company. So anything that we needed, most, equipment that we needed, he got donated to us. That's unbelievable. I know. But what I'm so impressed by that I think got missed a little in some of what I've read is that you had a dream.

You only had $8,000. And you didn't quit. I mean, a lot of people, six, seven months into something like, well, this sounded great, but it's just not going to work. You worked on this for over two years to just get it open. Yeah. Why? Why didn't you give up?

Well, my question is, why not? Because it didn't seem when you need $1.5 million and you only got $8,000 at the bank after about six months, it's going to happen. I had faith. I had faith. And that concludes part one of our conversation with Ruth Thompson, and you don't want to of Miss Part 2, it's now available to listen to you. Together, guys, we can change this country, but it starts with you. I'll see you in Part 2. When segregation was a law, one mysterious black club owner, Charlie Fitzgerald, had his own rules. Segregation and the day integration at night.

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