Tennessee restaurant serves hundreds of free meals to hungry and lonely diners every Christmas

On Christmas Day, a Tennessee diner owner will serve up a free holiday meal to anyone who stops by for the seventh year in a row. 

Candice O’Brien Beasley, 39, knows what it’s like to be hungry — and also feels strongly that no one should spend the holiday alone.

So as soon as she opened Southern Diner in Ashland City, Tennessee, she made it a point to open her doors to hungry and lonely locals who need a place to spend Christmas.  

Spirit of the season: Southern Diner in Ashland City, Tennessee serves a free Christmas meal to locals every year 

Good deeds: Candice O’Brien Beasley, 39, said she was inspired by the time she waitressed as a teenager, when people would come in alone on holidays

Good deeds: Candice O’Brien Beasley, 39, said she was inspired by the time she waitressed as a teenager, when people would come in alone on holidays

Speaking to the Washington Post, Candice, now a mother of six, reflected on her time working as a waitress when she was a teenager. She’d have customers come in alone on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and she always wondered about what brought them in. 

She still remembered them when she opened Southern Diner in 2013.

‘Nobody — and I mean nobody — should have to be alone on Christmas Day,’ she said. 

She also knows that there are plenty of people who can’t afford food, much less a lavish Christmas feast, and she can relate to going hungry. 

‘I know what it’s like to go without food, to have nothing in the house during a holiday time or any time. I know what it’s like to have that rug yanked out from under you. It’s painful,’ she said.

Generous: Food is donated by local businesses and served up by volunteers

Generous: Food is donated by local businesses and served up by volunteers

Tradition: The Christmas meal has been served since 2013. The restaurant also delivered food to people's home

Tradition: The Christmas meal has been served since 2013. The restaurant also delivered food to people’s home

She does her best to limit that in her community. Every year, she cooks up turkey, ham, dressing, mac and cheese, broccoli casserole, mashed potatoes, and green beans, plus dessert like caramel cake and fudge pie. 

‘We’ve done as many as 500 meals. This year, I’ll get up around 5 on Christmas morning and go down to the restaurant to start boiling vegetables, but I’ve learned to peel potatoes two days before,’ she said. 

Most of the food is donated by stores or members of the community, and she now has dozens of volunteers who come by to help her prepare and serve it. 

Those volunteers include Charles Marshal, who first came by in 2015 after his wife passed. That year, he came for the eat, and ended up becoming friends with three other widowers.

The following year, he came back to volunteer, and he’s been returning ever since.  

Owner Candice 39, said: 'Nobody — and I mean nobody — should have to be alone on Christmas Day'

Owner Candice 39, said: ‘Nobody — and I mean nobody — should have to be alone on Christmas Day’

Mary MacRae, 65, also came to volunteer after her husband — country-western songwriter Johnny MacRae — died in 2013. She had been lonely during her first Christmas without him, and was thrilled to join Candice in throwing the feast the next year. 

‘This dinner has been a godsend for me every year since. I didn’t want to spend another Christmas home alone, crying,’ she said.

In addition to serving the food, the volunteers also box up meals and deliver them to about 300 people in the community.  

‘The dinner has taken on a life of its own,’ Candice said. 

‘My entire family comes out to help, so we celebrate our Christmas either the day before or the day after,’ she added. ‘But we’re fine with that. To us, this is Christmas.’

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk