By Ameera Steward | For The Birmingham Times
When Lisa McMillian considered all the people trying to do their best to make it and still struggling with enough food to eat “I found out that I could help do something about that, and I committed myself [to it],” she said.
With that commitment, McMillian and her husband Freddie McMillan, opened their donation-only restaurant Drexell & Honeybee’s in Brewton, Alabama, which is located in south central Alabama, north of the Florida Panhandle and just under a three-hour drive from Birmingham.
Open Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and feeding 125 to 130 people per day, the eatery is dedicated to ridding customers of any shame or embarrassment that can come with ordering food.
“The idea of being hungry…is the loneliest feeling in the world,” said McMillian. “We wanted to make it just so easy for people to come in and get a meal and sit down and enjoy it or take it with [them] and not have to worry. Pride is a precious thing…it’s not good to destroy that because sometimes that’s all people have.”
While delivering groceries to an elderly couple in 2008, McMillian mentioned that she was going to meet her girlfriends for a cup of coffee when the elderly couple’s granddaughter made a face, leading Lisa to ask her what was wrong.
The young woman said she wished she could do things like that with her girlfriends, but didn’t have the money.
At that moment Lisa said to herself “I wish I could open up a place where people just come…eat and drink, and if they don’t have [the] money they don’t have to worry about it.”
That gave birth to Drexell & Honeybee’s where the motto is “We Feed the Need.”
The Root of it All
McMillian grew up in a household of 12 children in Brewton, Alabama, in the middle. Her dad, Earlie Ray Thomas, worked for the city and her mother, Bertha Lee McCants Thomas, was a stay-at-home mom, “but we never went hungry.”
Being raised in a house with 12 children meant staying busy, McMillan remembered.
“We grew up working hard in the cotton fields as teenagers [for the summer],” she said. “We were all taught the value of a hard day’s work. We also had the duty of taking care of our grandparents that stayed a block over from us.”
She added that holidays were always exciting and “we always shared a big meal together on those days.”
In addition to taking care of his family her father also helped others. She believes his way of taking care of others, sparked her passion.
Lisa and her husband, Freddie, met at Booker T. Washington School in Brewton when she was in eighth grade and he was in tenth. After he graduated in 1968, they went their separate ways.
Freddie, 75, went on to join the Marines and served for 35 years including duty in the Vietnam War. Lisa, 72, graduated [Booker T. Washington] in 1970 and went on to study social work at Hope College located in Holland, Mich. However, after two years she decided college wasn’t for her.
She spent five years in Atlanta and then went on to California where she lived “a nomadic life,” doing different jobs. While in California, what’s known as the Northridge Earthquake of ‘94 hit and Lisa said, “‘it’s time to go home.’” So she relocated back home to Brewton.
She found the elderly were having a hard time and some had to choose between medicine and food and in 2000 she started a food bank.
A Sense of Security
In 2010 she reconnected with Freddie when he was visiting Brewton from North Carolina. They were on the phone one day and she told him about her wish to open a place for the people.
He told her he would relocate to Brewton, and they could open a place together.
Freddie said that he chose to relocate and open the business with Lisa “because of the difference it [could] make in the lives of others.”
Drexell & Honeybee’s operates on the Freddie’ Social Security and military retirement funds. Donations of dry goods, fresh produce, and money from the community also help them carry out their work.
“The main reason is serving others…It’s not just food,” he said. “It’s any little thing you can do for anyone in need of help. It’s such a joy to see the change in others after you have crossed their paths and help make their lives easier in some small way…we pray every day for a servant’s heart and for God to make us more humble.”
After a year of being together, they married in 2011.
While running errands, Lisa saw a building for sale in Brewton and thought it would be the perfect location for a restaurant. She called her husband, they bought the building, renovated it and opened the restaurant and celebrated seven years on March 26.
“What we wanted to do is make people feel welcomed and…not pressured [or] threatened…So we said no cash registers…we don’t have…credit card machines…we don’t do change…We don’t have any money in the restaurant,” Lisa said.
They do, however, provide an inconspicuous donation box.
“[Freddie] said ‘no matter what happens…half of our retirement will go into this restaurant to keep it going…this restaurant is going to continue…whether people donate or not,” she added. “I [felt] secure…knowing that we were going to keep food…in there whether people put money in the donation box or not.”
As for the name of the restaurant, Lisa remembers riding around California where she lived there and saw a storefront for lease. “I didn’t have a penny…but I jumped out of my car…and thought ‘I would love to put an ice cream shop here.’” She asked herself what she would call it, and the name Drexell & Honeybee’s popped into her head. “I said, ‘I [don’t have] a penny…but if I ever get a restaurant, I’m going to call it Drexell & Honeybee’s.’”
Not About The Money
The McMillans start their days around 6:30 a.m. because they cook from scratch and are the main chefs, and their days end around 2 p.m. Although they’re able to do it themselves, they do invite guest chefs and volunteers to help.
Each new day requires a menu change.
“We see what’s on sale at the grocery store, and then we set up our menu [based on that],” Lisa explained. “We serve comfort food [and] soul food — macaroni and cheese…hamburgers, steaks, pork chops, chicken, dressing — [and] we do it from scratch.”
Customers can choose a meat and two sides get dessert, bread and a drink. “We all have a duty and responsibility to take care of this earth and its people,” Freddie said. “Our job and duty is to step up and feed any and every one in need.”
Although they don’t ask for payments or donations, they do ask that people respect the restaurant as well as the other patrons; it’s not about getting the biggest piece of chicken or special treatment.
“Everybody’s the same,” she said. “You might have…more money but we still are human beings, and we need to be treated equally and fairly.”
She added that when someone tells her how much of a blessing the restaurant is, “I know we are serving a purpose. I know we are here for a reason, and that’s what makes all the difference.”
To read a note that says, “if it wasn’t for you, me and my family of four would not have eaten today … brings me joy,” Lisa said. “That’s where all the work comes in. It’s not the money they put in the box, it’s [when] people tell you … ’you’ve helped me so much.’”
Donations can be made at https://drexellandhoneybees.com/take-action/
