Ruth Thompson was on the verge of retirement. She had been working at Market Street in McKinney, running the cooking school there. She had a passion for adults with special needs and she had created cooking classes for them during her time there.
But it was a dream that sent her in the opposite direction.
“My husband and I were looking at retiring in 2013. In 2012, two nights in a row I had a dream of a restaurant two nights in a row about a restaurant that employed this population of people and my husband said, ‘We need to do it!’ Ruth said.
From that dream - and her passion for adults with disabilities - Hugs Cafe was born.
“Hugs is a 501(c)3 organization and our mission is train and employ adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities or brain injuries,” Ruth said.
The concept is changing lives around the world.
“For the past 6 years I have been contacted by people across the country and across the world,” Ruth said. People ask how she did it and if they could do something similar in their own communities.
“I even helped a young man in Kazakhstan start something in his university campus,” she said happily.
Hugs Cafe was recently one of 20 restaurants across the country to win 50 thousand dollars from Chase Sapphire.
“They asked for nominations across the country of restaurants that did well during COVID and we got nominated,” Ruth said. “What we are going to use the $50,000 is that is going to be seed money for our training academy.”
We're proud to call Ruth Thompson and Hugs Cafe this week's KRLD Difference Makers.
To donate or learn more, visit hugscafe.org.
If you know someone making a difference the community send us an email at differencemaker@krld.com.
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