When the community heard Lisa and Freddie McMillan’s mission to further feed area hungry by offering a “no pay” restaurant, the response was overwhelming.

Brewton Standard social media users flooded our page with “How can I help?”

The answer – a Go Fund Me page for Drexel and Honeybee Restaurant.

Established by local businessman Rhett Joyner, the Go Fund Me page has a modest goal of $1,000. As of Tuesday, $625 had been raised. Joyner said he remembers visiting with McMillan for breakfast “as a young man.”

“She served me a breakfast for $2.50 that could fill the stomachs of two grown men, and I remember thinking, ‘How does she make any money?’,” Joyner said. “Over the years that I’ve known her, my answer to that question is, with Lisa it’s never been about the money. To her, it’s knowing that she’s here and she’s doing what she loves and serving a purpose.

“Lisa is exactly the type of person this world could stand to have a lot more of,” Joyner said.

The restaurant concept is simple – pay what you can or nothing if you can’t pay at all. The McMillan’s recently made their last payment on the Lee Street property.

Now, the work begins to renovate the space to bring it up to code and install a commercial kitchen.

The estimated cost for equipment and materials to finish out the building is $55,000. That includes all labor being donated. Local engineers have already given their time and talents to draw up the plans for the new space.

“Donations would be great. This could really be a community event. We could use help from skilled workers once we start renovations,” said McMillan.

“I’m the type of person that believes if God called you to do something, you can have 15 priorities and money would be No. 15,” she said. “The first one is that God called you to do this. If God called you to do this, God’s going to take care of you because He’s called you. So money is way down on the list.”