A Florida Cook’s Compassion Saves a 78-Year-Old Regular Who Suddenly Stopped Showing Up

For a whole decade, Charlie Hicks was the first to show up at Shrimp Basket in Pensacola, Florida. Every morning. “Mr. Hicks don’t miss no days,” Stallworth, a chef and manager at the restaurant, told CBS News. “We open the doors up, Mr. Hicks is there to greet us.”

Hicks, 78, lived alone. He drove himself to the restaurant twice daily. Same table. Same order. Gumbo, rice, no crackers.

Over ten years the staff not only learned his order, they also learned his routines and stories. They celebrated his birthdays. He wasn’t just a regular customer. He was family.

So when Hicks didn’t show up suddenly one day, the staff immediately took notice. Then he was a no show next day as well. The staff got worried. “I knew, then, something was wrong,” Stallworth said.

The team called Hicks. He revealed he wasn’t feeling well. Staff leader Denise Galloway drove his gumbo to his apartment but he asked her to leave it outside the door. She did it twice. Then the calls stopped. Two days of silence.

In the middle of his shift, Stallworth got in his car. He drove to Hicks’ apartment and knocked on the door. No answer, twice. He was about to turn and leave.

“And right when I was going to turn, I heard something, a voice, just like, ’Help,’” Stallworth said. “And then I opened the door up. He was lying on the ground, and I didn’t know what his condition was. That was the scariest part right there.”

“He was in tears, like, ’I don’t even know how long I’ve been here,’” Donell recalled.

Hicks had been on the floor for an unknown amount of time. He was severely dehydrated and in need of immediate medical assistance. Paramedics were called right away.

While Hicks was in the hospital, the Shrimp Basket staff made sure he still got his gumbo. When he was well enough to be discharged, the team didn’t stop there. They found him a new apartment, right next to the restaurant.

The day Hicks walked back through the door of the Shrimp Basket, Stallworth was waiting. “I’m glad to have you back, buddy,” he told him. Hicks, for his part, said everything he needed to say in four words. “We made a connection.”

Stallworth later reflected on what Hicks meant to him and the team. “He’s that uncle,” he said. “He’s that grandfather. He’s that best friend. He’s all in one.”

In a statement, Shrimp Basket said that one of its core values is that “people matter” and that Stallworth’s actions were “a powerful example of that value in action.” The company added that since the story became public, staff across all of their locations had begun recognizing their own regulars and finding ways to show up for them.

Charlie Hicks never expected to become famous for simply showing up every day. But the Pensacola regular is now something of a local celebrity.

The Shrimp Basket honored him in the most fitting way they knew how. They renamed their gumbo after him. Same bowl. Same rice. No crackers.