Florida Chef Saves Regular Customer's Life After He Missed His Daily Bowl of Gumbo
For ten years, Charlie Hicks showed up at the same restaurant, sat at the same table, and ordered the same thing: a cup of gumbo, some rice — not too much — and no crackers. Twice a day, every day, for a decade, the 78-year-old Air Force veteran and retired accountant made the Shrimp Basket in Pensacola, Florida his home away from home.
Then one September morning, he didn't show up. And that absence saved his life.
A Friendship Built Over a Bowl of Gumbo
Donell Stallworth had been running the kitchen at the Shrimp Basket's Pensacola location for years when Hicks first wandered in. The two men struck up a friendship the way restaurant friendships do — gradually, over small talk, and then over everything else. Stallworth would sit with Hicks during slow periods. They'd watch baseball together — Hicks is a Yankees fan, Stallworth a Dodgers fan — and when the season ended, they just kept talking.
"Mr. Hicks don't miss no days," Stallworth told CBS News. "We open the doors up, Mr. Hicks is there to greet us."
Which is why, in September 2025, when Hicks failed to appear, the staff noticed immediately.
Three or Four Hours on the Floor
The staff called his apartment. Hicks picked up and said he was feeling sick. They delivered his gumbo to his door for two days, leaving it on the doorstep at his request so he wouldn't expose anyone to whatever he had. Then his phone went straight to voicemail. No answer. No contact.
Stallworth and staff leader Denise Galloway drove to his apartment. When they arrived, they found Hicks on the floor — he had fallen and been unable to get up. He had two broken ribs and was severely dehydrated.
"After three or four hours laying on the floor, you wonder, 'Am I going to get out of this?'" Hicks told TODAY.
Stallworth stayed with him and helped him drink water while they waited for the ambulance. Hicks spent the next two months in the hospital and then in rehabilitation.
"I don't know what would have happened if Donell hadn't shown up," Hicks said.
A Restaurant That Became a Family
The story didn't end with the rescue. While Hicks was recovering, the Shrimp Basket team visited him regularly and brought his daily gumbo to the hospital. When he was discharged, general manager Casey Corbin — who described Hicks as the restaurant's "adopted grandpa" — noticed that his apartment lease was expiring and his rent was about to increase.
Corbin found an empty apartment next door to the restaurant, arranged the rental, and had the landlord bring the lease to Hicks in rehab so he could sign it before he was even discharged. The Shrimp Basket staff helped him move in.
Hicks now lives steps from his daily gumbo. The restaurant gifted him a walker, signed by the staff. Shrimp Basket's brand president Jeff Brooks announced that the chain — which has 18 locations — would give Hicks free gumbo for life, twice a day, every day, for lunch and dinner.
"Mr. Hicks, Donell and the Warrington, Pensacola team embody Shrimp Basket's mission to put people first and have been an inspiration to all of us," Brooks said.
What Hicks Wants People to Take From It
Hicks says he is grateful for the outpouring of attention, but wants the story to mean something beyond his own situation. He is thinking about other older people living alone — people who may not have a restaurant full of people watching out for them the way he did.
"He said that Donell had saved his life," his niece Christina Neeper told the Pensacola News Journal. "And I'm pretty sure that Donell and the Shrimp Basket management and staff saved his life. Donell has been texting him and visiting him. Apparently, they're best friends."
Stallworth put it simply: "I'm thankful to have my friend."
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