Winter Supper with a Cause: Hugs Cafe’s Prep Program
February 25, 2019
Hugs Café is a very special place. Just off the square in Downtown McKinney, Hugs is a restaurant staffed almost entirely by adults with special needs. It was a dream of founder Ruth Thompson.
The mission of Hugs is to enhance the lives of adults with special needs through training and employment. People with different abilities are twice as likely to suffer from unemployment as people without, often leading to them being left to simply watch TV or hang out at home when they graduate from High School. From working closely with this population, Ruth quickly observed that many of these adults were not only able to work, they genuinely wanted to. And so, Hugs Café was born, and everything was going fine until Ruth noticed there was 0% turnover.
Enter the Hugs Café Prep Program, the grantee of our Winter Supper with a Cause in early February of 2019. The Prep Program is a stepping stone for adults with special needs to receive extra time and attention while gaining the skills necessary for employment in the food or hospitality industries. The grant they received from the Seed Project Foundation funded two nine-week semesters of the program, enabling as many as 40 adults with special needs to graduate and find employment.
Winter is not the most bountiful season for produce in North Texas, but Chef Andrea always manages to create an incredible menu. Guests were greeted with apple cider margaritas and a ginger-infused bourbon cocktail called the Luck and Honey, then seated to duck terrine with orange marmalade and marigolds from Water Boy Farms, Harvest’s own farm. Gulf caught striped bass with roasted radish was followed by roasted local chicken and grits. Winter calls for comfort food, and nothing says comfort like the wagyu pot roast and rutabaga mash that rounded out the meal. South Texas blood orange beet sorbet with roasted pears finished off a true salute to the season.
You can support Hugs by visiting their café in Downtown McKinney and help us fund other local nonprofits doing incredible work by making a donation today.