3 Queens Foundation serves community with royal treatment
ATLANTA (FOX 5 Atlanta) - It was a love for cooking and community service that compelled Seree Brown, Casey Prock, and Marsha Campbell to pool their resources to create the 3 Queens Foundation - a nonprofit organization dedicated to feeding families who’ve fallen on hard times.
“We’ve worked in lots of soup kitchens over the years and appreciate the work they do, but we wanted something special, especially for women with children, something that felt more like taking your kids to a restaurant instead of a soup kitchen,” said 3 Queens co-founder and president Seree Brown. “We wanted them to feel like they were getting the royal treatment if only for a day.”
Their mission started in 2014. The women bought enough food to cook 150 Thanksgiving meals for families in a Clarkston apartment complex. The women, along with their husbands and children, went to the complex and served the home-cooked meals in to-go boxes.
“It was beautiful. We were swarmed. We were probably out there less than an hour and everything was gone. That’s when we realized we could do more. We wanted them to feel pampered and served,” Brown said.
Over the years, the 3 Queen’s mission expanded, serving meals at back to school functions, Breakfast with Santa events and during the week of Christmas.
“We didn't want it to just be a meal, we wanted it to be an experience and have nice music playing in the background and we want to be able to sit down with you and talk to you and let people talk about what’s going on in their lives,” said co-founder and vice president Marsha Campbell.
The Foundation now hosts meals at an event center on Covington Highway in DeKalb County and while some of the goods are donated, the women still pool their own resources to buy most of the food they prepare in their own kitchens. Casey Prock drives down from her Chattanooga home to help decorate and pass out fliers to spread the word before each event.
“We're just all together serving. I mean that's what it's all about the spirit of the holiday. The fellowship and getting to know people. It's humbling. it's rewarding,” said Prock.
Throughout the year, the queens collect clothes and shoes from friends and family so that guests waiting to be seated and served can browse through a free clothing closet.
“At the end of the day we're helping someone else. Whenever you can help somebody else, it's a good day,” said Brown.
3 Queens will host Breakfast with Santa on December 16 and a Christmas dinner on December 23. Families who would like a reservation or volunteers who would like to help can visit 3 Queens Foundation on Instagram and on Facebook. For more information you can call 470-869-3935 or click here. .