MACON, Ga. — Serving up warm meals to residents at the Rescue Mission of Middle Georgia, keeps Kasey Watson thankful.
"I'm thankful for the Rescue Mission for changing my life. I don't know where I'd be without them. I'm a very lucky person," said Watson.
In April 2018, he made the decision to seek help from them.
"I remember being with my little brother one night, we were just sitting in the car, and it was quiet, and I told him 'I know what I got to do, I got to go,'" said Watson. "He said, 'where are you going,' and I said 'I'm going to the Macon Rescue Mission.'"
Watson said he went through a tough childhood, with everyday life problems and growing up without a father.
"I made some bad choices, and those bad choices led up to me later on in life leading to drugs, and just all kinds of stuff and I'd been in and out of jail away from my kids," said Watson, who's also a father of four.
But those choices also led him to the rescue mission and cooking.
"I came in to the Rescue Mission not knowing how to cook. I wanted to get into the kitchen because I wanted to learn," said Watson.
Now, Watson said he can go into the kitchen, know what he wants to make and know what temperature it needs to be cooked at and what spices and seasonings to use.
Dawn Burns, operations manager at the Rescue Mission, said she's seen the change in him.
"I have known Kasey for a couple of years now and have just grown to really love the person that he is," said Burns. "I just can't tell you how proud I am of who he is, what he stands for, and just the growth that that we've seen in him."
Some of that growth comes from the services the Rescue Mission is able to offer their residents.
"We feed them three meals a day. We offer residential housing for them. Say, without the meals and the food provided, we would not be able to offer that service. They wouldn't be able to live here," said Burns.
Watson sees the impact food has on his fellow residents.
"Every day these people come in, I mean, unhealthy, you know. They haven't been eating right, how they should, or not even right, but just not being able to," said Watson. "You would be surprised at how much food will change a person's day if they haven't been around it, you know. Just to see (them) come in and just smile because they're joyful for the food they have, and I mean, it's unbelievable."
Food has changed Watson's life too. Fresh Air Bar-B-Que in Macon has offered him a job upon completion of the recovery program.
For more information on the Rescue Mission of Middle Georgia and the work they do, visit their website.
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