Mama Miranda’s house

My name is Claire and I’ve started this to help Miranda get a little closer to her dream of being a home owner for herself and her grandchildren. Miranda is Manci’s kitchen manager and as I like to call her our unicorn. She brings a certain level of magic into all of our lives. She has been pre approved for a mortgage, but as we all know without putting 20% down she will be looking at mortgage insurance added in to the cost. She currently drives from Mobile every day to work at Manci’s. I’m starting this in hopes of getting her closer to that 20% down. Maybe even helping out with her Christmas for her grands. This account is directly connected to Miranda’s bank account and all donations will go directly to her. I’m reposting her story from “Our Southern Souls” because there is no way to word this better than the to let Miranda tell it herself.

“I have cooked at Manci's for six years and everyone calls me Mama. I grew up in Mobile and Prichard and went to Detroit every summer.

I have always cared for people and done anything I could to help them. When I was two years old, my mom was cooking and left the oven open while she ran into the front room. My little sister was trying to climb up the oven. I knew she wasn't supposed to be there. I saw the pot of hot water wobbling, about to fall over. I put my body over my little sister to protect her. The pot fell on me and I was burned on over 60 percent of my body. I was in the hospital for a while and they had to do skin grafts.

I am raising six of my eight grandchildren and have about 25 others I help take care of. I love kids and I love people. I try to take care of everybody. I have never used government assistance. I can work, and God blesses me everyday. I say my prayers every morning when I get up and every night before I go to bed, thanking God for giving me another day in my right mind.

I am trying to buy a house. If that can happen, it will be my first house, and I will be so proud of that. But every house that would be good for me is off the market in two hours. Somebody else got it.

I am renting my house, but it’s barely livable. There are holes in the floor and hurricane damage that my landlord won't fix. My grandchildren fall through the floor, but I do the best I can to fix that. My friends tell me not to pay rent, but at least living here is better than being homeless, so I make do. My bosses keep trying to help fix my house, but I am renting. I don't want them to put their time and money into a place that belongs to someone else. They already put tires on my car even though I fought them about it. I am a giver and take care of everyone else. It is hard to receive help or accept anything from other people.

I have loved to cook since I was a little girl with an Easy Bake Oven and the Snoopy Sno Cone Maker. I have given those to my grandkids. My mom was a sloppy joe woman. My grandmother was the cook. She had dominoes players or church people over and cooked for them. I watched her make chocolate icing or banana pudding, sweet potato pie, collard greens, turkey necks and rice. I love to make all of that.

I worked at fast-food restaurants all my life: Taco Bell for 12 years, Burger King and Whataburger. Manci’s is the only nice restaurant I have worked at. I will have 30 orders going at a time. The kitchen is small, but I don’t stress. I just get the orders as fast as I can. This is my life. Sometimes I peek out and watch people eat what I just made. I like to see them enjoying our food.

Manci’s threw me a 50th birthday party in October. I’ve never had a birthday party. At my party, I found out I was one of the nominees for the best back-of-house employee for the state of Alabama. The award ceremony was in Birmingham last week. I have never won anything besides a trophy in track. They called my name as the winner, and I couldn’t believe it. I have never been to Birmingham, and my bosses paid for everything for my trip, including the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed in.

I cook at Manci's six days a week. We are closed on Mondays so I can take a day off. Since I work on Sundays and can't go to church, I turn up the gospel music in the kitchen and sing. I can't sing, but that doesn’t stop me. My favorite time of the year is when the Mardi Gras parades go by. I love to run out and catch stuffed animals and candy. Those are for me, not my grandkids.

All of my life felt like failure after failure. I am starting to see it differently now. God is so good.”

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