A Houston couple surprises diners at a Kingwood Luby’s by covering their Thanksgiving meals, continuing a nine-year tradition of anonymous generosity.
HOUSTON — A Thanksgiving tradition nearly a decade in the making brought long lines and plenty of surprises to the Luby’s in Kingwood on Thursday.
It started with a phone call.
“We wanted to let Channel 11 News know that there are angels — angels in Kingwood,” a viewer told KHOU 11. When she explained they were at the local Luby’s, she wasn’t joking.
When our crews arrived, the line stretched out the door. Thanksgiving is the restaurant’s busiest day of the year. But this year, many guests walked away without paying a dime.
“They get to the register, they’re pulling their wallets out, and we’re like, ‘No, you’re good. We’re taking care of it today,’” said manager Kristin Murphree.
For many, that unexpected gesture meant everything.
“When they come to us and say, ‘We’ve been saving up for this for a month just to take our family out,’ and here we are — we got blessed,” Murphree said.
Behind the kindness were the “angels” people kept talking about, a Houston couple, Steve Lee and Amanda Fondren, who have spent the past nine years quietly paying for Thanksgiving meals at different Luby’s restaurants across the area.
They don’t wear wings. They don’t want credit. They just want to help.
“Why not?” Lee said. “We can all be kind and gracious with what we’ve been blessed with.”
Each year, the couple chooses a Luby’s based on where Murphree is managing at the time, a tradition that started when she was the first manager on duty the year they began their Thanksgiving mission.
“We just kind of follow her around,” Lee said with a smile. “Wherever Kristin is — they’re the lucky ones.”
Murphree jokes she isn’t sure why she’s the one they return to year after year.
“I don’t know what it is about me. I just have that charm, I guess,” she laughed.
Guests ranged from young couples to elderly diners whose families have moved away. Many were stunned when their bill, sometimes enough to strain a budget, was covered.
The couple says they aren’t doing it for recognition.
“They think they’re being blessed,” Lee said, “but we’re the ones with the blessing.”
For nine years now, Lee and Fondren have paid for hundreds of meals on a day built on gratitude, proving that even without wings, there are “angels” among us.
And you never know where they might show up next Thanksgiving.