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Flat Rock, NC (WLOS) — Every day, customers can see an all-you-can-eat buffet at Flat Rock Pizza. Meanwhile, what owner Jeannie Honeycutt sees is a godsend.
“God saved my life, but the opportunity here in the pizza business made a huge impact,” Honeycutt said.
To appreciate where our Person of the Week is today, you have to start at rock bottom. She overcame addiction to become a thriving member of the Flat Rock community.
Honeycutt hopes her troubling background gives others a blueprint for sobriety.
“It was a long struggle for me. I was lost in addiction for probably about 11 years,” she said. “I was addicted to methamphetamine.”
In 2007, she overdosed and nearly died. Back then, the mother of a little girl faced a losing battle.
Honeycutt called her dad on the way to the hospital, practically saying goodbye.
“I just felt like this may be the time that I may not come out of it,” she said, tearing up. “I said, ‘I want you tell my daughter that I love you very much, and that this had nothing to do with her.'”
“To think that your daughter may have to live her life thinking ‘What did I do?'” Jeannie recalls thinking. “‘Was it something I did wrong that caused my mom to be on this road?’ When in reality it had nothing to do with her.”
Daughter Alexandrea Beddingfield is a young woman now and in awe of what her mother’s done with her life.
“It’s heartwrenching. It’s amazing to see what my mom has overcome,” she said.
Not long after the overdose, Honeycutt got a job at the former Pizza Inn. Then, five years ago, she bought the business and renamed it Flat Rock Pizza.
She’s thankful for everyone who showed faith in her when she was down and out.
“At a time when I wasn’t able to believe in myself, they prayed for me and God brought me out of some devastating situations,” Honeycutt said. “The reason that I tell my story is that I want people that are in that to know there is a way out.”
She counts her blessings and pays them forward. On Thanksgiving, she organized a potluck at the restaurant, feeding hundreds with a free holiday feast.
Honeycutt also spearheaded a drive to collect clothing, shoes, blankets, and canned goods.
“It’s important to me because I have actually been on the streets when I was lost in drug addiction,” she said.
Every week, they give a piece of the pie to people in need. Flat Rock Pizza donates buckets-full of leftover slices to Change the World Relief, which provides meals in Hendersonville and Asheville.
Despite their painful past, Jeannie and her daughter are closer than ever.
“I plan on following my mom’s footsteps,” Beddingfield said. “And opening another business and I think I’m going to call it Jeannie’s after my mom.”
Rock bottom is in Jeannie’s rear view mirror now. That life experience might give other addicts a road map to hope.
“Just don’t stay in the darkness, that there’s so much life out in the light,” Honeycutt advises.
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