By MyKala Guerrero
Cove Leader-Press
During the thick of the Copperas Cove water crisis, one local business owner decided to be part of the solution for the good of the community.
Late Tuesday night, Jessica Ackerman, owner of Jess’s Juice Bar, said she had the idea to cook for fellow Covites, so that they could not only receive help free of charge, but so that they could also help conserve water by not having to cook or do dishes in their own home, in turn, helping the entire city.
“I had one of my ideas per usual that just pops in my head late last night, around 11 o’clock or midnight, or somewhere around there. I decided, you know what, I think I know a way to help and do something positive to be able to help people that have no water or the few that do have water to not use their water. That way, we can all get water back because the system needs to recharge and refill the towers. I put a post (on social media) out there to see who would come and it looked like we’d have a good turnout. And then I asked for help and so many of the business owners, community, teachers, and citizens showed up to help, and that’s amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it before.”
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Ackerman fired up her blackstone grill and was joined by fellow local businesses, Black Meg 43, San Miguel’s Mexican Restaurant, Rock and Roll Ice Cream Parlor, and D&S Cuddling Critters as well as other friends and members of the community who all contributed by donating food, cooking food, serving food and giving the most important resource, their time.
Throughout the day a variety of meals were provided including tacos, hot dogs, fruit, ice cream, chips, quesadillas, and of course, bottled water.
Many times throughout the day when supplies started dwindling, Ackerman was ready to shut the operation down, when a member of the community or representatives from different organizations including Angela Sanchez from South Star Bank and members of Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce would show up and provide more water for the coolers and more food for the grill.
People just brought exactly what they had and it all came together and made all of the different meals possible.
“Divine intervention,” said Ackerman.
She went on to describe the help that was received from everyone in the same credit.
“Listen, I get the idea and put it out there and I just let the good Lord do the rest of the work.” she explained. “We have a high school teacher (Heather Schroeder) who just showed up and said, ‘I want to help,’ and she’s been here all day long sweating it out with us. Amazing. Rock Star. And another citizen, Jessica Moriarity, she did all of the deliveries today, most of them just back to back. Far ones too, all the way to the edge of Cove.
“I couldn’t have done it without them. So it was a blessing for them to show up and a Godsend for sure.” .
The group as a whole served more than 1,300 meals throughout the day.
As Ackerman acknowledged, “That’s about 1,000 houses that did not have to use any water for at least a small part of their day helping to make sure we all get water back.”
The day was a massive success bearing Ackerman’s original vision is mind.
By her reasoning, she figured that the longer the community was without clean, usable, or even running water, the longer individuals and businesses alike would suffer.
“If it takes longer, that could hurt a lot of businesses longer and keep people from going back to work longer to pay their bills too. So I’m glad we did it and it was successful, but now we’re allowed to open (our businesses amid the water restrictions being redesignated to Stage 1) and I’m exhausted.”
Not only did Jess’s Juice Bar front the cost of the goods it provided to citizens for free, but the business was already recovering from multiple shutdowns of daily operations it faced in the consecutive weeks prior due to separate incidences of pipe breaks nearby affecting the building’s water.
“It happened the day before my one-year anniversary (of Jess’s Juice Bar) and my sign unveiling. It happened, and I was like ‘oh, no, I hope they open me back up so I can have my party tomorrow’. And they worked hard all day in the sun. I watched them, you know? They tried to figure it out. They got done late at night finally, and so I was able to open the next day.
“But yeah, there’s been three or four (breaks affecting the business), what, in just the past 3 weeks? And now there’s another one down here and because of the pressure coming back, they said there’s a few more possibly. I mean the whole thing is going to (break) eventually. There are more residents than it can handle nowadays. It wasn’t built for that many, and it wasn’t buried deep enough. They’re eventually going to have to figure out a long-term solution. And it’s going to keep happening; that’s what I’m afraid of. I can’t keep getting shut down every other week.”
Despite the impacts to her business, Ackerman took to social media yet again with a heart of deep gratitude to express her appreciation for what had transpired that day and all the people who had made it possible.
“This right here is community.” she wrote. “These people weren’t looking for recognition. They saw a need and said, “how can I help?” They have heart. They have grit. They care. And today, standing together in that hot sun, they helped make a real difference for the people of Copperas Cove. But I also want to give a huge thank you to every single person who came out and received this resource today. It may have only been a simple meal- a taco or a hot dog- but what you did by participating was so much bigger than the food. You chose not to cook at home. You chose not to dirty dishes that needed to be washed. You chose to conserve the water we had. You stood with us and made that small sacrifice for the greater good of our community. For that, we are so incredibly grateful. So I’m asking all of you: please go support these businesses and people who helped me help all of you. Spend your money with businesses that pour back into their community. Support the people who show up when things get hard. Remember the names of people who don’t just say they care- they prove it. Today wasn’t about Jess’s. It wasn’t about any ONE business. Today was about Copperas Cove taking care of Copperas Cove.”
Jess’s Juice Bar is located at 1301 E. Business 190 (next to the former CVS location) and offers a plethora of drinks including healthy smoothies and juices, teas, coffee, matcha, and more. It also hosts a full breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu catering to all types of diets. The business is currently open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
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