Lesia’s Cafe, named after owner Lesia Collins, is a second home for many Clinton residents. Collins says, “It’s all about the customers, I opened for the people here.” When the former town cafe closed last year, residents urged her to open a new establishment. Many of the regular customers pitched in to clean and convert the former Kentucky Fried Chicken into the cafe it is today. Regulars say they come for the good food, company of other customers, and most especially the waitresses who make them feel at home.

Karen Jenkins, 38, has been a waitress at Lesia’s Cafe since it opened a year ago. Sometimes starting at 4:30 a.m., she begins the day with a cup of coffee and a smoke with the occasional customer who arrived before opening. Throughout the day, she serves food, jokes with the flirtatious regulars and facilitates the operation of the cafe. She says, “We become a part of people’s lives, we become a part of their family.”

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