On his first day at D’s Soul Food Cafe, a combination restaurant, food pantry and youth mentorship program, Iberville eighth grader Steven Adams felt nervous.

He wanted to improve his social skills, customer service and, of course, soul-food cooking, but he knew next to no one at the cafe. That was daunting.

Once the work got started, from serving food to chatting with customers to packaging food boxes for community members in need, he stopped feeling scared.

“As soon as I came in here, right to work, right to business,” Adams said. “As soon as we got done with work, it was just talking, meeting new people.”

That’s the philosophy behind D’s Soul Food Cafe on Railroad Avenue in Plaquemine, where the nonprofit GUMBO — Global United Mission Benefitting Ourselves and Others — operates. Deb

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