LAWTON, Okla. – When we first met Jennifer Bui in 2016, she was fresh off winning $50,000 in a Powerball drawing.
She donated most of it to charity.
Four years later, the Lawton resident is still giving back.
Before it was money that Jennifer donated, now it’s time. A commodity that this instructional designer, professional photographer and Air Force reservist doesn’t have much of.
“I can sacrifice a little bit of sleep to help others,” Jennifer said.
For the past two weeks, Jennifer has been training at Tinker Air Force Base by day and moonlighting as a food photographer at night.
“It started out with, let me go to a restaurant that seemed like they may not have enough business, and I can just give the photos to them after,” she said.
Jennifer went to an OKC foodie group online to find restaurants that were struggling during the pandemic. What followed was a photography feast.
Jennifer visited 18 places over two weeks, taking pictures and putting them on a Facebook page she created called Okie Dokie Foodie. It has 2,000 followers in just two weeks.
By the way, she does it free of charge, food is the only accepted payment.
“We all like food and we all like seeing kindness, so I think that’s why my page exploded in 2 weeks,” Jennifer said.
Four J’s Diner in south Oklahoma City is one of those restaurants Jennifer visited.
The Laotian and Thai cuisine restaurant estimates business is down 60-70% since the pandemic.
But since Jennifer’s pictures, they’re cooking with gas.
“That first day she had pictures out, we had a customer come in already, said they saw the picture from her, and I was like, wow, that fast?” said one of Four J’s owners, Alex Panhguay.
Jennifer said she will continue her work with restaurants in Lawton. Even though she could easily get paid in a currency other than food, she said she will continue to offer her services free of charge during these tough economic times.
