GREEN COVE SPRINGS – To its first inhabitants, the spring here was a place of nourishment and healing for a variety of sicknesses. Two centuries later, the healing qualities of Green Cove Springs persist, only this time the remedy comes from a restaurant in the corner of a gas station that knows the best ointment is a full belly.

On May 16, Cookin’ in the Cove restaurant donated 100 percent of its sales to the families of those who lost their lives in the May 3 shootings that took the lives of Valorie Shae Short, Robert “Buddy” Short, Erica Green Lancaster, and the assailant, Murray Leon Lancaster.

By the end of the day, the restaurant collected $1,200, all of which will go to the families and guardians taking care of the four children left behind in the wake of Valorie Short and Erica Lancaster’s passing.

“The response to it, a lot of sorrow,” said Michael Williams, an employee and longtime friend of the restaurant’s owners Ann and Gene Burkes. “Valorie had a lot of friends, Erica had a lot of friends, and this is a tight knit community, Green Cove is very tight. I don’t think this’ll change anything, it’ll just help bring the community together and show that we’re supporting them. We are part of this community, and we will support our community.”

The business also set aside a donation box for the families involved in the tragedy. By the end of the day, Ann Burkes’ daughter, Julie Marcham, was even scared to count the donation box due to the high volume of donations received.

Cookin in the Cove hasn’t been there long. It opened in last December in the Shell gas station located at 410 S. Orange Ave. and has stayed ever since. The restaurant prides itself on having home cooked meals ready for takeout, complete with fried chicken, sandwiches and dessert.

Every morning it attracts its regulars whom they all know by name. According to Ann Burkes, she knows them so well she can recall their medical history.

“You know them by first name, you know their order when they come in, you wave at them as they pass by, some of them come by our house for Sunday dinner,” she said. “We get attached to the people that come in, you learn about their personal lives, so when something like this happens, it’s sad.”

An event like this is hard to prepare for a kitchen the size of a living room, but Ann Burkes ensured that she was overstaffed and ready. Men and women in blue shirts constantly glanced over their shoulders as they made callouts for food soon to be prepared. Undoubtedly, the staff was anxious about the outcome of the event.

“We’re excited that we’re able to do this,” Ann Burkes said. “A little stressed, maybe, but we just hope that the message got out to everybody that this is about the families. I mean, everybody has to eat, so what better way to do it?”

The Burkes have planned the event since they heard the news. They floated to Williams, who mentioned that they ‘couldn’t have hit the nail anymore on the head,’ and that was that. They were committed.

“They’re always lending a hand, always,” Williams said. “If you need help and they can give it, they do. They’re just nice people.”

Williams has known Ann and Gene Burkes for more than 15 years, and in that time they’ve replaced a broken washing machine for him, and given him the keys to their spare car. Whenever he has a problem, all he has to do is pick up the phone, Williams said.

The workers are a family. They share their issues with each other throughout the day as they work and ditto for their customers. It’s not an uncommon site to hear banter coming from the kitchen to the customers at the register and vice versa, and that was no different even during the supposedly solemn event.

At the end of the day, spirits were still high for all of the employees, even as they swept and switched off the grills. Customers jammed into the restaurant the entire day but by the end of it, a sense of calm had quietly fallen over the restaurant, and Ann Burkes was reminded why she held the event.

“It’s a community, and Buddy Short was a customer of ours,” Ann Burkes said. “We wanted to pay our respects to families, it’s what you’re supposed to do. We got a lot of thanks for doing this, so that’s been very nice. That makes us feel good. What do they call it, paying it forward?”