Britt Leoni
•6/25/2026
At Turn N Burn food truck, Shai Dillard and her family know what it takes to turn a dream into reality.
"Me and my sister, his brother, his stepdad, like, everybody," said Shai. "We cook. We feed. That's what we do."
While some dreams are achieved by the dreamer alone, others are sustained by those who refuse to let them die.
"He was just an all-around good kid," said Shai. "He always made people smile. he gave his last to everybody. He was a good soul."
Shai's son, Preston, wasn't just a good soul. He put his heart and soul into good food.
"He would try anything, like he would take random ingredients and throw it together and it'd be good," said Shai.
Last August, Preston's ambition was short-changed. His calling to open a food truck came to a halt.
"He went into an asthma attack, and in the process of getting him to the hospital, he had cardiac arrest," said Shai. "He was unconscious for 19 minutes and was declared brain dead. Every day is so different. Some days I don't want to leave the house, and then some days, I'm everywhere. You just have to do it, and he wouldn't want me to stop, so I've got to keep it going."
Today, at Valerie's House, while loss has stolen Preston's future, his family isn't letting it steal his dream. They prove that no matter what death interrupts, love can finish.
"I think he'd be pretty excited," said Shai. "He'd be like, I can't believe it. We did it!"
