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Local waitress invited to White House to highlight tax bill

Heather Kell, a Hannah Flanagan's waitress, speaks at the White House about a tax refund she received because 2025 tax legislation exempted tips from taxation. [SCREENSHOT OF WHITE HOUSE VIDEO]

By Bill Moss, Published: March 15, 2026

Heather Kell is just one more waitress in a world full of waitresses. A single mom, she works hard, with a smile. She's more loyal than most, having worked at Hannah Flanagan's, the popular Irish pub on Main Street, for some 20 years.

But last Friday she wasn't just another waitress. She stood in the sneakers of all the servers in America when she was invited to the White House to highlight one of the benefits of the tax legislation Congress passed last year. The bill made income from tips tax-exempt.

"Heather is a single mom and waitress from Hendersonville, North Carolina — great place," President Trump said at a ceremony last week. "And thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill, she got a big, beautiful tax refund of $4,000 this year, which you didn't expect."

Poised and seemingly calm, Kell accepted Trump's invitation to step up to the lectern and speak.

“I have been a waitress for over 20 years, and a lot of the people I’ve seen come and go in the industry are single moms and they work hard," she said. "They’re the hardest working people I know, and then at the end of the year, they're always super stressed out because they don't know where they're going to come up with the extra couple-thousand dollars that they owe on their taxes.”

This year, when she reached the bottom line of her tax form, she got a pleasant surprise.

“I had to do a double take,” she said. “I had to do my taxes twice to make sure this was real. I couldn't believe it. Thank you so much.”

Chris Burns, the 11th District director for U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, found Heather.

"I started asking around if anyone knew a person that had filed their taxes after the new tax reforms and Tommy said he thought Heather had," Burns said via text, referring to former district aide Tommy Laughter. "Chuck told her story to someone in the administration and they sent her an invite to come to the White House" as part of a Women's History Month observance hosted by Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.

"We thought she may get an invite to the state of the union," Burns said, "but I think this was actually an even better experience for her since her son got to be a part of it. The DC team gave her a personalized tour of the Capitol last week as well."

The Lightning called Heather this week but we were unable to connect for an interview.