By Chrysa Keenon | Echo
Chick-fil-A recently adopted a kindergarten class at Eastbrook South Elementary. The adoption offers weekly readings by employees, toy donations and visits from a costumed Chick-fil-A cow.The idea for adoption came from Brenda Christian, retail manager for Chick-fil-A. She gained the inspiration from her pastor Steven Poe and his sermons over the summer on how to better serve local communities.
"We are never more like Jesus than when we are serving others from a selfless motivation," Poe said in a statement.
Christian wanted a way to promote the restaurant to the community, and the location recently purchased a Chick-fil-A cow costume.
"Well over the Summer we read to children and had the (Chick-fil-A) cow present and the children that did come really seemed to enjoy it, so that is how I came up with the idea of reading," Christian said.Christian first approached Eastbrook South's principal to see if any class would be interested in a more permanent adoption. According to her, the principal sent out an email to all the teachers, and though the idea was well received by most classes, Christian decided it was best to focus on only one class at a time and start small.The first class to respond to the email was Andrea Shively's kindergarten class. According to Shively, she was uncertain at first of what the adoption would entail and was taken aback by Christian's offer for not only volunteer readings, but toy donations as well."When we met together at Taylor, (Christian) was kind of very, 'What do you need? Tell us what you need'," Shively said.Shively wrote a list of items her classroom could use, such as foam blocks, puzzles and Legos, and Christian sent it out to the Chick-fil-A employees. According to Christian, the employees went beyond anything she and Shively were expecting. Christian compared the way the donations flooded in to Christmas.
Shively expressed that the children and parents truly enjoy the Chick-fil-A cow coming to visit. She believes the weekly readings are a good way to build consistency in the children's lives.
"A few kids are just needing attention and affection, and so the cow coming in even just to simply read with them, or the volunteers coming to be with them is something I think has the greatest potential for an effect on the students," Shively said.
