Chick-fil-A workers fed the hungry after storm

A snowstorm in the South is as rare as a glass of unsweetened tea at a church supper; however, there were two of them a few years ago. Folks around Birmingham, Alabama were not all that worried though. The storm was only supposed to dust the city and surrounding area, not even enough powder for a Southern snowman.

When the first snowflakes began to fall, no one paid all that much attention, but then the flakes kept falling. Before too long, folks in places like Hoover and Inverness realized it was much more than a dusting, but at that point, it was too late for anyone to do anything.

Icy interstates and highways soon became clogged with cars and trucks. Thousands of motorists soon found themselves stranded with nowhere to go, including many stuck on Highway 280. Chick-fil-A had a captive crowd of hungry customers, but instead, they decided to give away their food.

A large number of those stranded motorist were able to find shelter in the storm thanks to the kindness and generosity of a Chick-fil-A restaurant’s employees and the restaurant’s owner, Mark Meadows.

Once the snow started accumulating, Meadows closed the restaurant and sent the staff home. But a few hours later, many of them returned unable to get to their homes. The store was located a little over a mile from the interstate, and store manager, Audrey Pitt, left her car on the side of the interstate and joined several other drivers trudging through the snow.

Some of the drivers had been stuck in their cars for nearly seven hours without any food or water, so the staff of Chick-fil-A decided to lend a helping hand. They cooked several hundred sandwiches and stood on both sides of 280 and gave the sandwiches to anyone who wanted them.

The staffers braved the falling snow and ice as they offered hot chicken breasts tucked between buttered buns to everyone and refused to take a single penny for the sandwiches. The meal was a gift, and for the frozen folks, it was manna from heaven.

Ms. Pitt said that the folks were surprised that the sandwiches were free. “This company is based on taking care of people and loving people before you are worried about money or profit. We were just trying to follow the model that we all have worked under for so long and the model that we have come to love. There is nothing else we would have done but try to help these people any way we could,” she said.

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