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How Chick-fil-A creates meaningful impact in NYC

How Chick-fil-A creates meaningful impact in NYC

Axios12-05-2025
Chick-fil-A restaurants across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are creating impactful change in their neighborhoods.
Here's why: Chick-fil-A's corporate social responsibility efforts reflect the company's commitment to being responsible stewards and positively influencing the communities they serve.
The company focuses on creating moments of care for people, for communities, through their food and for the planet.
How it's done: Local Chick-fil-A Owner-Operators in the Tri-State are leading the way with multiple initiatives, including…
🎓 Sending kids to college with scholarships
Each year, Chick-fil-A restaurant team members are offered the opportunity to apply for college scholarships through the Chick-fil-A Remarkable Futures™ scholarship program.
The local impact: Since 1975, 1,500+ scholarships have been awarded across NYC for a total of over $3 million in scholarships.
🍗 Donating surplus food to neighbors in need
The Chick-fil-A Shared Table® program empowers local Owner-Operators to donate surplus food at the end of each day to charitable organizations in their community.
Key numbers: Across all five boroughs, more than 196,000 meals have been created through Chick-fil-A Shared Table.
Local Owner-Operator Senay Mekonen of Chick-fil-A Marble Hill has donated 8,700 meals to Love Kitchen, a Bronx-area nonprofit.
Brandon Hurst, the local Owner-Operator of two Chick-fil-A restaurants in Brooklyn, has collectively helped create 55,000 meals for those in need in partnership with Prosperity in the Hood and Next Step Community Church.
Local Owner-Operator Jared Caldwell of Chick-fil-A 79th & 2nd and Chick-fil-A 1536 3rd Ave has collectively donated over 5,000 meals to two Manhattan nonprofits: Gotham Food Pantry and the Jamaican Women's Employment Shelter.
❤️ Making a positive impact on local youth
Tri-State area local owner-operators give back to youth, including sponsoring Chick-fil-A Leader Academy in local high schools, which offers seed funding in the form of microgrants to help support participating schools' community impact projects.
Some examples: Many local owner-operators are also involved in local boards and nonprofits.
Roosevelt Board, the local owner-operator at Chick-fil-A Staten Island Mall, was one of seven business owners honored by the borough. He's involved in the Chamber's Young Entrepreneurs Academy, an innovative after-school program that helps high school students launch their own business. Board acts as a mentor, guest speaker, sponsor and a field trip host.
Marc Thompson, the local owner-operator at Chick-fil-A Five Towns, hosts fundraisers for local schools, invites students to the restaurant for Meet the Operator days to learn about the restaurant business and donates meals to students participating in local events focused on STEAM, leadership development and entrepreneurship.
♻️ Recycling used cooking oil to help the environment
Chick-fil-A partners with DAR PRO Solutions for an innovative oil-reclamation program.
How it works: All locally owned and operated Chick-fil-A restaurants in NYC recycle used cooking oil from their restaurants to create renewable diesel.
To date, Chick-fil-A restaurants across the country have generated more than two million gallons of renewable diesel.
💸 Funding for nonprofits through grants
The True Inspiration Awards® program celebrates and supports nonprofit organizations making an impact in their local communities with annual grants.
The positive news: In 2024, Harlem Grown received a $200,000 True Inspiration Awards grant. The youth education program addresses the hunger facing 24% of low-income children and their families in New York City's Harlem community.
With the funding from Chick-fil-A, Harlem Grown plans to enhance its newly launched Independent Afterschool Program.
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Eric Adams vetoes controversial grocery bills, citing affordability crisis for New Yorkers
Eric Adams vetoes controversial grocery bills, citing affordability crisis for New Yorkers

New York Post

time7 hours ago

  • New York Post

Eric Adams vetoes controversial grocery bills, citing affordability crisis for New Yorkers

Mayor Eric Adams vetoed a pair of controversial grocery bills that would have forced delivery companies in NYC to pay drivers more, which critics said would result in higher costs at the supermarket. Adams said Wednesday he issued the vetoes because he feared the increase in prices would burden struggling New Yorkers already facing an affordability crisis. 'Grocery prices are already too high, so now is not the right time to do anything to drive these prices even higher,' the mayor said. 4 Adams used his veto power to swat down a pair of bills he said would make grocery deliveries more expensive. James Messerschmidt Progressive City Council members who supported the legislation said the new laws would increase wages to more than $21 per hour for delivery drivers. But Adams argued the app delivery companies would pass the cost of the increased wages onto 'vulnerable' customers. 4 The mayor said New Yorkers can't afford higher grocery prices. Xinhua/Shutterstock 'Grocery delivery is fundamental for many New Yorkers, including some of our most vulnerable residents,' Adams said. 'We must always work to strike the right balance between delivering fair wages and making our city affordable for everyone and for that reason, I am vetoing both of these bills at this time.' Two-thirds of council members could vote to override Adams' vetoes. Council member Sandy Nurse, who sponsored Intro 1135-A and leads the council's progressive caucus, did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment. When her bill was passed in July it received 36 votes, two more than a veto-proof majority. Intro 1133-A, the other bill Adams vetoed Wednesday, was also passed with a veto-proof majority, with 38 council members voting 'aye' in July. Council member Jennifer Gutiérrez, who sponsored 1133-A did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment. A spokesperson for city council, Julia Agos, said the mayor was being hypocritical and the council was 'considering next steps.' 'Mayor Adams is once again displaying hypocrisy – this time, by opposing common-sense minimum pay standards and protections for grocery delivery workers that his own administration negotiated with us to match existing ones for food delivery workers,' Agos said. 'This veto demonstrates that the mayor's claims to care about working-class New Yorkers and a sustainable delivery industry for New York City are hollow, because he is undermining the workers who make the sector possible,' she added. 4 Progressive city council members argued struggling food delivery workers are underpaid. Stephen Yang The mayor was swayed in part by an op-ed written by Rev. Al Sharpton and published in AMNY, according to a source in City Hall. Sharpton argued food insecure New Yorkers, who are already facing cuts from the Trump administration to federal food programs, such as SNAP, couldn't stomach higher grocery prices. 4 A majority of council members could still vote to override the mayor's veto. Matthew McDermott The mayor's decision was also affected by a petition signed by 11,000 grocery delivery customers asking for the bills to be vetoed, according to a source. 'We cannot risk making groceries even more expensive for the families who can least afford them. Our administration will always fight for a fairer, more affordable future for all New Yorkers, full stop,' Adams said.

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