Winner winner — kids get chicken dinner
Chick-fil-A rewards Union Local Elementary for Toy Lift fundraising
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BELMONT -- Chick-fil-A representatives stopped by Union Local Elementary School on Wednesday to serve up free sandwiches to the students for being the top fundraisers for Operation Toy Lift.
The event was held in mid-December with the Belmont County Sheriff's Department, Wheeling Police Department and United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley.
Stacy Austin, owner of the St. Clairsville Chick-fil-A, said the restaurant has sponsored the toy lift since 2020, but this is the first time the restaurant has said "thank you" with free sandwiches.
"We agreed to provide a Chick-fil-A sandwich to organizations in Belmont County who raised the most funds in Operation Toy Lift. This year it was Union Local Elementary, so this year we were able to feed the students and staff 700 sandwiches today," he said. "We felt this would be a unique way to increase our sponsorship and create some buzz around the fundraising efforts in Belmont County.
"One of our core purposes is to have a positive influence. At Chick-fil-A St. Clairsville, one of our goals is to be the best neighbor for the Ohio Valley for our community," Austin said.
Principal Dana Kendziorski said her students went above and beyond to help out.
"Our families here are just so willing to help out. We had a collection one day. I don't know how much we collected," she said.
"We just did a one-day collection theme day and the kids brought in donations."
Chick-fil-A's distinctive cow mascot donned a Santa Claus hat and coat for the occasion and was joined by Belmont County Sheriff David Lucas and Chief Deputy James Zusack to help pass out sandwiches and greet the children.
Lucas declined to share monetary results of the toy lift drive, but said hundreds of Ohio Valley children will have a merry Christmas this year.
"This year was our seventh year for Operation Toy Lift," he said. "Chick-fil-A is one of our major (backers). We have surpassed all the previous years. Our community and our people and our businesses, supporting us and giving us gifts. We have helped over 1,000 kids this year in regards to kids."
Lucas said that last year Union Local High School was the top fundraiser.
"Stacy at Chick-fil-A wanted to reward the kids," he said. "That was awesome. A phenomenal job. We want to thank everybody involved who made this unbelievable Operation Toy Lift.
"This is what Christmas is about. It's about the kids, and it's about a way of life, that there are good people out there, and we do care. And this just put the icing on the cake to come here and have lunch with the kids that did a central job in raising the most money."
Donated gifts are given to children in Wetzel, Tyler, Belmont, Ohio, Brooke and Marshall counties. Additional toys gathered by the event will be handed out from 12:30-2:30 p.m. Friday at The Times Leader office, located at 200 S. Fourth St., Martins Ferry. Local children age 10 and under are welcome, but they must be accompanied by an adult.