How a back-to-school tradition brings neighbors together and supports local students<\/p>\n
On a typical Sunday, the drive-thru at Chick-fil-A Hialeah Westland is quiet.\u00a0On a recent Sunday in July, the parking lot\u00a0was\u00a0buzzing with\u00a0energy as the community came together\u00a0to champion kids and local families lined up as early as\u00a07:00\u00a0a.m. for a tradition that has become a cornerstone of the neighborhood: the 6th Annual Back-to-School Backpack Giveaway.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Owner-Operator Cynthia Bowles, the event\u00a0hits close to home. As a Hialeah native and the daughter of immigrants, she understands the weight of the back-to-school season for families in her community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very meaningful that I get to do this. On a Sunday, we get to fill our restaurant and our drive-thru with families that are just like mine,\u201d said Bowles. \u201cFor most of the families here in Hialeah, it\u2019s their first few years in this country, and so these kids are going to school in the US for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n
More Than a Backpack
The\u00a02026\u00a0event saw the distribution of 500 backpacks\u00a0filled with notebooks, paper,\u00a0rulers\u00a0and glue sticks\u00a0to children throughout the community. The initiative has grown from a \u201csmall dream\u201d of 100 backpacks in its first year to a massive collaborative effort involving local leadership.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Enrique Santos,\u00a0who\u00a0serves as\u00a0President and Chief Creative Officer of\u00a0iHeartLatino, has been a partner since the event\u2019s\u00a0inception.\u00a0Since he grew up\u00a0just a few blocks from\u00a0Chick-fil-A Hialeah Westland,\u00a0this event\u00a0is\u00a0especially meaningful\u00a0to\u00a0Santos.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0community.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0what\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0about,\u201d Santos shared. \u201cIt\u2019s great to connect\u00a0for back to school with all our listeners and see the smiling\u00a0faces of all the kids\u2026 It gets bigger and better every single year, and it\u2019s just amazing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A Culture of Service
The event\u2019s success relied\u00a0on the Hialeah Westland Team Members who volunteered\u00a0on\u00a0their Sunday morning to greet families and distribute supplies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking at Chick-fil-A\u00a0truthfully is more than just selling delicious food; it\u2019s also being a part of the community that you belong to. We have so many schools in the area, and we see the kids every day here at the restaurant, so this is a way for us to say thank you to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 Sophie Avila, a Team Member of over four years<\/p>\n
Investing in the Future
Beyond the immediate need for school supplies, the\u00a0annual\u00a0event serves as a platform to champion education as a gateway to opportunity.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEducation is what opens doors,\u201d Bowles said. \u201cWe\u2019re encouraging [students] to celebrate the fact that they\u2019re going back to school\u2026\u00a0that\u2019s what\u2019s going to launch them and help them in their future.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the backpacks were handed out at Chick-fil-A Hialeah Westland, the excitement of a new school year was paired with a sense of gratitude. Thanks to the generosity of the Hialeah community, students were equipped with the tools they need to thrive this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How a back-to-school tradition brings neighbors together and supports local students On a typical Sunday, the drive-thru at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-380666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}