Mar 31

Mar 31 Sponsored: Chick-fil-A awards scholarships to Kinston employees

The four most recent Chick-fil-A scholarship recipients are Cameron Jones, Morgan Hafenmaier, Gabi Register and Dana Langley. Photo by William “Bud” Hardy / Neuse News

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Chick-fil-A has helped thousands of employees with college ambitions.

In 1973, Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy helped an employee raise funds for college. Cathy, other employees and consumers would put money in a mayonnaise jar on the counter in the home restaurant of Atlanta, essentially starting the organization’s scholarship fund.

Since then, across the nation, more than 47,000 employees have been awarded a combined $61 million for schools.

Since opening in 2010, Chick-fil-A of Kinston has 27 members who have received scholarship money through the fund, including its latest recipients: Morgan Hafenmaier, Cameron Jones, Dana Langley and Gabi Register.

“It’s rewarding to see hard work pay off and recognize these young men and women,” Chick-fil-A of Kinston operator John McPhaul said. “It’s not just important to achieve a certain level of service here at Chick-fil-A, but in receiving the scholarship, it shows how they’ve excelled in school and also given back to the community.”

The award is not a one-time offer as Jones, a junior studying management information systems at ECU, won his third Chick-fil-A scholarship.

“I’m definitely thankful to win the scholarship and hard work definitely paid off,” Jones said. “It really helps me out financially with school and there’s no other way I could use the money besides educational purposes.”

“Financially, this scholarship helps a lot toward building for the future,” Register said. “It always feels good to be rewarded for hard work and I’m looking to achieve even more at UNCW.”

Langley, who is also at the early college, will attend UNC-Greensboro to major in business administration with a minor in marketing.

“It’s a big help for me college-wise and I’m thankful to have been picked out of everyone who applied,” Langley said.

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Hafenmaier is currently in ECU’s Regionally Increasing Baccalaureate Nurses (RIBN) program and takes classes on campus at Lenoir Community College as she goes for her nursing degree.

“ECU is very expensive compared to LCC and this scholarship is helping me pay for these classes,” Hafenmaier said. “I’m truly thankful for Chick-fil-A offering these opportunities for team members.”

There are two different scholarships for Chick-Fil-A: a $2,500 leadership scholarship award and a $25,000 true inspiration scholarship award. Both stress a good GPA, active involvement in community service a year prior to filing for the application and a recommendation by the operator.