Chick-fil-A Leadership Academy (CFALA) created over 108 lunch bags for the homeless as part of their “Do Good December” project in Room 2707 on Dec. 16. Around 35 members helped with the project.
After a brief holiday icebreaker, the members also voted on passing bylaws, such as official member expectations and committee divisions, required to make the Bellaire branch of CFALA a nationally recognized chapter. The vote of approval was unanimous.
The second agenda item was to choose between an in-person or online popcorn fundraiser for the club, with a majority of 29 out of 32 people voting for an in-person fundraiser. The club then moved on to begin packing and preparing lunch bags with meals to donate to the Ronald McDonald House Charities.
The members were divided into three assembly lines: logistics, communications and fundraising. Those in communications and fundraising were in charge of making the meals, with each bag containing a tuna sandwich, an applesauce, a granola bar and a water bottle.
The remaining logistics members then began using colored markers to decorate the paper lunch bags, as Vice President Selina Chen and Chick-fil-A associate member Jose, from the Meyerland location, passed out hot Chick-fil-A sandwiches to the club members.
Once the bags were packed, they were organized into boxes ready for distribution.
“The lunch bags will be donated to support families housing kids with medical illnesses,” said co-president Meadow Lam. “The homes are a place for kids to settle in, and we can support them by donating these meals. It’s probably one of our best service projects yet, and I think it will really help people in the community.”
Sophomore and mentor Kayla Zhou helped with the project by decorating the bags as a part of the logistics group. As a mentor, Zhou practices leadership by guiding her mentee in discussions and during club activities.
“The meeting was really meaningful to me,” Zhou said. “Even though my drawings on the bags weren’t very great, when I backed out and saw what everyone else had made, it made me happy to think that people in need would be receiving these colorful bags.”
Sophomore Audrey Sioco, who is also a mentor, worked alongside Zhou to decorate and pack the meals.
“The meeting was really productive, especially since we had so many of our members [present],” Sioco said. “I’m just so happy knowing that our impact project is going to help so many people this winter season.”
To learn more about CFALA and their upcoming projects, follow their Instagram @bellaire_cfala.
