Chick-fil-A Opens on Sunday to Feed Blood Donors in Orlando

Community triumphs over all

Chick-fil-A is famously closed on Sundays, but yesterday one location in Florida forewent its weekly day of rest. Following the weekend's horrific shooting at an Orlando nightclub, employees from an area store handed out free sandwiches and iced tea to people waiting in line to donate blood, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"Our restaurant, along with a couple of others in the area, simply responded just like numerous other Orlando businesses and residents have done — we came together as a community to lift those in need," the restaurant wrote in a Facebook comment.

Reached for comment, a Chick-fil-A spokesperson says, "I can confirm that while we have a corporate policy that firmly states we are closed for business on Sundays, there have been rare cases that move our local operators to respond with food donations to help communities in need. The events in Orlando stirred our local restaurant owners and their teams to band together to provide nourishment to first responders as well as volunteers who donated blood. We do not think this requires any recognition. It is the least we can do in this community we love."

Chick-fil-A franchises are largely given autonomy as to how they participate in their local communities, which is how the chain known for contributing millions of dollars to anti-gay rights groups ended up sponsoring an LGBT film festival and providing food for a gay pride picnic. New York City mayor Bill DeBlasio has urged his constituents to boycott the chain in light of the aforementioned donations as well as chief operating officer Dan Cathy's vocal opposition to same-sex marriage.

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