At the beginning of the year our class went on a Vision and Values tour with Trudy Cathy White, the daughter of Chick-fil-a founder, Truett Cathy. On this tour we learned about the history and values of the Cathy family and Chick-fil-A. Impact 360 was founded by Trudy and her husband,John and it is by their generosity that Impact is able to flourish in continuing to develop students into Christ centered servant leaders. It is a privilege to be able to know the Whites and to be able to see firsthand their love for people and their desire to make Christ evident in their lives. Just as we as a class have been Impacted by John and Trudy, we have also been Impacted by another part of the Chick-fil-a family… Dan Cathy.
Dan is the son of Truett Cathy and the current CEO of Chick-fil-a. With such a successful company it would appear that Dan would be a busy man with high priorities to attend to, maybe that’s why we were so surprised when he strolled into the Whistling Pig on Tuesday night and sat down at a table of students to eat dinner. Dan explained that he was in the area and figured that he would have dinner with us as well as attend our speaker series event on campus that evening. For a man of such high status it was incredibly comfortable to talk with Dan about our year at Impact and our lives at home, we even got to share and try new foods with him! Meeting Dan was such a great experience because it reminds our class that you can be highly successful in business while maintaining and sharing your Christian faith. It also meant a lot to us that Dan would take time out of his busy schedule just to share a meal with a few college students.
As a Chick-fil-a employee I loved meeting Dan, Trudy and John, it makes me so happy to be able to say from personal knowledge that I work for some incredible people who love the Lord and choose to show it with their lives. As a student, I have enjoyed meeting this group of people because I know they are spiritually and financially invested in my education. Not only do they believe in the tools Impact 360 is giving us, but they also believe in me and my ability to take what I have learned into the world. Overall, the interactions we as a class have had with the White family as well as Dan Cathy have been a blessing to us and have definitely impacted our lives.
-Kelsey Ann Morse