A Chick-fil-A in Alabama fulfilled the birthday wish of a 14-year-old boy with autism and cerebral palsy by opening on Sunday — a day the restaurant is normally closed — so the teen could work the drive-thru.
For his birthday, Elijah Sprague had one wish: He wanted to work the drive-thru at the local Chick-fil-A.
Though Chick-fil-A is typically closed on Sundays, manager Walt Gilstrap, uncle to Elijah, and owner Mr. Glen opened the doors and drive-thru window so Elijah’s birthday wish could come true, WKRG reports. Elijah passed out cookies to about 40 cars through the drive-thru window before participants went inside the store to finish celebrating the teen’s birthday with a cookie cake.
Rene Sprague, Elijah’s mother, reflected on the special day in a Facebook post: “The way people love this kid amazes me,” she wrote. “It has truly changed the way I live my life. Loving people with your whole heart, [judgments] aside and with no anticipation of rewards. Thank you to every single person that loves our Elijah.”
When the story was first reported by local news outlets, she wrote: “When the Lord’s restaurant opens for your birthday party, it makes the news.”
Elijah was born 18 weeks premature and has limited speech, Rene Sprague told CBS News. Sprague, a nurse who worked at the NICU where Elijah was treated as a newborn, adopted Elijah with her husband when he was 6 months old. While they were told he would only live about a year, he has far exceeded his life expectancy.
“This is super special to us,” Sprague said. “Elijah’s not going to graduate like our other kids. He’s not going to get married or have kids. So this is just a really cool experience to us for him to have this level of attention … it’s neat for people to recognize he’s a really cool kid.”
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SOURCE: Christian Post, Leah MarieAnn Klett
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