ROANOKE, Va. – It's more than just waffle fries at a Roanoke Chick-fil-A Thursday night.
The store is used to doing fundraisers for schools and sports teams, but this time, they're raising money for one of their own with two decades of service to the company.
Gary Burch is an 18-year employee at Chick-fil-A, a manager at the Valley View store.
"If you were to ask people what they love about coming to Chic-fil-A, a lot of people would just say it's Gary," Chick-fil-A executive director Marshall Miller said.
He's been out of work since having a stroke last fall that left him partially paralyzed.
"They're what you consider a b rother, I mean I don't know any other way to put that," Burch said.
It's tough for him, because Gary is known as the mayor of Chick-fil-A, he is the guy that talks to everyone all the time.
"Whenever he comes by, you know what you've been missing, by not having him around on a daily basis," Miller said.
Thursday, they're donating some of the sales to help Gary pay his medical bills and he can't believe all the support.
"It's hard to absorb it, I promise you, I promise you, they're just more of a blessing than they realize," said Gary. "
"As a family, a Chick-fil-A family, when your family member is struggling, you go help them and that's what we're doing for him," said Marshall Miller, executive director of Chick-fil-A Valley View.
Thursday's fundraiser raised $3,300 for Gary between donations and proceeds from the nights' sales.
"You know when youre family member is struggling, you go help them," Miller said.
When they say Chick-fil-A is family, they're truly not lying. Customers even went to visit Gary in the hospital.
"A lot of people here are just for Chic-fil-A you know just cause the chicken is good, at this time of day it's always like this. But I'm blessed to have a number of my friends people that I've come to know over the years that came in here today," Burch said.