Area Chick-fil-A stores are teaming up for a fundraiser to benefit Christopher Sparkman tonight, on the one-year anniversary of the shooting at a Kennesaw Fed Ex facility that has left him facing a long recovery.
If you already have dinner plans but would like to help, there's a link at this web site where you can make donations.
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Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Restaurants in six north Georgia counties will participate from 6 to 9 p.m. tonight by donating at least 10 percent of total sales to help support the Sparkman family.
"I felt really strongly that we should do something," said Zach Thomas, franchise operator at the Macland Crossing Chick-fil-A in west Cobb. He said he felt led to help Sparkman, a fellow U.S. Army veteran, and invited his counterparts at other stores to join in the effort. "I thought it would be a great opportunity for us to work together."
Locations participating in the event include Chick-fil-A restaurants in Cherokee, Bartow, Douglas, Carroll, Cobb and Paulding counties, as well as others from around the state.
Sparkman was critically wounded when a suicidal gunman opened fire at the Fed Ex facility one year ago and has endured around 40 surgeries.
Newlyweds at the time of the shooting, he and wife Jamie Lynn Sparkman have suffered financially as she has had to quit her job to care for him. With a difficult road ahead, Jamie Lynn recently posted a message requesting prayers and, if supporters feel so led, for assistance.
“It’s quite honestly very difficult, and embarrassing for us to ask for help,” she wrote. “I had to leave my job to care for Chris. He has been denied disability from the government twice. Our only source of income has been small weekly benefits of workman’s comp from Allied Barton, and the benevolent gifts you all have given.”
Earlier this year Jamie Lynn posted the harrowing news that Christopher was in a medically induced coma following complications from a procedure. His troubles stemmed from internal injuries that doctors are having a hard time getting a handle on.
“The pain he has endured over and over is unimaginable, and watching him go through it again has taken a toll on our families,” she wrote.
Two weeks ago, she posted this photo of her husband being taken into surgery yet again.
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
More recently she posted the uplifting news that Christopher was able to come home again. His journey to recovery is not over but at least for the moment he can enjoy the comfort of familiar surroundings.
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
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