Chick-fil-A announced its 2024 scholarship initiatives for employees and community service-minded leaders. 

The creator of the chicken sandwich brand this week announced the two scholarship initiatives for the 2024-2025 school year — including one for those who don’t work at Chick-fil-A. 

The first scholarship opportunity is called the Remarkable Futures Scholarship. 

Geared to employees, this program will award scholarships in the amounts of $1,000, $2,500 and $25,000.

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The scholarship can be awarded to a restaurant team member who is employed by an independent, franchised Chick-fil-A restaurant business, a Chick-fil-A, Inc.-operated restaurant or an S. Truett Cathy (STC) brand restaurant, according to a press release. 

The second scholarship up for grabs is the Chick-fil-A Community Scholars program.

This scholarship will be awarded to 12 community service-minded leaders. 

This initiative offers a $25,000 scholarship. 

It’s available for leaders in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada who do not work for or within a Chick-fil-A restaurant. 

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This is the 51st year that Chick-fil-A, Inc. will be giving out scholarships as part of its commitment to support education within the community.

Chick-fil-A, Inc. senior director of corporate social responsibility Brent Fielder told Fox News Digital that these initiatives have a great impact on community and team members.

“Team members who didn’t think college was a reality due to financial reasons have graduated and gone into successful careers within and outside of Chick-fil-A,” he said. 

“We recognize the importance of education, which is why we’ve chosen to offer scholarship opportunities for service-minded leaders — regardless of if they work in a Chick-fil-A restaurant or not,” he added. 

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In 2023, the Atlanta-based fast-food chain awarded more than $25 million in scholarships for over 13,000 team members and 13 community service-minded students, according to Chick-fil-A, Inc. 

Tiffany Tran of Beaumont, Texas, was a community scholar in 2023. She’s now a student at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center. 

She told Chick-fil-A, Inc. that she has hope for her future because of the scholarship program.

“For me, being from a smaller town and going to a smaller university, I think [this opportunity] has given me hope that if you work hard for your dreams, you can achieve them,” she said. 

Scholarships will be awarded directly to the education institution, will be applicable to any qualifying school, college or university, and have no employment tenure length requirement. 

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The deadline to apply for the Remarkable Futures Scholarship is October 18; the deadline for the Chick-fil-A Community Scholars program is November 1. 

The scholarships will be awarded in spring 2024. 

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Chick-fil-A said applicants must demonstrate academic success and devotion to community service; and that Chick-fil-A Community Scholars and True Inspiration Scholars must also demonstrate financial need.

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Top executives at Trader Joe’s recently addressed the possibility of implementing self-checkout machines by the grocery chain.

CEO Bryan Palbaum and Vice CEO Jon Basalone both refuted the notion that the company would bring the option soon, calling it “false.”

“That’s as false as false can be because we believe in people, and we’re not trying to get rid of our crew members for efficiency’s sake or whatever the – I don’t know what the reasons are people put self-checkout in,” Basalone said.

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The comments came during Monday’s episode of the company’s podcast. 

Consumer speculation about whether the California-based grocery chain would put in self-checkout has arisen from time to time in the past. Many popular grocery stores, including Kroger, Publix and Albertsons, utilize the technology.

“It’s not fun,” Palbaum told the hosts of the podcast about self-checkout. “I was just saying, I would, I have fun bagging groceries and working at the register. Self-checkout is work. I don’t want that.”

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Trader Joe’s executives have previously discussed self-checkout on the company’s podcast. Tara Miller did so in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, saying Trader Joe’s employees “remain our most valued resource.”

“While other retailers were cutting staff and adding things like self-checkout, curbside pickup and outsourcing delivery options, we were hiring more crew, and we continue to do that,” she said at the time.

The company still does not engage in curbside or third-party delivery for groceries. Online shopping also isn’t an option available at Trader Joe’s, according to the company’s website.

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Other rumors that Trader Joe’s refuted on the Monday podcast episode included in-store restaurants with in-aisle waiting areas and cashiers being ordered to flirt with customers.

Trader Joe’s, which is privately owned, operates more than 540 locations across the country, according to a recent press release. It has been around since 1967.

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