Birdies Food & Fuel Adopts Eleven Families for Christmas Holidays  

LULING — The smiles on the children’s faces told the story. This Christmas would be one to remember.

Santa Helpers Abdel Nabut and Dr. Iman Nawash give Xavier Rodriquez her Christmas gift…

River Parishes gas station and convenience store chain Birdies, in partnership with Citgo and Johnson Oil, switched up its annual holiday giveaway a little bit this year by taking 11 families under its wing, providing gifts for each member of the family as well as a few extras to make the holidays that much better.

“You have been invited to a very special event today,” said Luling Elementary School Principal Vanessa Terry to the room filled with lucky recipients of all ages.

In past years, Birdies has partnered with other schools in the River Parishes for its holiday giveaway, and typically presents were only given to selected students at the schools.

But this year, the event took a little bit of a different format, according to E.J. Landry Counselor Iman En-Nabut, more commonly known as Dr. E. She said when she and the other counselors were going over the Christmas lists, they were shocked by the simplicity of some of the requests. “Some of the things the kids ask for, you’d be surprised,” she said.

Luling Elementary Students were treated to Birdies Famous Fried Chicken before getting to meet Santa Claus.

Many of the lists contained items most children would take for granted, such as a football or a turkey to eat on Christmas day. En-Nabut said it was at that point that they realized giving one member of the family might bring a smile to the child’s face momentarily, but without the rest of the family included, the holiday still might not be a happy one. So instead of
nominating individual students, entire families were nominated this year.

As part of the giveaway, each member of the family received one or two gifts from their respective wish lists, plus some children, usually one from each family, received a bicycle, scooter or skateboard. Parents were also given a Birdies gift card, and each family was given an old-fashioned board games, such as Candy Land or Sorry!, to promote family togetherness.

Birdies General Manager Mike Nabut said the event is just a way for the business to give back to the community that supports it.

“They’re all our regular customers anyway,” he said. “It feels good. I even pulled my kids out of school to teach them something about giving back.”

Shera Borne, who has six children and whose family was one of those selected for the giveaway, said, “It was beautiful. We really enjoyed it, and it was a gift from God. It was a good help for me.”

Birdies Food & Fuel Gives To Families In Need During Holidays

December 14, 2012 – Local CITGO Marketer Johnson Oil, Birdies Food & Fuel and CITGO Petroleum Corporation teamed up for the second year in a row to spread some holiday cheer for families in need. The Christmas party honored more than 125 students and their families from Lakewood Elementary in St. Charles Parish, which serves more than 600 students between third and eighth grade.

Birdies representatives YoYo Nabut and Shawn Razek take time out for a picture with Santa Clause during the Birdies Toy Give A Way…

“We at Birdies Food & Fuel believe that today’s kids learn by seeing, and this year it is our hope that they learn giving is truly better than receiving,” said Mike Nabut, GM at Birdies Food & Fuel. “The joy of the Christmas season is all too often overshadowed by the weight of financial burdens, and we are aiming to alleviate that stress this year so that our local families can embrace the holiday spirit and enjoy the season of giving. Thanks to the commitment and generosity of our friends at CITGO and Johnson Oil, this holiday is sure to be a memorable one for our community.”

Birdies Food & Fuel realizes that for many kids, the holiday season means presents, parties and fun with family and friends. However, the reality is that many kids won’t have a Christmas this year. Unfortunately, some kids kids come from homes in difficult situations such as having little or no money.

To alleviate some financial burdens, Birdies Food & Fuel knows that a simple or great toy brightly-wrapped gift would make the world for any child. The annual Birdies Food & Fuel toy give away is our way of saying “Thank You” to the families of the River Parishes.  Bringing smiles to the faces of children during a magical time of year is the least we could do for such a wonderful community.