Why Alex Gomez Day?
To celebrate all of the heroes in our community that display hard work, selfless care for others, and persistence in the face of adversity. We honor you this year on May 17th!
Alex was 4 years old and living in Mexico when he lost his father
Alex’s father was fatally electrocuted in the dry cleaner he worked at. Even before the accident, Alex’s family was facing difficult and impoverished circumstances. After his father’s death, Alex’s mother left him, his brothers, and his sisters behind to immigrate to the United States, looking for a way to support the family. Alex only saw his mom a few times over the next nine years, and you can imagine how hard that was for a little boy. He lived with his elderly grandmother in unrelenting hardship, pulling old gum off of a telephone pole just to have something to chew.
Finally, at 15 years of age, Alex and his brother immigrate to northern California where his mother worked.
With the family often sleeping in their car and in desperate financial situations, he quickly went to work to help support his family. They took the only jobs they were qualified to take – working long hours picking vegetables in the hot California fields. His body and hands would hurt, often to the point of nearly passing out due to the brutal temperatures. Alex didn’t complain about it because he was recovering all of the time their family was apart and helping to contribute financially.
Alex witnessed many other immigrants not learning English and being held back because of the language barrier. Even though he was very young and only “a worker in the fields,” he knew that learning the English language and getting a good education would be an asset to a better life. In 1997, Alex came to Georgia, where his story in Canton begins… and the rest is history. In 1998 Alex joined Chick-fil-A Canton as a team member and has risen to lead the organization to unprecedented growth. All while his role as father and husband became one of his greatest accomplishments.
Read more about Alex’s story in Chapter 10 of Irrational Kindness.
When not working in the fields, he began to take classes to learn English as a second language, seeing this as a pathway to grow and open more doors. His mother taught the family that education was the only way to advance. Therefore, as soon as Alex got an opportunity, he enrolled in an adult literacy program and successfully completed his GED.
