Raising Cane’s sponsoring pageant

By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press 

The Five Hills Scholarship Pageant royalty began their day with chicken and lemonade at Raising Cane’s Monday morning. 
Raising Cane’s is one of the corporate sponsors of the 2019 Miss Five Hills Scholarship Pageant on March 23. The store has been a sponsor since opening its Copperas Cove location in September 2017. 
General Manager Shaun Smith says that involvement in the pageant is in line with the mission of Raising Cane’s. 
“The Five Hills pageant is very active in everything that they do, they really give back,” Smith said. “Here at Raising Cane’s, that’s really our key drive, to be able to give back, so to be able to instill that passion in all these young kids that are doing so much is just a great joy to us.”
As a sponsor, Raising Cane’s partners with the Five Hills Pageant at all their events and provides food and certificates. This year, more than $80,000 in scholarships and prizes will be given away through the pageant, according to Five Hills Ambassador Emily Kimball. 
“It’s just the ability to give back and give them a platform to be able to help out with,” Smith said. 
Raising Cane’s has also lent their location to Five Hills royalty. Kimball held her lemonade stand for Lemonade Day last year outside Raising Cane’s. Kimball, whose platform is to ensure the humane treatment of animals, attributed the traffic her stand received to being at Raising Cane’s. She was able to raise $300 to go towards her project of bringing a dog park to Copperas Cove. 
“We’re really fortunate to have Raising Cane’s as a community partner,” Kimball said. “They do so much for us, not just helping out with the actual pageant but through the year with our different events.”
Raising Cane’s was also present at Kimball’s event, the Howl-O-Ween Puppy Pawlooza, providing lemonade. 
“There’s nothing that we ask Raising Cane’s to do that they don’t do,” Kimball added. “They’re just always helping.”
Smith said he always figures out a way to say yes. 
“We’re definitely always on the go, we’re always finding a yes in any aspect of anything,” Smith said. “I don’t think I’ve ever turned anyone down since we’ve been open.”
Raising Cane’s is also a national sponsor of Lemonade Day, which the Five Hills Pageant royalty are heavily involved in. When Preteen Miss Five Hills Briana Liles won 2018 Fort Hood Area Lemonade Day Entrepreneur of the Year and 2018 National Lemonade Day Entrepreneur of the year after beating more than 80,000 other youth, she had the opportunity to record a commercial for Raising Cane’s. Her platform is alopecia awareness, with money raised going towards the Children’s Alopecia Project. 
Smith said that the biggest thing Raising Cane’s strives for is to support the kids, whether they’re in the pageant or not, and help any way they can. 
“You get all these young kids. In Copperas Cove, there’s really not a whole lot going on for them so all these extra events [the Five Hills Scholarship Pageant] do outside the town is really setting them up for that successful path,” Smith said. “If there’s anything we can do to get involved with that is amazing, it really is.”