Kevin Brown wanted to use the success of his business, Chicken Salad Chick, to help others.
"They had always hoped to do something to give back," said Earlon McWhorter, member of the Chicken Salad Chick Foundation board of directors.
Kevin was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in November 2013, just a few years after he co-founded Chicken Salad Chick with his wife, Stacy Brown.
After his diagnosis, they started the Chicken Salad Chick Foundation, which serves two causes, fighting cancer and feeding the hungry, according to Barclay Smith, director of the Chicken Salad Chick Foundation.
"He was the driving force behind the foundation, getting it going," Smith said. "He was very hands-on with everything."
Smith said Kevin and Stacy wanted to use the success of their restaurant to help others, and the mission for the Chicken Salad Chick Foundation became "crystal clear" with Kevin's diagnosis.
McWhorter said giving back was part of the culture of Chicken Salad Chick.
"It gave them a great satisfaction to know that they had created a business that would even allow them to have a foundation," McWhorter said.
Smith said Kevin and the rest of the board had a vision of helping cure cancer by raising money for research. She said his big project was the Music and Miracles Superfest, a country concert featuring Kenny Chesney and Miranda Lambert in April 2016 at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
"From my perspective, what [the foundation] meant to Kevin, it gave him a purpose, it gave him a way to not focus just on himself," Smith said. "He definitely projected his energies outward to help other people, he said ... for about a day, he did the, 'Why me?' and then he thought, 'Why not, why not me, what can I do to really make an impact?'"
McWhorter said Kevin was a leader who dreamed big.
"I was in my office, and he walked in my office and said, point-blank, 'Can you get Jordan-Hare Stadium for a concert?'" McWhorter said.
McWhorter said the concert was important to Kevin, and they will continue planning it and raising money for cancer research.
"It became very important to Kevin to know that this was in place before he passed," McWhorter said.
Smith said Kevin was a strong person who was determined to do anything he could to affect change.
"He was very sick toward the end, but people didn't even know it," Smith said. "He was such a fighter and so determined that he would come into the office. He was here the Thursday and Friday before he died on Saturday."
Smith said Kevin's legacy goes beyond the foundation
"I wouldn't limit his legacy to the foundation," Smith said. "Certainly that will be a part of it ... I think his legacy will be the fight that he gave, his never-give-up spirit, which is what made the foundation so successful so quickly, but I do think his legacy will be bigger than that."
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