A retired paint-factory worker from Chicago now living in Florida who likes Chicken McNuggets at McDonald’s — and all kinds of other chicken products — won the top prize of $5,000 in the Chicken in September Contest sponsored by the National Chicken Council and the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association.
“I buy McNuggets at least once a week, and my eight grandchildren love them, too,” said Brenda Gallagher, 55, of Port Richey, Florida. “I eat a lot of chicken.”
Mrs. Gallagher, who is widowed with two grown daughters, learned of the Chicken In September Contest from an in-store display at a local supermarket and sent in a postcard naming Chicken McNuggets as her favorite chicken item at a restaurant. The Chicken in September Contest, conducted as part of National Chicken Month, invited people to nominate their favorite chicken item at any restaurant or carryout shop. Entries were placed in a random drawing.
Mrs. Gallagher said she likes chicken because “it is good for you and tastes so good.”
Mrs. Gallagher moved to Florida last year after living in the Chicago area for many years, where she worked in a factory that produced automotive paint products.
Five other lucky winners were drawn to win $1,000 each. They were:
- Shirley Phillips, 62, of Chicago, an auditor, who named Broccoli Chicken at Chen’s Garden, a neighborhood Chinese restaurant in Chicago, as her favorite restaurant item. “Everybody likes chicken,” she pointed out.
- John Martin, 72, a retired office products salesman from Kerrville, Texas, who said he like Chicken McNuggets and buys them several times a month.
- Nancy Lucero, 48, of Harbor City, California, a school crossing guard for the Torrance, California, police department, was another McNuggets fan and added that she also enjoys rotisserie chicken and makes chicken at home “all the time.”
- Neila Ann Cangro, 52, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a furniture store owner, also named McNuggets and said she prepares chicken for her family three or four times a week. “Living in Florida, we can put it on the grill all year round,” she said.
- Tamara Bennington, 41, a homemaker in Pensacola, Florida, named the grilled chicken sandwich at Checkers Drive-In Restaurant in Pensacola. She said she has lunch with her husband at the Checkers every Friday and always has the chicken sandwich. She said her family consumes a lot of chicken: “That’s all my fifteen-year-old son eats,” she said.
When asked by NCC why he or she likes chicken, nearly every winner stated that versatility is a key factor. “You can prepare it so many different ways,” as Mrs. Bennington put it, was a typical response.
The National Chicken Council represents chicken producer-processors, the companies that produce, process and market chickens. Member companies of NCC account for more than 90 percent of the chicken sold in the United States.
The U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, headquartered in Tucker, Georgia, represents all segments of the poultry and egg industries and conducts a wide variety of scientific and educational programs.
