How McDonald's Is Honoring One Uvalde Victim With The 'Lexi Burger'
While not especially common, fast-food restaurants are known to occasionally honor certain customers when a tragedy occurs. Although some may view this type of "memorialization" as cynical or inappropriate, others see it as a way for local businesses to honor a member of the community.
For example, a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Florida honored a police officer who passed away in 2017 in a car accident while responding to a call. As Fox News reports, the restaurant created a memorial in its dining room that included a table with white linen, a Chick-fil-A meal, a Bible, and the officer's photograph. In 2019, Mission BBQ in Mason, Ohio, honored the families of fallen police officers with a special event, allowing the family members to enjoy a private meal before the official grand opening (via KSBW News 8).
For the families of those being honored, it's something to show that those they lost were considered key figures of the community and deserve to be remembered. In that same tradition, the McDonald's restaurant in Uvalde, Texas, is choosing a unique method to honor a student who lost her life in the May school shooting.
McDonald's is giving out the Lexi Burger
According to TODAY, the McDonald's restaurant in Uvalde, Texas, is offering the "Lexi Burger," a special meal named in honor of 10-year-old Alexandria Aniyah "Lexi" Rubio, who lost her life in last May's shooting at Robb Elementary School.
In her obituary, Rubio was described as a bright and friendly girl who loved sports, with plans to earn a softball scholarship to St. Mary's University. She was also described as being particularly motivated by snacks, with a chosen favorite for any given occasion. Her listed favorites included everything from popcorn to pickles and McDonald's. Whenever visiting the fast-food restaurant, Rubio's go-to meal was a plain cheeseburger with four McNuggets and a small side of fries stuffed inside. In fact, her affection for this particular combination earned it a nickname among her family and friends: the "Lexi Burger."
In order to memorialize what would have been Rubio's 11th birthday on October 20, several McDonald's restaurants in and around Uvalde, Texas, are now offering the "Lexi Burger" as an official menu item. The item, which was proposed by Lexi's mom, will only appear on the menu for one day and precisely follow the same arrangement that Rubio enjoyed. Notably, although the main focus of the new item will be in the Uvalde area, a McDonald's representative insists that customers will be able to order it at any McDonald's (via TODAY).
Interestingly, McDonald's is not the only Uvalde restaurant to honor Rubio on this day. According to the business's Instagram, Uvalde's Starbucks will also honor Lexi on her birthday by providing customers with free samples of her favorite drink, sweet peach green tea lemonade.