This Christmas marks 40 years of giving to the Sunshine School for Billy Ball, who hands out chicken to the students and donates at least $10,000 to the nonprofit every December to contribute to the services that are offered to children and adults with intellectual disabilities.

According to Director Sally Paine, Ball owned the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise in Searcy “for many years.”

“For the last 40 years,” said Charity Morris, administrator at the Sunshine School, “he has come, and every student at our school gets a KFC dinner, gets a little gift and then he presents a check for $10,000 or $11,000.