Gray’s only locally owned fast-food establishment stays involved in the community by going above and beyond to support students and extracurricular school activities that may not otherwise exist.

Dairy Queen is owned by Emory Tribble and managed by Matt Lane. Both men are focused on giving the restaurant a community atmosphere as well as quality food. Dairy Queen is located on Gray Highway at the site of the former Tastee Freeze. The old building was torn down and the new restaurant was opened in February of 2004.

Since opening, the owner has helped with local fund-raising efforts. The first Thursday of every month is Gray Elementary night with the school receiving 10 percent of the night’s proceeds, and Dames Ferry night is every Tuesday. Lane said last year the school received $1,200 from the weekly fund-raiser.

Students get involved with the fund raisers and enjoy delivering food to the tables.

The restaurant has been serving breakfast for a year and has a core of regulars, including a group from East Macon that meets there every Saturday morning. Another group of local walkers meet at Dairy Queen weekday mornings for a light break fast before walking through Stone Brook subdivision.

Lane said a group of students from a local church meets at the restaurant Wednesday mornings at 7 a.m. for a prayer breakfast.

Unlike the other fast-food restau rants in Gray, Dairy Queen offers a full breakfast menu including eggs cooked to order, omelets, grits, country ham, and biscuits and gravy. The same fare is available at the drive-thru or dining inside, but those eating inside receive free coffee with refills brought to the table and are served on real plates with silverware. The newest item on the breakfast menu is a steak biscuit, and all breakfast biscuits are 25 percent off this month. The exception to that is the sausage biscuit, which continues to be 99 cents. Breakfast is served daily from 6 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Lunch specials include two cheeseburgers for $2.22 and two double cheeseburgers for $3.33.

Tribble said he started serv ing breakfast to take up the slack in cold weather when ice cream is not as in demand. He said the breakfast trade con tinues to grow, and he would like to get the word out that Dairy Queen is not just serv ing a fast-food breakfast.

The owner said he enjoys dealing with people and he invites civic organizations, churches, and schools to meet at the restaurant.

“Whatever you need, we will work with you,” he noted. Kimberly Pittman, Gray Station Middle School coun selor, said Dairy Queen has been a big help with the school’s athletics program. The restaurant hosts Gray Station night and 10 percent of those sales benefit football and basketball programs.

“We know that economic times are hard and when you have 35 middle school students - who don’t bring in their own income- making up your program, it is nice for the community to get involved and help out the teams and allow them to bring in some money to go toward improv ing their program,” Pittman commented.

She said the girls’ basketball team was lucky enough to be able to order new home uni forms for this season, which is where the money from the Dairy Queen nights is going.

Last season, Dairy Queen also donated cheeseburgers to the girls’ basketball team when they made it to the final four game in the Central Georgia Middle School Athletic League.

“We had to travel to Griffin and many of my players eat lunch around 11:00, and by 2:00 they are starving. So, it was nice to have that treat for the bus ride to give them a lit tle energy before a big game,” she said.

Pittman said Lane is very easy to work with and always willing to help out.

“Especially when it comes to supporting our students and our schools,” she added.

Gray Station’s next Dairy Queen night is Monday, Jan. 25, and Pittman invites every one to come out and support the Gray Station basketball program.

Jones County girls junior varsity coach Rusty Courson said Dairy Queen is the big gest supporter of his basket ball team’s Christmas tourna ment and the DECA club. He said the restaurant provided sausage biscuits during morn­ing training sessions and donates a blizzard treat each game to the girl with the most rebounds.

“They work hard to win that blizzard,” the coach said.

Courson said Lane is always willing to help with anything do to with education. He said the next DECA night is Jan. 29.

What the coaches did not say is that with the cuts in education funds by the state, the sports programs need the support of local businesses to survive. Tribble and Lane appear to understand that.