SONIC Drive-In Guests Award $1 Million in Ninth Annual Limeades for Learning Voting Campaign

SONIC^® Drive-In (NASDAQ: SONC), the nation’s largest chain of drive-in restaurants, completed its ninth annual Limeades for Learning® fall voting campaign on Sunday, Oct. 22. The campaign funded $1 million to 1,936 public school teacher projects over the four-week period. In partnership with DonorsChoose.org, this national award winning and consumer-driven cause campaign empowers guests to make a difference in public school classroom by allocating SONIC’s $1 million donation to teachers’ projects.

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2017 Limeades for Learning (Photo: Business Wire)

From Monday, Sept. 25 through Sunday, Oct. 22, Sonic guests and fans told SONIC where to place its $1 million donation by voting at LimeadesforLearning.com for projects they wanted funded through Limeades for Learning. Throughout the voting period, projects with the most votes each week received funding. This year, the campaign impacted 978 teachers across 288 cities including San Antonio, Texas., Memphis, Tenn., Oklahoma City, Okla., and Fayetteville, N.C.

"Science can already be a difficult subject for students to comprehend – but without helpful tools and resources to create a hands-on lesson, it can be even more frustrating for students,” said Caitlin Cleary, kindergarten teacher for Naples Elementary School in Naples, Utah. "This was my first year participating in Limeades for Learning and I can already see the results from my project, ‘The Science of Literacy’. With the new materials, my students are drawing a deeper understanding from our lessons and are transforming into literary scientists that can explore text in new ways.”

Following this year’s Limeades for Learning fall voting campaign, SONIC has funded a total of $9.5 million for 17,895 classroom projects, impacting more than 536,850 students in 1,701 cities since the campaign’s inception in 2009.

"Since 2009, our partnership with SONIC’s Limeades for Learning has helped fulfill thousands of teacher projects, and nine years later, it continues to have a big impact in America’s classrooms,” says Charles Best, founder of DonorsChoose.org. "Every year, SONIC has funded innovative projects that bring musical instruments, books, field trips, tablets and much more to public school students across the nation.”

About SONIC^®, America's Drive-In^®

SONIC, America's Drive-In is the nation's largest drive-in restaurant chain serving approximately 3 million customers every day. Nearly 94 percent of SONIC's 3,500 drive-in locations are owned and operated by local business men and women. For 64 years, SONIC has delighted guests with signature menu items, 1.3 million drink combinations and friendly service by iconic Carhops. Since the 2009 launch of SONIC's Limeades for Learning philanthropic campaign in partnership with DonorsChoose.org, SONIC has donated $9.5 million to public school teachers nationwide to fund essential learning materials and innovative teaching resources to inspire creativity and learning in today's youth. To learn more about Sonic Corp. (NASDAQ/NM: SONC), please visit sonicdrivein.com and please visit or follow us on Facebook and Twitter. To learn more about SONIC's Limeades for Learning initiative, please visit LimeadesforLearning.com.

About DonorsChoose.org

DonorsChoose.org is the leading platform for giving to public schools. Teachers across America use the site to create projects requesting resources their students need, and donors give to the projects that inspire them. Since its founding by a Bronx teacher in 2000, more than 2.8 million people and partners have given $577 million to projects reaching 24 million students. Unique among crowdfunding platforms, the DonorsChoose.org team vets each project request and ships resources directly to the school. Every donor receives photos of their project in action, thank-yous from the classroom, and a cost report showing how every dollar was spent. DonorsChoose.org was the first charity to make the top 10 on Fast Company’s list of the Most Innovative Companies in the World. Visit www.donorschoose.org to learn more.

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