Texas Motor Speedway volunteers rolled up their sleeves Wednesday to help fight hunger in Fort Worth during its Speeding to Help community outreach program by assisting the Tarrant Area Food Bank with its food distribution during one of its busiest times of the year.
With area students set to start school in the coming week and the increased demands to distribute food, 23 speedway employees volunteered to help sort and organize more than 30,000 pounds of food donated by area grocers to the Tarrant Area Food Bank. The organization, which serves 13 North Texas counties including Tarrant, Bosque, Cooke, Denton, Erath, Hamilton, Hill, Hood, Johnson, Palo Pinto, Parker, Somervell and Wise, relies on the support of organizations like Texas Motor Speedway to help continue its mission to eliminate hunger.
à¢â‚¬Å“Texas Motor Speedway employees helped sort and pack breakfast foods which are very important for the clientele who are served by our 300-plus partner agencies in 13 counties,à¢â‚¬ Tarrant Area Food Bank Communications Director Andrea Helms said. à¢â‚¬Å“Texas Motor Speedway volunteers and all the thousands of volunteers who come through here make it possible for us to distribute that food. Without their help, we wouldn‘˜t be able to do what we do.à¢â‚¬
Speeding to Help is in its fifth year and has helped contribute to organizations across the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The program kicked off Aug.10 with volunteers landscaping a new playground that was built for the Butler Branch of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Fort Worth through a grant from Speedway Children‘˜s Charities-Texas. Volunteers also visited the Dallas Zoo on Aug. 16 to assist in sprucing up the entrance of the JC Penney Discovery House Exhibit in the Lacerte Family Children‘˜s Zoo.
The program continues Tuesday as volunteers will help 6 Stones feed needy families in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford area. A truckload of non-perishable food essentials and personal supplies provided by Feed The Children will be distributed by speedway employees and 6 Stones volunteers to aid 400 families in the area.
Speeding to Help concludes on Friday, Aug. 31, with the announcement of expansion to its NASCAR-themed, incentive-based à¢â‚¬Å“Speeding to Readà¢â‚¬ program. The program debuted last year at Clara Love Elementary in Justin and motivated students to read more frequently as 96 percent of the 627 students met or exceeded their reading goals. Students from the participating schools will fill the Northwest High School football stadium as they help usher in a new year of the program.
Daryn Weatherman Motorsports