Hunter-Reay talks turkey: 'It's great to be able to make a difference'

The tractor trailer, which began its journey in Mount Olive, N.C., arrived at Midwest Food Bank on the southwest side of Indianapolis to eager workers prepared to off-load the 500 Butterball whole turkeys.

Ryan Hunter-Reay, the 2012 Verizon IndyCar Series champion and 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner, and crew members of his Andretti Autosport No. 28 DHL Honda quickly formed a human conveyor belt to load the frozen birds and 1,000 cartons of stuffing donated by Kroger into vehicles destined for the Wheeler Mission, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and various food pantries across the capital city.

North Carolina-based Butterball, which accounts for 20 percent of the nation’s turkey supply from seven facilities, is an associate sponsor of Andretti Autosport’s Verizon IndyCar Series entries.

“We’re fortunate that we’re in a position that we can help in all the communities where we have facilities, where we have team members, where we have consumers and customers that want to help, then we try to engage,” said Butterball president and CEO Kerry Doughty, an Indianapolis native. “This is something that Michael Andretti and Andretti Autosport brought to us last year and it’s great to be able to give something back to the community.”

Midwest Food Bank, with the assistance of volunteers and donors, gathers and distributes food items to more than 700 organizations – representing more than 500,000 individuals a month -- in addition to providing response to national disaster sites.

“The nourishment that we take for granted some people lack, especially children,” Doughty added. “The Midwest Food Bank does a tremendous job here year-round.”

With Thanksgiving two weeks off, Hunter-Reay said the timing of the distribution was perfect.

“It’s such a fantastic time of the year and to be able to give back to the community, especially in Indy, is special. This is home not only to the greatest race in the world but home to our crews and our teams, and at this family time of year it’s great to be able to make a difference,” the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., resident said.

Through Midwest Food Bank, 125 of the turkeys were set aside for Heather Carpenter, president of the Indy Family Foundation and wife of CFH Racing co-owner/driver Ed Carpenter. The turkeys will be paired with non-perishable food items collected from neighborhoods in Noblesville, Ind., and presented to families in the coming days.

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