CONCORD, NC., Dec. 16, 2020 – One month after helping more than 250 families in need in Detroit with turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner, NASCAR driver Hailie Deegan and her Ford F-150 are back on the road again.
This time, however, Deegan has teamed up with fellow Ford driver and 2018 NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano to help families in need in North Carolina by delivering 350 hams for holiday dinner tables.
Working through the Joey Logano Foundation, “Hailie’s Holiday Haul” started in Statesville, NC, at the Children’s Hope Alliance, where an enthusiastic crowd of supporters welcomed the two drivers with cheers and handmade signs. The duo dropped off 200 hams at the organization’s headquarters before getting in a 2021 Ford F-150 and driving the remaining 150 hams to Caterpillar Ministries and the Huntington Green neighborhood in Huntersville, NC. In all, more than 3,300 pounds of ham were dropped off at the two locations.
“I think it’s so important to give back to the community, especially if you have great people like Ford behind you who are on the same path and have the same motives. I think if you can both work together, you can make some great things happen and put some smiles on people’s faces,” said Deegan, who will be running a full season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2021 with DGR-Crosley.. “There are a lot of families that don’t get to experience the holidays fully with the resources they have, so to be able to give them a chance to have the fullest potential of those holidays means a lot.”
In addition to the hams, JLF also donated 5,000 Ford facemasks to Children’s Hope Alliance as part of a collaboration with the Ford Motor Company Fund, and will eventually distribute a total of 27,000 face coverings in the weeks ahead. It’s all part of Ford and the Ford Fund’s 100 million mask donation to communities and nonprofits across the United States.
“When Hailie came to us and said she wanted to know where to go to give away some holiday hams it was a no-brainer,” said Logano. “We all kind of get stuck in our own little world, especially in times like this, but Christmas is a great time to show the need that is here. Unfortunately, this need is here every day, Covid or not, and the goal is to help these kids become a contributing member of society.”
Children’s Hope Alliance provides hope, health and healing for generations. The organization transforms the lives of children, youth and families by focusing on three main areas: a safe home through foster care and adoption programs; a healthy start through educational, prevention and developmental programs; and healing the hurt for children and families who are troubled, abused or neglected through therapy and counseling.
Caterpillar Ministries was started in 2007 as a partner with the Huntington Green neighborhood in Huntersville, NC. Caterpillar strives to support the well-being of families as well as nurture and strengthen homes. Programs for the neighborhood include fun for preschoolers, small groups for teens, along with ESL classes and job training for adults.
By Dan Zacharias December 16, 2020 at 2:48 PM