JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier spent Thursday making a difference as part of a program designed to fight hunger all across the country.
In conjunction with sponsor Hellmann’s, part of the Unilever family of brands, Walmart and Sam’s Club, the 32-year-old Illinois native participated in a food bank pickup at Walmart, once delivered to the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama in Birmingham, helped sort the food items. This weekend, the NASCAR Xfinity Series races at Talladega Superspeedway, some 45 minutes east.
As part of his day, Allgaier also participated in an autograph session for fans at the Walmart Supercenter in Homewood, Ala., prior to helping support the “Fight Hunger. Spark Change” campaign run by Walmart, Sam’s Club and Feeding America®. As a bonus, Allgaier also got to drive the No. 7 Chevrolet through the parking lot.
“Today was fun,” he said. “To be able to get to Birmingham and to immediately go over to Walmart and get things started with the show car and drive it through the parking lot, which was a first for me…then to go inside and enjoy the groups from Walmart and Hellmann’s, Feeding America, Sam’s Club and Fight Hunger. Spark Change was really a lot of fun. We got to hand out some free swag, which was also really cool.”
The program, in its sixth year, helps combat hunger in America. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics, one in eight Americans (nearly 41 million people) struggles with hunger on a daily basis. Walmart, Sam’s Club, Feeding America® and member food banks kicked off the 2019 program on Monday and it will run through May 20.
Unilever’s Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise is participating in a couple of ways this week. First, Allgaier’s No. 7 Chevrolet is sporting a special paint scheme for “Fight Hunger. Spark Change” in Saturday’s race on the 2.66-mile superspeedway. Second, by purchasing a 30-ounce container of Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise at any of the participating stores from now through May 20, a meal is donated to the food bank. To date, nearly 750 million meals have been secured for the program, well on the way to meeting the program’s goal of 1 billion. Each dollar donated provides up to 10 meals to local foodbanks as part of the program.
“The best part of the day was being able to see the distribution of how things get from the retail side to the food bank,” Allgaier said. “We were able to go to the food bank and see how they’ve got everything sorted out there, which was pretty special too. These trips are a lot of fun, but they make you appreciate the opportunities you have and appreciate the companies that are involved who make things like this happen.”
Fans can help by purchasing Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise, Knorr’s Sides or Lipton Iced Tea at Walmart or Sam’s Club, by giving a donation at either Walmart or Sam’s Club or by donating directly to Feeding America®.
JR Motorsports PR
