RALEIGH, NC. - Don Waddell, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team will deliver turkey breasts to area families on Tuesday ahead of Thanksgiving. The Hurricanes will make deliveries to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, Helping Hand Mission, Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, Raleigh Rescue Mission, Shepherd’s Table Soup Kitchen and Urban Ministries of Wake County from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday. Hurricanes players Sebastian Aho, Jaccob Slavin, Jordan Staal and Teuvo Teravainen will be on hand to help with deliveries at Urban Ministries of Wake County and Helping Hand Mission.
Media are invited to cover the turkey distribution, which is scheduled to take place as follows:
- 10:00 a.m.: Delivering to Inter-Faith Food Shuttle (1001 Blair Dr, Raleigh, NC 27603)
- 10:30 a.m.: Delivering to Raleigh Rescue Mission (314 E. Hargett St., Raleigh, NC 27601)
- 11:00 a.m.: Delivering to Shepherd’s Table Soup Kitchen (121 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, NC 27603)
- 11:30 a.m.: Delivering to Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina (1924 Capital Blvd, Raleigh, NC 27604)
- 12:30 p.m.: Delivering to Urban Ministries of Wake County (1390 Capital Blvd, Raleigh, NC 27603)
- 1:00 p.m.: Delivering to Helping Hand Mission (623 Rock Quarry Rd., Raleigh, NC 27610)
Turkey will be cooked and served to individuals and families on Thanksgiving or redistributed to members of the community for their Thanksgiving meals. For more information on Tuesday’s event, please contact Lindsay Robertson at (919) 861-5474 or [email protected].
For the third year, the Canes have teamed up with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) to provide turkeys through the Assist for Hunger program. For every Canes assist this season, Blue Cross NC will make a donation to help combat food insecurity in North Carolina.
“Helping our communities access healthy food is something Blue Cross NC is committed to all year round,” said Tammy Jones, VP of Brand and Demand Generation at Blue Cross NC. “Working with the Carolina Hurricanes to combat food insecurity, we’re giving more North Carolinians the opportunity to be healthy this holiday season.”
Additional support for turkey came from the Hurricanes' Tickets for Turkeys campaign, through which funds were raised through the purchase of tickets to Canes holiday home games.
This marks the thirteenth year of the Hurricanes’ Thanksgiving partnership with Helping Hand Mission, sixth with Raleigh Rescue Mission and fifth with Urban Ministries of Wake County and Inter-Faith Food Shuttle and third with the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. This is the first time that the Hurricanes have partnered with Shepherd’s Table Soup Kitchen, who recently lost a substantial amount of their food supply due to a freezer issue. Turkey deliveries have led to thousands of donations to local nonprofits in support of our community and help provide full meals at Thanksgiving.
Along with donating turkey, the Carolina Hurricanes held a food drive earlier in November to help to provide meals for those in need this holiday season. They collected over 950 non-perishable items which were donated to Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, and Urban Ministries of Wake County.
About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC), the leading not-for-profit health plan in North Carolina, is committed to making health care more affordable, easier to navigate and accessible for all. Since 1933, the health insurer has created programs and initiatives to provide North Carolinians the opportunity to be healthy. Blue Cross NC serves its customers and communities of more than 4.2 million members, including approximately 1.1 million on behalf of other Blue Plans. Blue Cross NC is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Visit Blue Cross NC online at www.bluecrossnc.com. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.
About Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina
The Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina provides food for our friends and neighbors facing hunger in 34 counties in central and eastern North Carolina for over 40 years. The Food Bank works across the food system to provide access to nutritious food that nourishes families, children, seniors, and individuals. The Food Bank has been a previous recipient of the Canes food drives.
About Helping Hand Mission
Helping Hand Mission provides relief and support to families in need by distributing food and clothing, directing individuals to appropriate sources for help, training and educating individuals to help them find employment, restoring dignity, and helping persons become self-sufficient. Helping Hand Mission is a previous Food Drive recipient and has been a turkey recipient for a decade through a partnership created by the late Doris Barksdale, a long-time Canes employee.
About Inter-Faith Food Shuttle
Inter-Faith Food Shuttle pioneers innovative, transformative solutions designed to end hunger in our community. The Food Shuttle operates in a seven-county service area in central North Carolina, including: Wake, Durham, Johnston, Orange, Chatham, Nash and Edgecombe counties. Inter-Faith has a long-standing relationship with the team. Over the years, the organization has received multiple grants and been a food drive recipient.
About Raleigh Rescue Mission
Raleigh Rescue Mission is dedicated to serving the homeless in our community. Through programming, Raleigh Rescue Mission focuses on assisting those who are ready to make a commitment to transforming their lives and working to overcome the negative factors that led to homelessness. The organization has been a recipient of the Hurricanes Heroes ticket donation program and a toy drive recipient.
About Sheperd’s Table
To provide a mutual ministry between the people of the Raleigh area – those who have and those who have not – by providing food obtained by donation and served by volunteers. Recently, Shepherd’s Table had a crisis, losing their freezer and food supply ahead of Thanksgiving.
About Urban Ministries of Wake County
Urban Ministries of Wake County engages the community to serve and advocate on behalf of those affected by poverty by providing food and nutrition, promoting health and wellness, and by laying the foundations of home. The organization has been a Carolina Hurricanes Foundation grant recipient and a food drive recipient from the Canes organization.
