The NASCAR season has kicked off full throttle and so have our events at Speedway Children's Charities.
Spring is just around the corner and I am counting down the days like no other. Now is the perfect time to get outside and participate in our upcoming events to be held in the near future. Be sure to check out our complete schedule of events to find out what's happening at a track near you. We have lots of fun activities for the entire family. I strongly encourage to you get involved and help needy children in your very own community!
Congratulations to our National Spokesperson, Carl Edwards, and his wife Kate on the new addition to their family. Best wishes to the Edwards family! Little Annie will be turning back flips before you know it!
Special thanks to our national sponsors who for their continued and loyal support of Speedway Children's Charities! It's because of businesses and individuals like you that aid us in fulfilling our mission.
Lauren R. Simpson
Speedway Children's Charities National Office
Less dirt is flying now as bricks are added to the Town Center Building and the future home of Discovery Place KIDS! Those of us who drive by the site daily are truly amazed. It is exciting to see this beautiful structure take shape.
The work on the parking deck continues and soon we will see it emerge as the concrete sections are set into place. Using this link you will be able to view the latest aerial pictures showing what is currently taking place on the site: http://aerocam.zenfolio.com/p719717494. Shown above is an aerial picture taken the last week of December.
While the Town staff and Roger's Builders employees are hard at work so is the Discovery Place KIDS team. We moved the fire truck and speedboat onto the slab before the outside walls were finished and that created a great deal of excitement. Murphy Catton, Inc. has been selected as the exhibit construction firm for Discovery Place KIDS--Huntersville. Murphy Catton has been building innovative, timeless exhibits for 25 years. Recent children's museum clients include: Indianapolis Children's Museum, Strong National Children's Museum of Play, Rochester, NY; Imagine It! Children's Museum of Atlanta, GA; The Children's Museum of Wilmington, NC; Kohl Children's Museum, Glenview, IL and Pretend City Children's Museum of Irvine, CA.
What an incredible opportunity we have to engage our community with this project and we are happy to have so many wonderful partners. We are especially grateful for our Founding Donors and thank you for taking a moment to celebrate our continued progress.
Jennifer R. Nichols
Director of Development
Discovery Place KIDS Projects
Yesterday the National office celebrated the Holiday of Smiles at the Church of God Children's Home.
We had local track champions there to share in the special occasion along with Autotrader.com representatives. Our featured guest of the night was Kyle Busch.
Together we handed out gifts to all of the children and then had time to make cookies and have pictures made with our drivers. We all enjoyed ourselves while having a nicely prepared dinner with the kids.
A special thank you to all of our sponsors for making the Holiday of Smiles possible. Without the generosity of Autotrader.com, Kyle Busch Motorsports, Kyle Busch, GameStop, PPG, Sam Bass, Office Depot Foundation, Old Spice, Tony Stewart, Otis Spunkmeyer, Lowe's Home Improvement, and Speedway Motorsports the evening would not have been possible.
To me, this is what the holidays are all about. Putting smiles on kid's faces and making them part of our extended Speedway Children's Charities family.
Saundy Hutto
National Director of New Business Development and Marketing
Speedway Children's Charities
The winner of the 2009 "Racing For Kids" drawing will receive a 2009 Custom Harley-Davidson Street Glide supplied by TCX Customs of Matthews, NC, featuring original artwork by NASCAR artist Sam Bass.
Jeff Clark of TCX Customs and Bass have once again created a unique take on an American tradition. Fans will have the opportunity to view the bike and purchase tickets for $5 each, or five tickets for $20 at the trailer located in souvenir row at each event. Tickets may also be obtained by sending your donation and a SASE to Speedway Children's Charities RFK Drawing, 5245 Z-Max Blvd., Harrisburg, NC 28075. The drawing will be held Nov. 8, 2009 live on SPEED's "RaceDay" before the start of the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Only 5 chances left to get your name in the hat and support local children's organizations in enriching the lives of kids in crisis - come see us at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Prelude to a Dream at Eldora Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Lowe's Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway.
On Thursday, July 23 I was fortunate to attend an event in Chicago where the Office Depot Foundation and NASCAR star Tony Stewart joined forces to donate 5,000 backpacks to non-profit organizations and schools in the Indianapolis area.
Speedway Children's Charities is proud to be a part of the backpack program with Office Depot and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to meet several of the other recipients for the program. We will be giving out the backpacks to deserving children in the community. We would like to thank Tony Stewart and Office Depot for their dedication to children across the country in providing the necessary supplies for a better education.
Thanks again to all involved.
Sincerely,
Sandy Hutto
National Director of New Business Development and Marketing
Speedway Children's Charities
After watching race after race for several years, Cole had the opportunity to see his first real race at the Coca Cola 600 in May of this year. For our "special" son Cole , it was an unbelievable dream come true.
The excitement he felt from the first moment we drove up and saw the stadium to his last goodbyes, was an extraordinary excitement. Cole communicates to us through a variety of modes including some sign language, verbal sounds, gestures and expressions, and with the aide of a powerful communication device, known to us as his "talker". That weekend, he used all methods to communicate to us his extreme joy for being able to see first hand, the love of his life, NASCAR racing.
Upon returning to school the next day, his teachers told us that he could not wait to use his "talker" to tell of all the things he saw at the race--- pit row, the checkered flag, the drivers (by their names), and how he heard his favorite words ever -- "gentlemen, start your engines". It is an excitement that we have continued to talk about weeks after the event, and will likely for months to come!
Our sincere thanks to all those who helped coordinate such a wonderful weekend for our family, truly our son's dream come true.
The Jeffries
Mark, Sharon, Maddy and Cole
Speedway Children's Charities is warming up for the 2009 season in Scottsdale, AZ at the 38th Annual Barrett-Jackson Auction.
On the auction block Sunday, January 18, 2009 will be a Roush Performance P-51A Mustang provided by Jack Roush. The car is #104 of 151 made and has been given the ultimate makeover by the folks at Roush Performance. This incredible car features 510 HP under the hood as well as a custom interior with luminescent gauges, performance pedals, short throw shifter and Roush sport leather seating embroidered with the P-51A logo.
In addition to the P-51A, SCC will be offering a car hauler with living quarters that has been featured on Two Guys Garage and is furnished by H & H Trailers and Brenton TV. The proceeds from the sale of these items will benefit SCC and will impact the lives of hundreds of children across the country through SCC.
Dick Wolverton, Director of SCC's Florida Chapter, is shown presenting a $25,000.00 donation from SCC to Colonel John Carney, President and CEO of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.
Headquartered in Tampa, Florida, the Special Operations Warrior Foundation provides funds for the college education of children of Special Operations military personnel who lose their lives in the service of their country. The Special Operations Warrior Foundation currently is providing educational funding for 117 children of deceased Special Operations personnel throughout the United States, and annually raises over $5,000,000.00 for this noble endeavor. The foundation was founded following the attempted hostage rescue mission in Iran.
Dick Wolverton,
Director of SCC's Florida Chapter
Thank you General Sadler for the support of everyone at Speedway Children's Charities over the years.
We loved this photo of you enjoying the MRO 20th Anniversary Celebration Dinner/Concert with NewSong along with the McReynolds family.
Blessings!
Billy Mauldin & the staff of Motor Racing Outreach
In the 18 years that I have been with Speedway Children’s Charities, things have changed a great deal. When we first started we were one of only a handful of charities within the racing community and now it seems every driver and team owner have their own charity.
In the beginning we were happy to fund a few little local organizations and now we award millions of dollars to hundreds of groups across the country.
Over the years racing has changed, fundraising has changed and technology has certainly changed. I must admit I don’t understand all the text messaging, blogging and all that other stuff but I do know that these days people get their information from the internet. With that in mind we have launched our new website which I hope you find helpful and easy to use. A lot of folks spent a great deal of time getting this together and I think they did a great job!
So please look over our new site, visit our new online store and as always please feel free to contact me or any one of our people with your questions and comments. We couldn’t do what we do without the support of friends like you!
God Bless,
General Tom Sadler
Executive Director of SCC
