FORT WORTH, Texas (August 18, 2011) – For those living at Dallas LIFE homeless shelter, an extravagant feast is normally relegated to Thanksgiving and Christmas. On Wednesday, Texas Motor Speedway’s Speeding To Help volunteers, along with Levy Restaurants, prepared and served residents their first special meal of the year three months early.
Speedway Club Executive Chef Heath Miles and employees of Levy Restaurants, the speedway’s official concessionaire, served up a special menu that consisted of chicken spaghetti, coleslaw, vegetables, rolls and dessert to more than 200 residents of Dallas LIFE while Texas Motor Speedway employees served the meals and drinks to the group.
“It’s a very special day for us,” Dallas LIFE Special Events and Communications Director Jan Blake said. “We don’t get any government funding so we are very dependent on support from corporations and businesses like Texas Motor Speedway. For Texas Motor Speedway and Levy Restaurants to have the food prepared to bring it out here and to serve the people makes our residents feel very special. That (serving the residents lunch) doesn’t happen very often.”
“The visit was very humbling and definitely provided all of us who volunteered today quite a perspective on life,” Texas Motor Speedway Vice President of Media Relations Mike Zizzo said. “Many of us take the basic essentials of life for granted – food and shelter – and the residents we visited with today feel very blessed that Dallas Life can assist them in both areas. It was truly heartwarming to help out and let those residents know that people like us in the Metroplex care about them and their well being.”
Dallas LIFE, North Texas’ largest homeless shelter, provides food, shelter, clothing and life-changing recovery programs to help families and individuals in need. Annually, the organization serves over 250,000 meals and over 100,000 nights of lodging.
For Chef Miles, preparing a meal for 200 guests is nothing new. To help bring a smile to the residents of Dallas LIFE he spiced up one of his grandmother’s old recipes, creating a special chicken spaghetti dish. For Chef Miles, the fun part wasn’t the cooking but the reward of giving back to the community.
“It’s something that we at Levy Restaurants enjoy doing,” Chef Miles said. “We try to do these two or three times a year. It’s our duty as professionals in the city to help people who are less fortunate than us. There is not a better feeling to look out there and see the kids’ smiles. It makes it all worth it. I’m just glad they enjoyed what we prepared for them today.”
Texas Motor Speedway has continued to help the Dallas/Fort Worth area throughout the month of August during its Speeding To Help community outreach program. The program began on Aug. 3 as 800 needy families in Hurst, Euless and Bedford received food and personal supplies provided by Speedway Children’s Charities and Feed the Children. Volunteers helped 6 Stones Mission Network distribute the items to needy families. On Aug. 9 more than 30 volunteers help restore homes in disrepair in the Mid-Cities. Volunteers helped elevate the ceiling for an elderly couple in Euless; removed and replaced a rotted patio roof for an elderly couple in Bedford; and helped build a ramp for a family with a wheelchair-bound son battling cerebral palsy in Hurst.
Speeding To Help enters its final week of its four-week schedule when it unveils a special incentive-based reading program at Clara Love Elementary School in Justin on Friday, Aug. 26. The program, entitled “Speeding To Read,” will engage the 625-student K-5 school to read more during the school year.