The “We Can Care” food drive wrapped up Wednesday, April 20 for the Second Harvest Food Bank. Brandon “Big Ticket” Bates was on hand to present a cheque for $2,000 from Hoosier Park Racing & Casino to assist the group in reaching their 2011 goal

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Bates, who is a recent addition to the Fab Five promotion at Hoosier Park as a challenger, chose Second Harvest Food Bank as his charity for the season. The Monroe, Indiana native will assist the organization in distributing food to people in East Central Indiana, which covers six different counties.

“I really enjoy cooking a big family meal each Sunday and wanted others to have the same experience,” said Bates. “It’s important for me to be able to support families enjoying meals together. It’s something I really enjoy and feel grateful to be giving that gift to others.”

Hoosier Park, along with several other local businesses and public facilities in the area such as the City of Anderson, Carter Logistics, Nestle, Anderson Community Schools, Madison Park, and Community Hospital were able to contribute this year to the “We Can Care” food drive through different activities since the first of March. This year’s goal was 125,000 pounds of food to stock up the facility. The food drive was able to bring in a total of 126,871 pounds of food, surpassing their goal.

“We came into today with a total of 118,000 pounds of food,” said Tim Kean, executive at Second Harvest Food Bank. “With the addition of last minute funds today, we have surpassed our goal. We appreciate the generous support of people in this community for their assistance and caring in this effort.”

In the past nine years of the “We Can Care” food drive, Second Harvest Food Bank has been able to provide approximately 891,767 meals for families. This year’s addition will push the organization over the one million pound mark in meals provided to people in this area.

Bates will continue to raise money for Second Harvest throughout the season during different fundraising activities for the Celebrity Standardbred drivers. He will also be part of Charity Chariots, which begins Monday, May 30 during a special Memorial Day racing program that begins at 5:30 p.m. The afternoon leading into the racing program will feature several activities for kids through the Harness Horse Youth Foundation. Also, fans age 12 and older will be able to experience a unique ride around the track in a double-seated jog cart with their favourite Fab Five or Celebrity Standardbred driver for a fee of $20. All proceeds will go to the charity of the driver they choose.

(Hoosier Park)