The Nashville community came together to help feed over 50,000 people
Nineties country music icon and philanthropist Tracy Lawrence and the Nashville community rallied together this morning in a time of need for Lawrence’s 20th Annual Mission: Possible Turkey Fry at the Nashville Fairgrounds. What started as a morning of prep led to panic after discovering a refrigerated truck had broken, spoiling 650 stored turkeys out of the 3,600 total allotment. Lawrence called out to social media, news outlets, artists, and celebrities, asking for donations to replenish the stock in order to reach their goal of feeding 36,000 people throughout Middle Tennessee. The result was truly a miracle, ending in over 2,400 turkeys donated today, making the total of 5,350 cooked and frozen turkeys distributed. The added donations have now brought the total to 50,000+ meals provided for those in need.
Artists and celebrities came out to support the turkey fry, with appearances from notable names like Jamey Johnson, Tucker Wetmore, Charles Esten, Dustin Lynch, Meghan Patrick, John Crist, Rodney Atkins, Clint Black, Rhett Akins, Frank Ray, and more. Wetmore surprised Lawrence with a drop off of over 100 turkeys, while Patrick also donated and took to social media to encourage her community to support and donate.
The donations continued at Lawrence’s benefit concert at Category 10, featuring performances from Lawrence, Gretchen Wilson, Eric Paslay, Chris Cagle, and special guests Halfway to Hazard. A canned food drive will take place at the show on behalf of Second Harvest Food Bank to help support families and individuals facing food insecurity. For every five cans donated, participants will be entered into a raffle for a signed guitar. The guitar features signatures from Lawrence’s annual golf tournament, including some of country music’s biggest names like Lawrence, Vince Gill, Zach Top, Priscilla Block, Warren Zeiders, Gavin Adcock, Charles Esten and more. The raffle will take place onsite at the end of the evening. Last year, the concert raised $250,000 for the third year in a row for Mission: Possible, featuring performances by Lawrence, Russell Dickerson, Meghan Patrick, John Schneider and Halfway to Hazard. Past performers of the annual concert include Lainey Wilson, Luke Combs, Tim McGraw, Jason Aldean, Chris Young, Cole Swindell, Justin Moore, Dustin Lynch, Lee Brice, and more.
Since its inception, Lawrence’s Mission: Possible has fried over 15,000 turkeys, provided more than 135,000 meals to the homeless across Middle Tennessee, donated over $1M to Nashville Rescue Mission, and raised over $2.5 million, which helps to further its goals, advocate for those in need and expand its ability to support aligned causes.
