National Guard members visit Gillett Evernham Motorsports
By SceneDaily Staff
Saturday, July 19, 2008
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Gillett Evernham Motorsports employees spent time at the team's race shop on Friday night to kick off the final off-weekend of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.
But they weren't working on race cars.
The employees played host to soldiers from a local North Carolina National Guard unit that plans to deploy overseas in 2009.
More than 100 uniformed troops and their families enjoyed food, pit-stop demonstrations, entertainment and employee tours of the complex that houses the Dodge teams of Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler and Patrick Carpentier.
"We just wanted to give something back to the community," said Mark McArdle, the team's vice president of competition. "The men and women who serve in the armed forces along with their families give so much to this country that we thought the least we could do is open our doors to them and say thank you for all their sacrifices."
The guard unit detachment is from the Alpha Battery 1-113 Field Artillery Unit of the North Carolina Army National Guard. The battery is headquartered in Lincolnton, N.C., while the detachment hails from Statesville, N.C.
"No one has ever offered anything like this before," said Shea Stevenson, who leads the unit's family readiness group. "A lot of our guys are race fans and they are very excited. I know they are going to talk about this for a long time."
The event marked the first public effort of the Gillett Evernham Motorsports soldier outreach committee. The committee plans fundraisers to aid the unit and its families while the troops are overseas.
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