Rea White: Triad Racing Technologies helps out families in need this holiday season
Triad Racing Technologies supplies Toyota body parts for teams in NASCAR's top three series. // Jim Fluharty, NASCAR Scene
COMMENTARY
It's amazing how infectious the spirit of giving can be.
This time of year, you hear of many good deeds being done, but many more go completely unnoticed. For the most part, that is as it should be.
But in some cases, the stories just seem so drenched in goodwill and a lack of selfishness that merely hearing about them makes you feel better about mankind in general. It is those stories that embody the spirit of selflessness that is still prevalent despite a year in which thousands came upon hard times as employment situations took a downward turn.
With lights shining brightly in yards across the country, with people reaching out to help food drives and their fellow man, it seems a good time to point out a racing organization that not only decided to help one family, but embraced several members of its own community.
NASCAR has long billed itself as a family sport. While in many organizations that might mean that it offers the kind of entertainment or sport that an entire family can enjoy, in NASCAR's case that also points inward. The NASCAR community has long been a body unto itself, a traveling group that features fiercely competitive individuals willing to get aggressive with one another to take a win.
They are also a generous group not only supporting a series of foundations and backing issues they take personal interest in, but one that embraces one another when times are tough. They step up to help injured or ill members of their group, circle the wagons when someone is in trouble and needs some extra support.
It is that aspect of family that the sport, despite its growth in size and stature over the years, continues to embrace.
That has been true in several cases, it is certain, but one that comes to mind is the recent drive at Triad Racing Technologies, the supplier of Toyota body parts for teams in NASCAR's top three series.
What started as a small project - owners Marty Gaunt and Mike Held decided to help out a family in North Carolina by providing them with a dinner and presents for the holiday season - blossomed into a charitable effort within the shop.
Working through a local charity group, it was soon discovered that there were quite a few families in need. After all, this has been a tough year for many, with people losing their jobs or taking cuts in pay in order to maintain the ones that they have. The news has been filled with reports of increased needs by groups like Toys for Tots and others that provide for children over the holidays.
So as most things do, it started with a simple question. Are there many others who need help?
Turns out there were. So it was mentioned during a staff meeting that there were others on the list. And soon, the people in the shop were lining up to participate in the program.
It seems the project became the talk of the shop. People with and without children lined up to get a gift list for families in their area. They brought in presents, discussed what and why they purchased each one.
Some weren't sure what to buy, so they gave money and allowed others to do the shopping. They came together, though, and perhaps found that they received far more than they gave through the experience.
This week, 22 kids will benefit from Triad's effort.
It's hard to tell, though, who will find more joy in the holiday presents - those who are receiving them or those who are giving them.
