Frying up some turkeys for a good cause.
For the past 17 years, Tracy Lawrence has spent Thanksgiving week frying up turkeys to provide meals and raise money for the homeless population in Nashville.
And he’s doing it all again.
The ’90s country superstar just announced his 18th Annual Mission:Possible Turkey Fry will take place on Tuesday, November 21. And they’re going big this year, hoping to match last year’s record of 1,200 turkeys fried at the Nashville Fairgrounds.
Along with the Turkey Fry, the event will be highlighted by a benefit concert at Wildhorse Saloon that evening, where Tracy will be joined by Lee Brice, Priscilla Block and Halfway to Hazard to raise money for the Nashville Rescue Mission.
Whiskey Riff spoke to Tracy about his Mission:Possible project during a recent interview:
“I’d get up Thanksgiving morning…and a lot of older people that I knew were scared to fry, so I started taking lists and I’d cook some extra turkeys and take ’em to different people and stuff on Thanksgiving.
So it was a group of us guys from church, and I was like “You know, I’d really like to do something for the Mission.”
I really think, being able to spin it in a better light, you know, I think they get a bad rap. We all see everybody panhandling on the street corners and all that but there’s always underlying things when the people are there.
It was just started as an awareness campaign for the rescue mission.”
Well what started out as a small project in his house has turned into a massive fundraiser for the Nashville Rescue Mission, raising over $250,000 in 2022 – the largest sum to date. And since its inception, Tracy has fried over 7,600 turkeys, provided more than 73,000 meals to the homeless across Middle Tennessee, and donated over $850,000 to Nashville Rescue Mission.
And the initiative has just kept growing, expanding in 2020 to include a spring celebrity golf tournament that’s raised over $1.1 million for homeless charities in Middle Tennessee in only three years.
Overall, Tracy’s Mission:Possible has contributed over $2.5 million towards its goal of supporting the Nashville Rescue Mission and other charities that help the homeless population in the Nashville area and beyond.
Presale tickets for the benefit concert at Wildhorse Saloon are on sale now, and go on sale to the public tomorrow at 10AM.
Gotta love seeing the country music community coming out for such a good cause.
