Double Harvest At Daytona
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Mike Wallace sported the Double Harvest logo on his racing suit and side of his racecar at the Nationwide series race February 13 at Daytona International Speedway.© 2010 -
The Double Harvest logo also appeared on the back of Mike Wallace's racecar.© 2010 -
Double Harvest, which is helping Haiti rebuild following last month's earthquake, has raised $1.3 million in the last few weeks to support its cause.© 2010 -
Metrolina Greenhouses employees have helped Double Harvest surpass all of its fundraising goals.© 2010
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Mike Wallace, a driver on NASCAR's Nationwide series, paid tribute Saturday to the Double Harvest Christian mission providing relief to Haiti by wearing the mission's logo on his racing suit and posting the logo on the side and back of his racecar.
The Van Wingerden family founded Double Harvest in 1981 and has been providing relief to Haiti since last month's earthquake.
According to Metrolina Greenhouses' Abe Van Wingerden, Wallace donated the space on the racing suit and car - space that's usually given to paid sponsors. Van Wingerden says Wallace plans to wear the racing suit with the Double Harvest logo again this weekend when the Nationwide series visits California.
Wallace drove the No. 01 car at Daytona and finished 28th in the 41-car field. He got exposure for Double Harvest through interviews with ESPN, ESPN2, Fox News, Sirius Satellite Radio and SpeedChannel.
"We had immediate hits on our Double Harvest Facebook page all weekend, and we had a spike in donations to Double Harvest on Friday, Saturday and Sunday due to the this exposure," Abe says.
Wallace is connected to the Van Wingerden family through his daughter, Lindsey, who is married to Thomas Van Wingerden, the son of the late Tom Van Wingerden.
The Van Wingerden family's original goal for Double Harvest was to raise $150,000 after the earthquake struck Haiti. Soon after it struck, the family believed $500,000 was a realistic goal, and it quickly raised its goal to $1 million once donations began piling up.
"With fundraising still going on and due to all the great exposure and work done by many groups across the country, we are up to $1.3 million in donations in-house with more pledged and more coming in," Abe says. "An unbelievable effort by all and everyone at Double Harvest is amazed at everyone's generosity.
"From groups of employees, to groups of doctors, to groups of kids, to individuals, to the Haitian employees of Double Harvest, everyone continues to make this a wonderful example of giving. This money allows us to expand our rebuilding efforts, provide more resources for our medical teams and assure Double Harvest grows to support the ever-expanding need."
You can learn more about Double Harvest on its website, DoubleHarvest.org, or on Facebook. Double Harvest recently broke the 3,000-fan mark on its Facebook page.
