INDIANAPOLIS — On a day of service marked by sponsor Fifth Third Bank, Graham Rahal served dinner in style.
In one of four events highlighted on Fifth Third Day (5/3), Rahal helped serve tacos to families living at the 20-room St. Vincent House while their children receive medical care at Peyton Manning Children's Hospital in Indianapolis.
The Ohio native helped kick off Fifth Third's Feeding Our Communities campaign that has a goal of providing 1 million meals to those in need.
"It's been great to partner with Fifth Third Bank the last few years and I love the charity aspect of what they do," said Rahal. "I love coming here to Peyton Manning Children's Hospital, being part of the St. Vincent's family myself in the sports performance facility, to then come here to St. Vincent House, it means a lot to me. The greatest victory and the greatest feeling you'll ever have in life is that of giving back and helping your community and today's a perfect example of that."
Rahal's day began at the hospital where he was able to visit with many children receiving treatment including one young car enthusiast.
"There was a kid in there, a young guy who was 11-12, his name was Jacob," said Rahal. "He was a huge car nut, it was fun to just share our favorite cars and all the stories and stuff like that. He's a young one that I can definitely see being involved in this in the future.
"Any bit of time we get with those kids over at the hospital and put a smile on their face, talk about racing, talk about the Speedway, talk about what's going on and everything else in the world other than what they're facing, I think it's a pretty good way to put a smile on their faces."
For the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver, Thursday was a bit of a quieter day. After spending time testing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway earlier in the week, Rahal heads to Iowa Speedway for some tire testing before staying in Indianapolis for the rest of the month.
"Its just part of the gig," Rahal said. "We're all here, the folks that are here are certainly having a tougher go at life than I am currently and so you need to make the time to be there, to put a smile on their faces.
"You never know, someday that could be me, someday it could be our family in some capacity and so just to know that somebody's thinking about you and to spend the time to come out I think it means a lot to everybody."
Kevin Hipskind, Regional President of Fifth Third Bank in the Greater Indiana/Gateway region indicated the bank's priority to community service.
"We've always been about giving back to the community," said Hipskind. "Part of our commitment is we've made a $30 billion commitment to strengthen our community and feeding our community is part of that.
Fifth Third Bank has more Feeding Our Communities events at the Soup Kitchen of Terre Haute on May 12, Community Harvest of Fort Wayne and at the Hamilton County Harvest Food Bank in Noblesville on May 16 and at Servant's Heart of Indiana in Greenwood on May 17.