| MAY 23, 2010 --
David “NASCAR” MacMillan enjoys helping others, and people are beginning to take notice.
MacMillan was awarded the Taghhannuck Grange No. 100 Community Citizen Award during a ceremony Thursday in recognition of the hours of time and commitment he gives to the Sunday in the Country Food Drive, his main interest. State Rep. Roberta B. Willis, D-Salisbury, also presented him with a citation from the state legislature.
“I was flabbergasted,” said MacMillan, a modest man from Millerton, N.Y., who avoids the limelight. “I never thought the food drive would get so big it would be recognized by the Grange and the state.” He said it’s nice to be appreciated, but emphasized that all the volunteers who help him throughout the year with a wide variety of fundraisers should get an award, not just him.
The food drive has impressive numbers. The Grange award honored him for “tire less efforts in raising over $130,000 in the past three years,” but the longer picture is even more amazing. He estimates the project has raised close to $500,000 since its beginnings 18 years ago when he and Robert J. Chatfield at radio station WKZE and decided to each give a turkey to a needy family for Thanksgiving.
Today, the drive spans 16 towns in Litchfield County, eastern Duchess and Columbia counties in New York state and Sheffield, Mass., giving fixings for full dinners at Thanksgiving and Christmas — a total of 540 last year alone.
In presenting the award, Taghhannuck Grange master Barbara B. Prindle said MacMillan “is a good neighbor on a grand scale.”
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