Don King visits Bonner Springs

Legendary boxing promoter Don King was in Bonner Springs Friday afternoon, helping workers at the National Cold Storage plant load more than 100,000 turkeys for delivery next week.

The turkeys, representing more than two million pounds of birds, will be shipped to five southern states – Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida – next week.

The distribution marks the 40th anniversary of King’s involvement in the turkey distribution.

“The rule of thumb when you cook turkey for the family is one pound per person,” King says. “With that simple homemaker math, we will give out enough turkey in one day to feed 2.2 million people.”

King, 77, says he can’t remember a more important year to help out families in need, with the tough national economy and with many Gulf states still trying to recover from 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.

“These are hard times for too many Americans this year, and the people in the gulf states have been hit twice as hard with hurricanes and the economy in crisis,” King added. “A turkey in as many pots as possible is our goal.”