Phil Cunningham Honored with the Mountaire Better Carolina Award

(Raleigh, NC)  On Wednesday, June 20^th while volunteering at the Raleigh Rescue Mission, WRAL-TV and Mountaire Farms surprised Phil Cunningham with the Mountaire Better Carolina Award for July 2012.  For the past six years Cunningham has given his time to help others in need at the Rescue Mission, working in the kitchen three and sometimes four days a week.  His dedication to serving others in the Raleigh community made him a deserving recipient of the Better Carolina Award.

 The Mountaire Better Carolina Award is a monthly honor designed to highlight local individuals, businesses, civic organizations or classrooms who are going above and beyond in their effort to assist others in the community or to improve and protect the local environment. 

Aside from his work with the Raleigh Rescue Mission, whose services include; serving the homeless, recovery and rehabilitation and child development, Phil Cunningham spends part of the year in Haiti with the organization Samaritan’s Purse as they work set-up relief programs in the region.

“Phil is one of our most dedicated volunteers.  He helps in the kitchen and is famous for his grilling and cooking techniques.”says Holly Cook, Director of Volunteer Ministry at the Raleigh Rescue Mission, “He is a wonderful ambassador for us, singing our praises wherever he goes.”

“When we speak of the Good Samaritan” we think of the biblical story and the good work of someone helping others around the world. When I see Phil Cunningham I see a man who is doing God’s work at home in North Carolina. 

We at Mountaire have always subscribed to the belief that you don’t have to go 7,000 miles from home to find people in need. You don’t have to travel 700 miles from home to find people in need. You don’t have to go 7 miles from home to find people in distress. Within 7 minutes from your church, or home there are people in critical distress and need of food and shelter. Phil Cunningham makes it his life’s work to accommodate those persons and families by reaching out to them with food, shelter and clothing. He cares and shows it by doing the right things every day of his life. 

Some people say that he has mastered the art of cooking for many with any utensil, apparatus and food source at hand. Phil has also mastered the art of reaching out with a comforting word and gesture to those who are hurting with the pain of hunger and grief. 

And so we at Mountaire Farms are grateful to all who sent us to Phil Cunningham and present him with the  BETTER CAROLINA AWARD. “   Roger Marino, Mountaire Farms Corporate Communications and Community Relations Director.

For his continuous efforts to help others in the Raleigh community and around the globe, Phil Cunningham was presented with the Mountaire Better Carolina Award for July 2012 and will be featured on select WRAL-TV commercial vignettes in the hope his story will inspire others to Better Carolina.