Perdue Hosts Operation Teddy Bear

SALISBURY, Md.- Giant
Perdue Chicken truck convoy rolled into the Holly Center today for their 31st
annual Operation Teddy Bear. 

Shelly Amick, Holly Center
says, “These people all give their time and they come out to take our
individuals on these special rides where they wouldn't get to go.”  

The Holly Center is a
residential facility for people with physical and mental disabilities. For the
holidays, Perdue truck drivers give the residents a spin around Salisbury in
their decorated rides. In addition to that, 
students from UMES and Salisbury University help carry the residents
into the trucks because so many of them are unable to walk. 

George Coffin, the Perdue
Farms driver trainer says, “It gets the drivers and the holly center in the Christmas
spirit. It kind of kicks off every body's season. Drivers put in a lot of time
decorating the trucks, getting them clean and when they leave, they have a
wonderful feeling about what they've done.”

The name for “Operation
Teddy Bear” was inspired by the 1976 country hit “Teddy Bear.” It was
a song about the relationship between a trucker and a housebound disabled boy
who wanted to ride in a rig.