Phil-a-Trunk: Literal Food Drive Where Car Clubs Unite to Drive Out Hunger
Approximately 300 Porsches, 30 different cars clubs, 800 show cars, and nearly 60 tons of food donations. That is Phil-a-Trunk.
In 2021 the annual Phil-a-Trunk event fell on Halloween day. And do you know what is scary? Not knowing where your next meal is coming from. Sadly, that fear is felt by far too many. As Porsche owners and enthusiasts, we may complain about landing a GT3 allocation or the price of maintenance. However, those complaints pale in comparison to being hungry. The fact is most of us are quite fortunate and giving back to the community is the least we can do. And if we can have a kick butt Porsche show at the same time it is a win-win situation for everyone. That is what the annual Phil-a-Trunk event is all about.
The Phil-a-Trunk event serves as the kickoff for the WMMR Preston and Steve’s Camp Out for Hunger. Camp Out is the largest single-location food drive in the U.S. All food and monetary donations benefit Philabundance. They are the Delaware Valley’s (the nine counties in the Philadelphia area) largest hunger relief organization. So that is the push behind this event. But you are on Rennlist to read about cars. And Phil-a-Trunk also happens to be one of the largest Porsche shows in the region. This year we had nearly 300 Porsche cars of various models to join us. We were also joined by about 30 other local car clubs and had nearly 800 cars in total take part.
Phil-a-Frunk
The event started out as Phil-a-Frunk as it was at first a Porsche event. It was the brainchild of current Riesentöter (RTR) Region President, Jeffery Walton. Walton was listening to WMMR’s Preston and Steve’s Camp Out for Hunger morning show and began to wonder, how he could help. He organized a Porsche caravan of about 60 cars and donated about 7,400 pounds of food back in 2013. From there it just took off. The local Jeep club got involved and began a friendly competition to see which club could bring the most food. Of course, this competition had no losers as the point was simply to help as many people in need as possible. In 2018 we had 168 Porsches take part in the event. The food and cash donations combined to provide over 127,000 pounds of food from our little car club. Porsche Power!
Phil-a-Trunk Is Born
After the 2018 event Walton had another idea. Why not turn this charity event into a monster car show at the same time? So, some changes were made for the 2019 event. Instead of dropping off the food donations on a weeknight, the event would now be held on the Sunday before Camp Out for Hunger. Phil-a-Trunk would be the opening act for the weeklong event. In addition, it was decided to invite every single car club in the area that Walton could get in touch with. That is why the name of the event switched from Frunk to Trunk. Of course, today even the new Corvette has a frunk. Who would have thought? Anyway, the Audi club is involved, Corvettes, Mustangs, MINI Coopers, Jeeps, Teslas and more. Even the DeLorean club was invited. Best part about the DeLorean club is that they can still donate to the 2015 event.
The goal of donating as much food as possible was not lost. In fact, the idea was to try to draw in even more participants. But at the same time this became one of the premier car shows in the Philadelphia region. Between 200 and 300 Porsches would meet in the morning at the Capital Grille restaurant in King of Prussia, PA. That alone is a car show. When was the last time you saw 300 Porsches in one place? The local police would close the nearby roads and the local fire department would lead the nearly 2-mile-long caravan of Porsches down to the Wells Fargo Center about 25 miles away. If you have never driven behind a police and fire escort, you are missing out.
The Porsches stage in the Wells Fargo parking lot where we are joined by all the other car clubs. Then each club makes the short drive to drop off the food and returns to the lot to enjoy a 800-car strong car show.
Phil-a-Trunk 2021
This year was the biggest event yet. Nearly 30 car clubs took part. There were three different live bands playing music for everyone. The Holts, Derek Petaccio, and Basic Cable played to the crowd outside of Xfinity Live! There were food trucks, raffle prizes, Porsche performance specialist Soul Performance Products was on hand with several of their featured products. The doors of Xfinity Live! were open and we got to watch the Eagles smack around the hapless Detroit Lions on the big screens. It was a party atmosphere and for a great cause.
In total over 117,000 pounds of food was donated on this day. The Porsche club lead the way with a strong 90,466 pounds. But every pound matters. The local MINI Cooper club contributed 8,110 pounds of food. In freaking little MINIs. The Tesla club very quietly brought 4,699 pounds of food. The Jeeps chipped in with 3,592 pounds. It was fantastic to see all the clubs come together for a common cause. And this event really does make a difference.
In attendance this year was a local gentleman that made the trip simply to thank everyone that puts this event on. Last year he was homeless, and he said that thanks to this event he was able to get on his feet and he now has his own apartment. That is what this is all about.
See You Next Year
The dates have yet to be announced but Walton and the rest of the Riesentöter Region crew will be back in 2022. The goal is always to build on the previous year. So next year is likely to be the biggest event ever. If you love cars and love helping those less fortunate, please consider joining us next year. If you are not in the area, you can donate funds from anywhere in the world. Or consider starting a similar event in your area. The Porsche Club of America mantra has long been ‘It’s not the cars, it’s the people.’ Well, Phil-a-Trunk has many fantastic examples of both.
Keep an eye out for the dates and details for the 2022 event. Until then we can get back to stressing over IMS bearings, PDK vs. Manual, and who makes the best sounding exhaust. Chime in on all those topics and more in the Rennlist forums.
Images: Joe Kucinski
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